Microphone Muffled?
 

I don't know whats exactly going on, but I used to get good recording through my microphone and now it sounds muffled and not great quality. It's almost like a hand is on the microphone and bassy kinda.. The crazy part is it sounds great in the headphones, but after its recorded the playback is not like what i hear int he headphones..

I'm using a Digi 003 on Pro tools 12HD... Anyone know what it can be?I also went and bough a great microphone cable just to rule that out and also the inserts work great on the same line. It's just the microphone port and I also have tried the other 2 microphone ports and its the same thing as well..

Re: Microphone Muffled?
 

Based on your "detailed description" I can confidently say you are doign something wrong. But have no clue what that is.

The expected info here would include:

Exact model microphone
You using an external preamp?
You are going into the XLR mic inputs on the 003, straight through XLR to XLR cables, nothing in that path?
What is the mic preamp gain turned up to on the 003?
What is the input level you are tracking at (say average and peak dBFS, using classig meters make sure you are in pre-fader meter mode) - I'm looking for clipping or just too hot an input.
Got phantom power enabled (if the mic needs that?)
What are you recording? Vocals? Acoustic guitar? etc.
How are you recording? Distance from mouth? Guitar? Singing into the mic side/front etc.
If a large condenser or ribbon mic is the sound coming into the correct side of the mic?
Any switches on the mic, if so what are they set to?

Are you using low latency monitoring?
- If so that will disable plugins on what you are monitoring... but you'll hear them when playing back. Lots of discussions on DUC and in the Reference Guide explaining low latency monitoring. That is very likely to be part of this if you hear differences while monitoring vs. when playing back. Are you comparing tracking monitoring and playback, when listening on the same headphones? ... you need to exclude if the headphones or monitors or any headphone preamp/mixer or monitor controller are possible causes here.

Re: Microphone Muffled?
 

Good advice/questions above, and here's more to think about. Since you say it sounds good in the headphones while tracking, does it sound the same in the headphones when played back? If it does, then maybe your speakers have blown tweeters. If it sounds bad in the phones on playback, what is different between recording and playback(this needs complete details on how you work to get an answer).

And, I also need to ask if you are sure you are using the correct side of the mic. No offense is intended here, but I have seen(heard:o) this happen twice before. Once when a VO artist called me wondering why his track got rejected(as soon as I heard it, I knew what had happened, and he had just finished moving his setup to a different space), And another time when a client brought in a PT session for me to mix. I asked why the vocal sounded so muffled and they replied that they didn't know as they had rented a vintage U47. I asked if they had the mic pointing the right way and they said,"I didn't know there was a wrong way":p:p:p(it took 3 EQ plugins, but I saved the track:D)

Re: Microphone Muffled?
 

Im not using a pre amp just the one the digi 003 has internally. I'm using the XLR cable to the microphone which is a baby blue microphone. I'm also using the correct side of the microphone.I'm tracking medium not peaking at all.I also have the +48 pushed in the back otherwise it doesn't work. I'm recording about a fist and half away from it. No switches on the microphone.I;m also using low latency, but im not using any plugins on it right now so it should matter, I mean there will be a delay if i dont use the low latency, but I dont have any plugins on the track at the moment.

Re: Microphone Muffled?
 

No it sounds just like when i recorded it in the headphones, but when i'm recording it live it doesnt sound like what it being recorded

Re: Microphone Muffled?
 

it sounds the same as the recorded version in the headphones, but it doesnt sound the same when im recording it live in the headphones. its after the fact its recorded it sounds different

Re: Microphone Muffled?
 

Then the leading culprit then is probably headphones vs. monitors? What happens when you listen back on headphones?

And if you disable Low latency monitoring do you now hear a difference between tracking and playback? (yes even without plugins being involved).

Re: Microphone Muffled?
 

the headphones sound just like the monitors do. It's only when I'm recording at the moment and hear my self talking in the microphone that i sound different. It's almost like its not recording exactly what I'm hearing...

Re: Microphone Muffled?
 

So check with low latency monitoring off. Be very careful it is not just a perceptual problem with different SPL levels in the headphones. Check you don't have record and playback faders split (read the reference guide if that is new to you). Tell us numbers for pre-fader track input levels and what the preamp gain is set to. You hear stuff equally good or bad in both sides of the headphones?

Re: Microphone Muffled?
 

the thing is i dont know where to find where the preamp is set to . I have the volume knob set to the middle and as far as level for incoming signal its