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What program do you use to record your mixes?

Hey everybody,
I was just wondering what programs you use to record your mixes, and within those programs what settings to do you use to make the mix sound good. I've only tried one, Sound Forge 6.0 at 32kbps, and I must say, i didn't like it too much. my fader was set on smooth, and the sound wasn't as "crisp" as a home production should be. i set my fader to sharp, and it sounded better, but half the spectrum had been cut off. Also, i was wondering if changing my sound card would help at all. currently, i'm using the sound card that came on my motherboard, probably just a basic soundblaster something. if you guys have an idea of a better sound card please let me know. i'd love to hear from you guys.

thanx

vipal

Buy a MINIDISK !

quote:

Originally posted by IKKI-ZUVK Buy a MINIDISK !

agreed... a minidisc player fits in your pocket, much easier to plug it into your mixer than to stuff around moving your computer out to the decks.

well, i'm still just a hobby dj, but i'd like to listen to my mixes in my car, find out where i need to improve. the way that i have it set up right now, is that my decks are right next to my computer, and there's really no hassle to plugging it all in, it's all just an extra cord that runs into my computer...does anyone know a recording program that will record from the line in instead of the mic

thanx

Soundforge 6

If you're not getting a MD player, I also recommend soundforge.

how would you use a minidisc player? use the analog or the optical recording device, and what cable would i need to plug the minidisc into my mixer? my mixer doesn't have an optical out, but perhaps if i plug my mixer into my sony stereo it might work, the stereo has an optical out, although i'm not sure if that's for CDs only or anything that comes out of the stereo

I use Audio Hijack Pro (mac)

Spark XL for the Mac.

Re: What program do you use to record your mixes?

quote:

Originally posted by liquidmist2001 ... Also, i was wondering if changing my sound card would help at all. currently, i'm using the sound card that came on my motherboard, probably just a basic soundblaster something. if you guys have an idea of a better sound card please let me know. i'd love to hear from you guys. thanx vipal

Yes, changing the sound card will make a difference. THe sound cards that come integrated with system boards are not meant to do studi/audio work, most arent even 16bit.
A cheap alternative in getting something better would be a sound blaster live, as you can get one for about 40-50 bucks online.
If you want something that is more studio quality like, you can buy yourself a 24bit sound card, such as an M-Audio one, for as little as $150. Then you can record in 24bit/96kHz.
It all depends on your budget and how good quality of recordings you want.
When you are referring to home production, what are you recording from? What is your source?
If its mixing from Turntables, then keep in mind that if you get a great sound card, it wont help if you have crap needles. If your source has shitty quality, the program and sound card will record shitty quality.
In terms of programs, Ive used Sound Forge, Cool Edit Pro and currently Wavelab by steinberg. If your recording in 16bit, Id go with Cool Edit Pro. Quality is just as good, but the features are insane, and its easy to use. If your doing 24bit recording, Id go with Wavelab or Sound Forge (as cool edit pro does not support 24 bit recording).
Minidisc? portable? I wouldnt get one if its quality that your after. CD quality is still better as it uses less compression.

Soundforge 6.0 is what i use.

As for a MD, they are allright, very convenient to use, but you WILL lose sound quality due to the ATRAC compression. It's OK for making CDs for the car, or to hand out to friends, but if you want a full quality CD release, i reccomend going straight to the computer.

One MAJOR problem and misconception of MD is that you can record it analog and then transfer to the computer digitally. you CAN'T do this, at least not on SONY ones. they have deliberately engineered it so that you can not transfer analogue recorded material digitally. They did this to thwart copyright infringement.

The only way to get your mix off the MD onto the computer is to play it out the headphone jack of the MD (introducing another digital to analog conversion), then in the line in of your sound card (converting back to digital) and record (with soundforge or whatever you use). This also means if you have an hour long mix, you have to wait an hour while it transfers, and preferably not use your computer during this time to make sure it doesn't skip or anything.

So, you have to record analog with your computer anyway, may as well just record it straight into your sound card in the first place, unless of course, like me, your decks and computer are in different places and you can't do this.

Another disadvantage of MD is that your recording time is limited to only 80 minutes in standard mode. Enough to record a single CD, but if you want to record a long mix, you have to use LP or LP2 compression, both which degrade the sound (LP2 is especially bad, it removes a large amount of the bass, and is very noticeably lacking)

If you use LP you can get 2 hours 40 minutes, and in 2LP mode, you can get 5 hours 20 minutes, which still wouldn't be enough, say to record a whole party or something.

with a computer, you are limited only by the size of your harddrive, and you can record straight to it, without a lossy intermediate step.

As for soundcards, you mobo soundcard is definitely not of high quality. I would suggest an M-Audio 24/96 for recording, that's what i plan on getting.

http://www.m-audio.net/products/m-audio/audiophile.php

the m-audio is a good idea, but i'll have to wait on getting that, but i'm not sure how good the sound quality would be overall, also, wondering about what program specifically to use, i don't like soundforge, someone told me about cakewalk sonar, and i will be trying that next, if any good comes out of it i'll let you guys know, thanx for the advice though, that card looks to be pretty good

Does it record as .wav? Cause if so, doesnt 1hr = a few gigs if recorded in .wav format?

it depends on the write rate

ex
8kbps
16kbps
24kbps
and so on

soundforge 6.0 only lets you go to 32 using a regular mic, and 64 using a special IEEE (firewire) port deal (i don't know how to use that)

but yeah, typically an hour long set is maybe a gig, depending on your write rate, doens't matter to me, i have 60 free gigs on my drive....

Can you guys please elaborate some more about this? I'm using soundforge 6 and hooked up a cable directly to my decks and the other end into my laptop. I get it recorded fine but there's no base and doesn't sound very good. i tried connecting my audio cable to my REC Out on my mixer and it recorded..BUT it was WAY too lound, the sound waves were maxed out through the whole set. Can anyone help me out? Thanks!

if you record in higher bit depth and use higher sample rate like 48khz or 96khz, instead of 16bit/44kHz, the wave file will be larger.
When i record in 24bit at 96kHz, for 60 min, it takes up 2gb. Yeah, if you have the HD space, its not a big deal.

As far as the software, if you dont like SoundForge, try out Wavelab.
I personally didnt like soundforge either, but everyone has different tastes. Sonar is a midi sequencer program that also will allow you to record wave, like cubase and others.
I wouldnt use it for wave recording, unless you will be doing some production projects. Just no reason to use extra resources with stuff that it loads. Id rather use something strictly for wave recording and editing as those mentioned already (wavelab, cool edit pro, sound forge)

does sound forge allow you to record at 96khz? i haven't seen that option (then again, i havent exactly been looking hard for it), plz let me know thanx

^^^
Yes it does. Remember, its jus as good or better than any other wave editing/recording program out there... eventually, its gonna come down to its interface and usability. How easy it is for you to use, etc.

Can you guys please check out my post and give some feedback? What am i doing wrong? Is it how i have my set up? I'm using the MIC in port, does this have a lot to do with it?

Chambers: If your soundcard has a Line In Port, you want to use that since the MIC input is only mono.


My Soon to be setup
Technics 1200MK2 with Stanton 500AL's
Soundcard: Soundblaster Live Value

Does anyone have any clue on how good the sound quality will be when i record my sets onto the PC? Also did any of you actually pay for your copy of soundforge

Thanks vhx1, I'm sure that's my problem. Now I gotta lug my pc downstairs to set that up. Was hoping I could just do it through my laptop..doh!

Now my other question. Should I connect my decks directly into the LINE IN or should I connect my mixer to the LINE IN...or even my amp to the LINE IN? Guess that's all I need to know :-)

Paid for it?...hmm, I'm demo'ing it first :P

CHambers, I have heard that you may need to connect your decks to your mixer. Then connect the output from your mixer to your Line In port on your soundcard. I think that this will help improve sound quality. You can use an amp or mixer..either one should work fine.

Great! Thanks for all your help!!

hey, i finally figured out how to get it record from my line in... for those of us that have less than XP, you go to the little speaker logo on the bottom right by your clock, and then double click on it...

then you go to options, and then click on properties. it'll give you 2-3 options...
playback
recording
other

click on the circle for recording and then hit ok, it'll show you the available recording inputs. on the bottom you select line in, and then whatever recording software you have should be using the line in to record your music, i think this will eliminate a lot of the unnecessary noise that you'd get with the mic.

also make sure to set you volume settings to low before you start recording otherwise your entire mix will sound muffled, and you'll have to do all that hard work over again...best way is to start on low volume, record a song, and then increase the volumes as you need to.

one last thing, if you don't mind having part of the aural spectrum cut, you can shift your fader to sharp instead of smooth, and that automatically lowers your volume tremendously and the recording will be a bit softer and a bit more of a pleasure to listen to, then again, that's my opinion.

i currently use sound forge 6.0 since i figured out how to use the line-in. i record mine at 32bit stereo, 96000hz and that's just cuz i have the space on my hard drive. recording at that quality is likely to take up at least 3-4 gigs for an a full length cd, i'll let you guys know the exact number when i mix my first full length cd.

i hope this helps

I use Cool Edit 2000. For some reason, Soundforge used a massive amount of CPU while recording, and it was actually causing it to skip in the recording.

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