Recording is too quiet

[PapaSam]

Hi there!

I am very new to all of this. I was recording my normal talking voice to create an explanation video.
The thing is, that the input seemed to be really quiet. I could barely see any bumps in the waveform. Do you have any suggestions on how to fix this?

I am using an IPad Pro 2020, an XSonic XTone Pro and a Shure SM58.
(I turned the gain almost all the way up)

Thanks in advance.

[pwnified]

I suspect the microphone being a dynamic mic (low impedance) is not able to drive the high impedance inputs of the XTone, you may have to use a different mic into that interface.

Update: thread on the Shure forums about this https://service.shure.com/s/article/low ... uage=en_US

You can probably use a transformer to convert the microphone.

[PapaSam]

Thank your for that information.

I found the following transformator: Shure A85F, which would fit into the INR input of the XTone. Is there a downside to not using the xlr, but instead the line input / is there even an xlr to xlr transformator? (it is a combination thingy on the XTone, where I can use both) I couldn't find one, but maybe you know sth.

Thanks and stay healthy,
Sam

[pwnified]

Well, technically it's an unbalanced signal coming out of the transformer so shouldn't be xlr. The transformer can take advantage of the balanced mics noise canceling and convert it into a very short run of unbalanced heavily shielded signal directly to the high impedance inputs. The Shure A85F is a great choice. Let us know how it goes!

[PapaSam]

It works! I can get a good sounding recording with the transformator and it shows nicely as a waveform.
The only thing that I don't quite get, is why it needs to go into the input that is designed for my e-Guitar... Although the other Input is a combination for InLine (?) and XLR, I get a quite substantial noise with the transformator...

Here a picture, left is without the transformator, right with (and a different Input port). As you can see, the Input level is at about 8 (for the transformator) I turned it up during the recording for the second part.

So you can see, that there is a substantial boost in Signal even when no higher input was selected.

https://ibb.co/zHGVbhm

Greetings and stay healthy.

[pwnified]

Nice. That interface has listed the input impedances: INL is 1M, and INR is 100K. So the 1 meg input probably matches the output of the transformer better. If it's a high impedance (transformer output) trying to drive a lower impedance (100K) it probably wont work too well. Glad you got one of the inputs working!

[PapaSam]

Thanks for helping a newbie out!