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Recording Mixes

How do you guys and gals record your mixes ??

Is there many different ways of doing it ??

at home - line out to my line in on the pc and record through wavelab

I use a dedicated philips cd recording deck. Heaps easier and better sound than through a p.c. the discs are heaps more expensive and hard to get though.

quote:

Originally posted by batemanscott I use a dedicated philips cd recording deck. Heaps easier and better sound than through a p.c. the discs are heaps more expensive and hard to get though.

absolute garbage. As long as your sound card is not a POS you can get just as good if not better results recording onto a hard drive that you can even with DAT or minidisc, which is what they have been using in professional studios for the last decade or so up until about 2 years ago when they started to move to computer based recording. Programs like sound forge and the like have so many recording optiona and sampling rates far above anything you can achieve on a CD or minidisc. Plus it makes post production changes like normalisation, compression and even editing out mistakes simple.

Trust me, as long as your pc is powerful enuff (and it doesnt take much) recoding onto your computer is going to be the easist way for you to create your own mixes.

Re: Recording Mixes

quote:

Originally posted by SABRE` How do you guys and gals record your mixes ??

Gals use Barbie recording 2.0 or the latest version of Soundforgerina.

Guys use GI Joe Pro 4.0 or Tonka Recording Amp.

quote:

Originally posted by RobertRollie Logic.

I agree with this.

Actually robert if you look you'll note that I'm not talking about what you *can* do with software (and It's disappointing that you would be editing out mistakes) I am talking about recording directly to a cd.

Most people that connect to a pc do so with a cheap, shitty, unshielded 3.5mm to 2 rca cable that doesn't maintain 75 ohms nor have separate networks for the various frequencies, then they use cheap soundcards etc and generally end up with pretty crappy sounding recordings.

Imagine just hitting "record" and achieving an exact recording. Sound Easy?

The reasoning behind such extreme recording range with these programs is beyond me. The vinyl doesn't put it out, the needle doesn't put it out, the cd can't record it, the cd player , amp and speakers in even alot of high quality systems can't reproduce it anyway so why would you?

Even if your recording at 192khz and you have a studio grade system to play it back on, your ear can't hear it. Golden rule mate...
20 to 20.

quote:

The reasoning behind such extreme recording range with these programs is beyond me. The vinyl doesn't put it out, the needle doesn't put it out, the cd can't record it, the cd player , amp and speakers in even alot of high quality systems can't reproduce it anyway so why would you?

rollie just got owned by batman

quote:

Originally posted by batemanscott Actually robert if you look you'll note that I'm not talking about what you *can* do with software (and It's disappointing that you would be editing out mistakes) I am talking about recording directly to a cd. Most people that connect to a pc do so with a cheap, shitty, unshielded 3.5mm to 2 rca cable that doesn't maintain 75 ohms nor have separate networks for the various frequencies, then they use cheap soundcards etc and generally end up with pretty crappy sounding recordings. Imagine just hitting "record" and achieving an exact recording. Sound Easy? The reasoning behind such extreme recording range with these programs is beyond me. The vinyl doesn't put it out, the needle doesn't put it out, the cd can't record it, the cd player , amp and speakers in even alot of high quality systems can't reproduce it anyway so why would you? Even if your recording at 192khz and you have a studio grade system to play it back on, your ear can't hear it. Golden rule mate... 20 to 20.

one question I have for you though. What happens when your levels are a little up and down. i.e in between some mixes some tunes haven't been cued loud enough than others? Does the CD recorder normalise on the fly? Why the need for special cd's? I 've used a similar device and used plain recordable cd's and worked fine.

Also, out of interest, how does the CD recorder separate the tracks for you in sequence? Or is that done later?

It seems that "each to their own" applies here and there isn't one right method. Scott seems to be happy recording straight to the CD recorder and RobertRollie prefers the PC. For me it's the PC all the way and I've had experience with both including Minidisc etc (which btw, is so portable that I take it to gigs and record live sets).

I use an M-Audio Audiophile 24/96 and I have to say the improvement in sound recording quality is notably better than the SB Live I used to use.

There is one thing I can't stand and that's people trying to fix mixing faults with music apps. Not only are they cheating themselves, but, the people, promoter, girlfriend whoever they are giving it to. It's not the end of the world if the mixing is a little off and besides not everyone or every mix is perfect (but we try). Better to have it raw is my philosophy.

fixing mixing errors is different to making sure it sounds better.

well that's the distinction i'm trying to make. The music app will allow you to improve the recording levels etc, and it shouldn't be treated as a band-aid to your mixing.

quote:

Originally posted by christos well that's the distinction i'm trying to make. The music app will allow you to improve the recording levels etc, and it shouldn't be treated as a band-aid to your mixing.

You're on the money there mate! Not fair to those that WORK to achieve smooth mixes, that others can touch up faults with software.

The burning decks need a "cd-r audio" disc. different from cd-r. Cheapest i can find is about $1.20 each!! They do sound good though.

Only reason I ask is a friend of mine has a Philips unit that I have used to record and we just used a normal CD-R to record. Oh well, whatever works go with it!


Chris Pana

quote:

Originally posted by batemanscott You're on the money there mate! Not fair to those that WORK to achieve smooth mixes, that others can touch up faults with software. The burning decks need a "cd-r audio" disc. different from cd-r. Cheapest i can find is about $1.20 each!! They do sound good though.

do u ahve a weblink to what these units look like

or any brand names?

quote:

Originally posted by 00soups00 fixing mixing errors is different to making sure it sounds better.

what you gunna do when you play out ..

"Hang on a minute crowd! Let me just beef the volume up on the that mix I just did.. gimme a minute I'll re do it!!!!"


Please.


I've mentioned it on ITM before and I'll mention it here.

I'm sick of getting demos from people who have polished it up so much. I put them on in good faith that its how they mix, they get behind the decks and they're frankly shit.

If you're mixing because you are releasing a compilation CD (licensed I hope) then sure, it has to be all polished etc.. but for demos, I don't think I know many promoters that want a perfect CD (Albs? Josh? Others?) if you really can't mix that well or can't get your levels right.

I think this just shows a lack of respect for what you're doing and the people you're doing it for. If you can't mix well, can't monitor levels etc properly when you're mixing, don't pretend you can by cleaning it up in an application (and no using the flange).

9/10 once you get up on the big system with the proper monitors, louder system etc you'll be able to do OK (Unless you get stupidly blind drunk with yer mates and after some drunken encouragement try and mix *cough*)

For the guys who do play out on a regular basis, I expect a higher quality mix from them than I would from a newcomer, but I still wouldn't expect 100% perfect.

You'd be suprised at how many internats demo's I've got which aren't 100% perfect.

Love Huey.

edit: and due to my last couple of outings behind the decks when drunk, alcohol consumption for huey before mixing is now minimal ... (before any of you perthies comment )

just found this link soups...
http://www.techtronics.com/uk/shop/...cd-players.html

Only one I could find. They don't say anything about the discs but it wont use standard cd-r.

quote:

Originally posted by batemanscott Actually robert if you look you'll note that I'm not talking about what you *can* do with software (and It's disappointing that you would be editing out mistakes) I am talking about recording directly to a cd. Most people that connect to a pc do so with a cheap, shitty, unshielded 3.5mm to 2 rca cable that doesn't maintain 75 ohms nor have separate networks for the various frequencies, then they use cheap soundcards etc and generally end up with pretty crappy sounding recordings. Imagine just hitting "record" and achieving an exact recording. Sound Easy? The reasoning behind such extreme recording range with these programs is beyond me. The vinyl doesn't put it out, the needle doesn't put it out, the cd can't record it, the cd player , amp and speakers in even alot of high quality systems can't reproduce it anyway so why would you? Even if your recording at 192khz and you have a studio grade system to play it back on, your ear can't hear it. Golden rule mate... 20 to 20.

Im sorry but I beg to differ. Most turntables output an analougue signal and as such it can be sampled at up to whatever the program/device supports with accurate results (as long as your needles arent fucked). And you'd be surprised how much difference the sampling rate can make to the sound quality when converting it to lossy formats like MP3.

As for recording directly to cd 'most people' as you put it, cannot afford expensive dedicated hardware like that, on top of that, and IMO such a thing is a complete and utter waste of money, especially in a home recording environment, when a PC can do a better job. Plus if you fuck your mix up, you've wasted a (relatively) expensive cd.

'Most people' have a PC at home, can afford 60 bux for a decent soundcard and 5 bux for a decent lead to plug into it. But really over such a short distance the resistance hardly matters and as long as you keep it clear of your power cables you can even get by with unshielded cable. Im speaking from 5 years working as a professional sound engineer in concert production and studios, so I'm hardly out of my league here.

and keep in mind the question asked was how do you record your mixes, no one said anything about demos...maybe he just wants to listen to his music in the car? Its fine for you all to jump on the bandwagon about how disapointed you are but at the end of the day, im sure he just wanted to make a nice sounding mix. shit...

I'm in the mood to rant.

Since most people who post in this thread (and a fair few on the main forum) are DJs, aspiring DJs etc .. I stand by my rant and deem it VALID.

I go to DMC in prahran for demos...15 bucks an hour for a top notch setup.

Its hard recording a demo...ive been PLaying out for a year and a half and now only worked out how to do them properly. Just get your favourite newies...press record and PLay. DOnt worry if its not 100% perfect...as long as it flows you'll be right.

I tried recording a demo a couple of weeks ago onto my MD, just so I could listen back and if its any good spread around my mates. I plugged the MD into the 'TAPE' out on the back of my mixer.

When I listened back the volume was WAY too loud, everything distorted to shit. Next time I tried I turned every volume on my mixer to minimum; main out, gains, and only used around 20 mm of my faders. What resulted was a good volume, but I could adjust the gains, and because I was using such a small amount of fader the channels were basically 'on' or 'off', there was no build up. As you can imagine the mixes weren't smooth so it sounded crap.

Does anyone else have this prob when using MD, or did I set it up wrong?
Is it better to find an out on my stereo?

Robert I am surprised that being a sound engineer you would even dream of using a five buck rca cable and deem it "quality". Interference occurs from "rf" and "emi" so simply pulling it away from power lines will in no way prevent interference. Impedence loss can occur instantly and when you consider that all the audio signal is, is an electrical signal, not getting 75ohms means.....not getting all your sound!

I am also suprised that you would claim to "hear" the benefits of recording at such a high sampling range AFTER the audio is compressed to mp3?

Might I also point out if you read the specs on your needles they dont output ANY information beyond 20hz-25khz. At least my Ortofon Nightclub "e"s don't.

I never recommended anybody go buy an expensive recording deck ( mine cost $150 )I only stated that on a straight recording it is easier and does sound better. If I fuck up a mix I simply erase what was on the "cd-rw audio" disc, and start again. I dont mind software, but I dont need to "touch up" my mixes.

As Chris said each to their own

quote:

Originally posted by Trance Nutter I tried recording a demo a couple of weeks ago onto my MD, just so I could listen back and if its any good spread around my mates. I plugged the MD into the 'TAPE' out on the back of my mixer. When I listened back the volume was WAY too loud, everything distorted to shit. Next time I tried I turned every volume on my mixer to minimum; main out, gains, and only used around 20 mm of my faders. What resulted was a good volume, but I could adjust the gains, and because I was using such a small amount of fader the channels were basically 'on' or 'off', there was no build up. As you can imagine the mixes weren't smooth so it sounded crap. Does anyone else have this prob when using MD, or did I set it up wrong? Is it better to find an out on my stereo?

Check that your not in lp2 or lp4 mode if it's a sony md then go into record volume and manually adjust it.

Oh crap...... Didn't realise there was a recording volume! That makes things a bit easier

Cheers mate

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