hey guys, whenever i want to record a track the kick sounds to soft or distorted, for example i put a soft kick in a track and it distorts like hell, or when i put a heavy kick in a track it either sounds to soft or distorted, with almost any program i use to record a track, i know im probably doing something wrong and need to change something in order to record the track crystal clear, but i dont know what to do.. if someone could help me it would be much appreciated! thanks in advance.

im using :

Magix Music Maker v3.0
Sony Soundforge v7.0


cheers,

bidor

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Last edited by Rinster on Mar-21-2006 at 10:22

Heh. I used to use magix, but that was many years ago. With that important piece of commentary out of the way, here goes.

Chances are, since the kick sounds so soft, you are cranking the volume up so high that the signal is clipping. To remedy this, you're going to have to look into proper EQing and compression. I'm not gonna help you with that, though, cuz there's a whole bunch of tutorials and such out there for you to look up.

The kicks you're having problems with probably all have fairly blunt attacks, so they sound softer than they are. Compression will help that. EQing properly will bring in the most prominant frequencies, and drop the muddy noise, when compressed properly afterwards.

So look those up.

[edit]

I take it you're a DJ, judging by your odd question and supreme tranceaddictness?

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No need to eq or compress, 99 % of the kicks that you want to sample are allready eq'd and compressed.
The only thing you have to make sure is that you have a decent level in the inputs. (also check you have used the right inputs, it should be line in) Just use the monitor in advance, the signal should go in the yellow zone but NOT the red because then you have overdrive/distortion. After this cut the silent zones and do a normalise.

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Check that your basslines aren't occupying the same frequencies as your kicks. If they are you will get distortion. Bit of trial and error EQing should sort the problem out.

Even though the sample may already be compressed isnt it still helpfull to compress the whole track or maybe the kick still?
It may help alittle but it all depends on what sound hes going for.
BTW: I havnt seen this guy in the dj booth.

What exactly are you doing?

From what you wrote, you could either be recording a live kick drum, or using a sample in a track, or something else completely.

And as for compressing and EQing, you need to do that in every track. Look it up either way.

And inputs? If he's using samples he's already recorded, where do inputs come in? If he's recording from a live source, chances are he'll need EQing and compression.

Distortion can come out of so many sources, we can't possibly remedy the situation without more info (for example, distortion can come out of volume being too high before a VST, channel out, hardware source in, improper compression, levels too high on soundcard output, be it master or wav, amlost anything).

Again, what exactly are you doing? What is the source of your sample/recording?

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quote:

Originally posted by djglacial What exactly are you doing? From what you wrote, you could either be recording a live kick drum, or using a sample in a track, or something else completely. And as for compressing and EQing, you need to do that in every track. Look it up either way. And inputs? If he's using samples he's already recorded, where do inputs come in? If he's recording from a live source, chances are he'll need EQing and compression. Distortion can come out of so many sources, we can't possibly remedy the situation without more info (for example, distortion can come out of volume being too high before a VST, channel out, hardware source in, improper compression, levels too high on soundcard output, be it master or wav, amlost anything). Again, what exactly are you doing? What is the source of your sample/recording?

thanks guys for the help, i have been to a shop here called music maker, and i told this guy exactly what my problem was, he told me the that i had to change the input & the equalizer. but i still dont know what the full meaning of "input" means as i was in a rush to work i just stopped by and asked about the distortion. the samples are not comming from a live source, they are all ready made. im almost sure i need to change something in the equilizer and input, if someone could help me with that i would be very happy thanks a lot for helping guys!

bidor

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just a wild guess here .... if your passing audio into your pc soundcard then you may need to change the line level between consumer or pro (-10db or + 4db) you can find it in your control panel for the card.

quote:

No need to eq or compress, 99 % of the kicks that you want to sample are allready eq'd and compressed. The only thing you have to make sure is that you have a decent level in the inputs. (also check you have used the right inputs, it should be line in) Just use the monitor in advance, the signal should go in the yellow zone but NOT the red because then you have overdrive/distortion. After this cut the silent zones and do a normalise.

I still never normalise because it simply scales up the sample waveform - noise (however noticeable) and all. Most of the time I find that...undesireable.

I would just increase the mixer gain until its peaking below the dreaded red line after all processes. Then stick a gate on it and raise the threshold to cut any ambient hiss/background noise. Even if it doesnt remove anything audible it will more than likely save a little headroom anyway. Also, if you set the threshold high enough without the kick sample artifacting you can sometimes shave off a teeny bit of the tail of the kick and make it sound slightly more compact.

quote:

Originally posted by Derivative I still never normalise because it simply scales up the sample waveform - noise (however noticeable) and all. Most of the time I find that...undesireable. I would just increase the mixer gain until its peaking below the dreaded red line after all processes. Then stick a gate on it and raise the threshold to cut any ambient hiss/background noise. Even if it doesnt remove anything audible it will more than likely save a little headroom anyway. Also, if you set the threshold high enough without the kick sample artifacting you can sometimes shave off a teeny bit of the tail of the kick and make it sound slightly more compact.

thanks bro that was just the advice i needed! i found the problem... because i have my headphones connected to my mixer and my mixer connected to my pc i always control the volume at my mixer. the volume was all the time set at 100 at the computer so that was what caused the distorted kick. thanks for all the advice guys!

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