Headphone distortion

[edward.allen@yahoo.com]

I have searched the forum for "headphone distortion" and found no posts.
I have also searched for "headphone" and I don't see any posts that deal with headphone distortion.
Apologies in advance if this topic has been covered.  If so, please point me to the discussion.

Any help would be valuable, as JK is basically unusable for me until I beat the following challenge:

The Problem
With my headphones on, I'm getting distortion that sounds (when I sing) as if I had plastic wrap over my mouth.
I also get distortion when I play my acoustic guitar and I do not sing.
Both of these occur when I'm using a microphone to pick up my singing or playing.
I also get distortion when I play my digital piano directly (1/4" jack) into my interface, and don't use the microphone.
The distortion is worse when I play or sing more loudly.

Other participants claim they do not hear this distortion; it is local only to my setup.

When there are no other participants (I am in a private solo session) and I record myself in session using the JK "Record" feature,
my recording lacks the distortion (it may be that it is present, but is lower in volume, relative to the signal) I heard when making the recording.

I get no headphone distortion with the same headphones when using the exact same setup recording into my DAW (Cakewalk/Bandlab).
I get no headphone distortion any other time I used the headphones, including listening to Youtube videos, etc.

Info that may be relevant
My Steinberg audio interface has a red LED that shows when the signal is too hot, and that LED is not lighting (I have verified the LED is not broken).
I am also getting complete dropouts occasionally, when I cannot hear either myself or the other participants for about 1-2 seconds.
This dropout problem is less painful than the headphone distortion.
I just made an adjustment to my computer configuration so that the Service Host SysMain process is disabled, because it causes occasional heavy temporary
CPU usage which may have caused the dropouts.  Too soon to tell if that helps.

I have only one audio input configured.
I have played with the volume levels in the "audio inputs" and "personal mix".
Currently, the level of the slider in "audio inputs" is at the top of the green.
The level of the other slider, "personal mix" is just under the third bar from the top.
During the performance I don't see either of the dynamic level meters go into the red.

Groove Tube PSM1 microphone
Beyer Dynamic DT 770 Pro headphones
Steinberg UR22 mkII audio interface using native ASIO driver

Windows 10 computer (HP)
The following info comes from Control Panel->System
dual-core AMD A10-5700 APU
8 GB RAM
64-bit operating system

Windows power management is configured to use "High-performance" instead of "Balanced",
  and maximum and min processor state are both set to 100%, (as is recommended by other posts in this forum, and resources on JK)

Any help or advice is appreciated!
Edward

[GDJ]

I have searched the forum for "headphone distortion" and found no posts.
I have also searched for "headphone" and I don't see any posts that deal with headphone distortion.
Apologies in advance if this topic has been covered.  If so, please point me to the discussion.

Any help would be valuable, as JK is basically unusable for me until I beat the following challenge:

The Problem
With my headphones on, I'm getting distortion that sounds (when I sing) as if I had plastic wrap over my mouth.
I also get distortion when I play my acoustic guitar and I do not sing.
Both of these occur when I'm using a microphone to pick up my singing or playing.
I also get distortion when I play my digital piano directly (1/4" jack) into my interface, and don't use the microphone.
The distortion is worse when I play or sing more loudly.

Other participants claim they do not hear this distortion; it is local only to my setup.

When there are no other participants (I am in a private solo session) and I record myself in session using the JK "Record" feature,
my recording lacks the distortion (it may be that it is present, but is lower in volume, relative to the signal) I heard when making the recording.

I get no headphone distortion with the same headphones when using the exact same setup recording into my DAW (Cakewalk/Bandlab).
I get no headphone distortion any other time I used the headphones, including listening to Youtube videos, etc.

Info that may be relevant
My Steinberg audio interface has a red LED that shows when the signal is too hot, and that LED is not lighting (I have verified the LED is not broken).
I am also getting complete dropouts occasionally, when I cannot hear either myself or the other participants for about 1-2 seconds.
This dropout problem is less painful than the headphone distortion.
I just made an adjustment to my computer configuration so that the Service Host SysMain process is disabled, because it causes occasional heavy temporary
CPU usage which may have caused the dropouts.  Too soon to tell if that helps.

I have only one audio input configured.
I have played with the volume levels in the "audio inputs" and "personal mix".
Currently, the level of the slider in "audio inputs" is at the top of the green.
The level of the other slider, "personal mix" is just under the third bar from the top.
During the performance I don't see either of the dynamic level meters go into the red.

Groove Tube PSM1 microphone
Beyer Dynamic DT 770 Pro headphones
Steinberg UR22 mkII audio interface using native ASIO driver

Windows 10 computer (HP)
The following info comes from Control Panel->System
dual-core AMD A10-5700 APU
8 GB RAM
64-bit operating system

Windows power management is configured to use "High-performance" instead of "Balanced",
  and maximum and min processor state are both set to 100%, (as is recommended by other posts in this forum, and resources on JK)

Any help or advice is appreciated!
Edward

Edward, you have opened a can of worms, in my opinion. I consider this a good thing. Before we start writing endless sentences, i can tell you i have the same experience and can control it. But let me ask you, have you tried the Audio reset under Manage > Audio Settings > Configuration: "Reset Audio Volume"?

I suggest you NOT touch the other settings. This setting will Zero db your headphone mix. It does not affect others.

Also, two other signal paths are important. Your hardware input signal. However, if others are hearing you clearly, i don't suspect there's a need to change anything with your inputs, yet.

Question/Comment. If you have been fiddling around with the PowerMixer, please say so. This in my opinion becomes the holy grail of achieving a loud and clear headphone mix. What you change here does not interact with the track sliders in the sessions window.

As much as i feel I have better control with the powermixer these past couple of months; still, there are times when there are more players in the session, i start to distort - everyone else here's my clearly. Two things are at play here. Compression, and loudness. I'm learning, instead of increasing my signal for my headphone mix, bring everyone else down. Counterintuitive, in a way.

[Zlartibartfast]

Another vote for the Power Mixer - and especially for the comp on/off settings (good to have on for vocals, good to have off for line instruments like a keyboard).

I advocate you break out your inputs into as many channels as you can. Remember your JamKazam peers will get one stereo track from you whether you have 1 or 100 inputs. If your interface presents 4 inputs to Jamkazam then go with one mono track for your vocal, one mono track for your guitar, and one stereo track for your keyboard. By doing this, you will have separate monitor tracks, each with their own gain and pan control. This will allow you to make fine adjustments to your own mix, which is where your problem is occuring.

What you are putting in is OK (your own recording and the response from your peers have made that clear).

Your problem is in your personal mix, and the good news is, that's an easy fix.

[GDJ]

Another vote for the Power Mixer - and especially for the comp on/off settings (good to have on for vocals, good to have off for line instruments like a keyboard).

I advocate you break out your inputs into as many channels as you can. Remember your JamKazam peers will get one stereo track from you whether you have 1 or 100 inputs. If your interface presents 4 inputs to Jamkazam then go with one mono track for your vocal, one mono track for your guitar, and one stereo track for your keyboard. By doing this, you will have separate monitor tracks, each with their own gain and pan control. This will allow you to make fine adjustments to your own mix, which is where your problem is occuring.

What you are putting in is OK (your own recording and the response from your peers have made that clear).

Your problem is in your personal mix, and the good news is, that's an easy fix.

Sorry, i disagree with the comment "which is where your problem is occurring."

I have several Audio Interface configurations. 16, 8, and 2 channel inputs. currently I'm using my 8 I/O, which translates to 4 stereo tracks. Depending on how you mix everything drives the overall headphone mix sound. Having said this, I put a Mixer in front which gives me 8 discrete I/Os to my AI 8 Inputs. If others are saying your signal is clear, trust them for now. Additionally, when I use a 2 channel I/O, I have a hardware mixer in front of the AI with 8 inputs occupied for guitars, drums, guitar synth, stereo vocals. All mix down without problems or distortion. The idea that having discrete tracks for fine tuning as an advantage is not necessarily true. It's actually more complicated because it requires extra time and learning to balance everything out. The only reason i do it is so my Recordings have discrete tracks so i level everything in my DAW when post processing. Having a hardware mixer allows me better control for eq, panning, and control how my i push my signal to JK. I know some folks use a DAW with passthru.

Back to the power mixer. Yes, experiment with disabling the compression and move the sliders around to understand what they do. There is a 'reset' for the power rmixer and it will not affect any changes you make in your session track controls. Personally I spent more time in the power mixer, and less in the Session controls.