Yesterday I was capturing video for a celebration of life at our church. We have a ZED-24 with a CD player connected and an assortment of wireless and wired mics. During the event, a lady sang a solo that was accompanied by a song from a music CD. Our recorder is a new laptop connected to the ZED-24 using the USB port. The laptop is running OSB Studio. While she sang, the music on the CD was nicely balanced in volume with her voice and in the room it sounded great. However, when I listen to the recording it is almost like she is singing acapella, the background music is barely noticeable. I will need to shoot that video again, but I need to get a grasp as to why the recording does not sound as balanced as it does in real time. Where do I start? I am a novice and got thrown into this role. Fixing mainframes in the 70s did not prepare me for this. 
You may not have recorded your SR signal (probably LR), but instead selected AUX 1-2 or AUX 3-4, which may have been set up for monitoring, where you didnât want your CD to be heard.
The good news is: You donât have to re-record your video because the music from the CD can be added synchronously to the existing recording using appropriate video editing software.
Regarding not having to record that song again, the CD generated background music is in the current video, albeit faintly. I donât think I can remove that without removing the singerâs voice.
Your comment regarding Aux 1 and 2 for monitors got me thinking. It is possible that the CD music which was broadcasted to the church wall speakers were picked up by the singerâs mic. I need to share a bit more about our setup.
Aux 1 and Aux 2 are as you suspected used for monitors
Aux 3 is used for a Williams listening device.
The three switches below the USB connector are all up, none are depressed.
I assume this means we are set up for Main L-R Bus per the excerpt below from an A&H document. BTW, what is the Record bus? Page 13 of the ZED 24 User Guide has a block diagram and from that I cannot discern what the âRecord Busâ is.
On our standard video capture of the Sunday Sermon, we have very weak audio in the recording and have to boost the audio in post with apps like Handbrake. I would like to avoid that step if possible and have a video that has adequate volume levels.
The Excerpt below mentions âEnable Listen on the Channel you are recordingâ I assume that requires the PFL switch for that channel and plugging in headphones?
From the excerpt below, what is the âRecord Switch?â I cannot discern what that is from anything I have read so far.
Knowing that what we intend to record through OSB Studio is also the same content that is going to the wall speakers during the service, how can we boost the audio level to the recording device without blasting the ears of the congregation.
***There are 3 ways of routing audio to the USB soundcard, either using the Record Bus, the Aux-FX bus or the Main L-R Bus, to select which, you will need to assign the USB OUT
Source selector switches.
If recording using the Record bus, check the signal strength on the channel is OK by
monitoring the Channel Input levels, to do this, enable Listen on the channel you are
recording to monitor the Input signal on the L-R meters.
Adjust the channel Input Gain so the signal reads around OdB on the meters, making sure
the signal is not too hot so as to leave headroom for any potential peaks during the
performance. With the Input Gain set and the Record switch enabled, if you then adjust the
Channel Level this will send the audio signal onto the record bus and into the recording
software via USB. ***
Now I donât understand you.
You said the recorded music was too low.
Why do you want to remove it now instead of making it louder with the original from CD?
Then, if all the switches are still working, LR should be recorded post-fader.
And if the mix of vocals and CD was fine there, it should be similarly good in the recording as well.
But it could be that something is wrong with the mechanical switches (and they might need to be cleaned).
As a test, try leaving the lower switch pressed during a recording.
Then LR should be recorded pre-fader - no worse choice for your recording.
Do you mean the switch for sending to USB?
It doesnât seem to be from the ZED (24) user guide.
It wonât be easy for you to meet such requirements with your console.
If itâs your vocals + CD, you could try to set the LR Faders to infinity and first leveling your mix for recording (with LR PRE button ist down).
Once thatâs correct, carefully open the LR until the volume in the room is OK.
In this form, it will always be a compromise.
You could also try using your remaining Aux 4 for the SR Mix instead of the LR.
But all of this will confuse you now too much, and it would be much better to have a professional set it up for you.
Sorry to adding confusion here. I now have a professional who will assist later in the week.
The excerpt was not from the ZED 24 manual, but it was a ZED 10 document that was suggested to me from a previous post in response to my concerns for low audio levels in video recordings. I should not have combined two issues into this one post, sorry for that.
Regarding the original issue I raised where music from the CD player was very weak as compared to the singer voice, all that audio is on the same track, so if there is a way to boost the CD music without changing the singer audio⌠I am beginning to think that the CD music was weak because it was picked up by the singer mic rather than flowing through the USB port with the singerâs voice.
Rather add even more confusion, let me post a solution to this later in the week after meeting with the professional. Thanks for your willingness to help.
Thatâs the right way.
This way is called âmixing.â
You have your vocals (with a little bit of recorded music) on one track and the CD music on another track, synchronized but separate.
Push up the fader with the music and it will get louder.
This creates a new audio track with the correct mix in your video editing software.
That just doesnât seem logical to me:
If you havenât pressed any of the three buttons, the same LR mix that heard from the speakers should be recorded.
And if you find the music pleasantly loud in the room, it canât be missing in the recording.
That could really only happen if, for example, you were recording your monitors Aux 1-2 with the upper button pressed and the CD wasnât mixed in there.
Here is the update from changing the mixer configuration with the professional last week.
We moved (combined) both monitor speakers to Aux 2, thus freeing up Aux 1. We depressed the Aux1-Aux 2 button below the USB connector on the ZED 24 so we can control the audio level going to the recording device separate from the audio level in the Sanctuary. There were also changes inside OSB Studio regarding the Mic level. I believe he said it was originally around -40, and he brought it up to 0db.
During the church service, I put headphones on and the audio going to the recording PC sounded good. When I listened to the recording there was significant echo in the recorded video.
I have OSB Studio on my laptop at home and did some experimenting. I do not have a mixer, so I played some Bible Gateway scripture in audio mode, and let the microphone on the laptop pick that up. I noticed if I raised the mic more than 5db, I started to hear the echo. Raising the mic to +20db would exacerbate the echo as expected. Also, I noticed if I changed the desktop audio to -12db, we also experienced a nasty echo in the video recording.
So, I am hoping we can eliminate the audio âechoâ in the video recordings through changes in the mic and possibly the desktop audio decibel levels and hopefully gain a boost in audio levels in the recording through controls in the mixer. I will try to do more testing/changes at church on Tuesday afternoon.
I think it would be best to confront the same professional who set it up with you also with the new synchronization problem.
He will be able to more easily identify the cause on-site.
Moving discussion to OSB-Studio support forum
Yes, or better yet, to OBS. )
Either internally within OBS or your sending audio back into the mixer via the USB creating the audio feedback loop.
There is a monitoring function in OBS, try turning that off.
The USB routing switches are in pairs of aux 1 &2 and 3 & 4.
Since your using aux 2 for monitors I would not use the aux 1 2 mode for recording, set it uo with 3 4.
Thanks Mike! I agree that there was some sort of audio feedback loop, but it is gone now and I am not sure what I did to fix it. As someone who fixed mainframes 50 years ago, I pride myself with using methodical troubleshooting techniques but I cannot point to what resolved this issue.
We use Aux 3 for a Williams listening system for those who are hearing challenged. In OSB I did toggle the monitor setting, but it was initially off.
I am not sure what took away the âblue lineâ in the Balance section for Desktop Audio, but it correlates to with the problem being solved.
What are you playing the CDâs from?
We have a CD recorder/player that is plugged into one of the channels on the ZED24 mixer