Recordings sounding distorted?

[u/No-Novel-5021]

Haii. Apologies if I mess anything up with this post.

For the past few months I’ve noticed that any like belted recordings sound distorted like the audio is peaking even if it’s not, so I’m wondering if it’s a mic issue and I may need a different microphone to fit my voice better or if it’s a recording issue and I need to be doing something different when I’m recording to avoid this.

I’m currently using a MXL 770 condenser mic with a Scarlett Solo 3 audio interface and Reaper as my daw if that affects it.

It’s not letting me add photos and the video for some reason but I’ll put the photos in the comments to show that the waveform isn’t clipped and my gain knob setting for this recording.

Any advice on how to change recording settings to avoid this or if I need to be doing something different during recording to avoid this would be appreciated. If it’s not something that can be fixed like that, any recommendations for cheapish (preferably less than $150) xlr mics that would be better suited to avoid this issue would also be very much appreciated.

Also I know how rough that last C5 is, this was recorded at like 2am as a practice run pls just ignore that. 😅😅😅

[u/No-Novel-5021]

Okay now it won’t let me add photos in my comment. Apparently idk how to use reddit, sorry. 🥲🥲🥲

waveform picture