recording synths??

[mutt]

I record to a Tascam 564 digital 4 track using a Korg X5D, Kurzweil pc88mx, and Alesis SR16 drum machine. I realize it could just be my Yamaha monitors, but even listening on a good set of headphones, the recording of the synth tracks sounds dark and sometimes muddy. The vocal tracks I have recorded (using my SM 58's till I can afford a condenser) actually sound pretty clean compared to the synth tracks.

I don't put any effects on the tracks with the synths assigned at all. I usually leave the mid's all centered, boost the highs a bit, and even cut back on the lows.

I realize that most synth patches have some reverb as part of the sound. Would it be best to set the synth to effects bypass and use the Alesis reverb unit connected to the Tascam to enhance the synth sounds? Would futher eq-ing (from an outboard eq unit) help?

Is there a way to a cleaner sound with my current set up, or am I expecting too much for the equipment I have??

mutt

 

[Shailat]

2 questions

1. Are you recording Stereo patches , Mono ?
2. Did you hear the sound coming from the synth itself and comparing between the Digital recording to the headphone output on the synth ?.

 

[mutt]

I think I partially answered my own question.

1. I connected Cakewalk to the Korg, so I ran left and right out from the Korg to the Tascam and fed tracks 1 and 2. I midi thru to the Kurzweil for the piano track only. I ran the piano sound (the only Kurzweil patch I used) out from the Kurz to the Tascam in mono. I think the patches might be stereo, but I'm not sure since I usually only run a line out from the left/mono output to the amp.

2. I connected the monitor out left & right from the Tascam to channel 1 left & right inputs of my Roland 500 keyboard amp. I also had only the left/mono out of the Kurzweil connected to channel 2 of the Roland. I pushed play on the Tascam and soloed the piano track to the Roland amp. When I played the Kurzweil piano patch itself (during the quiet spots of the track) I still could notice a little difference in the brightness and presence of the live keyboard over the track from the Tascam. Not a huge difference, but still more towards the sound I was looking for. (And either sound sounds a bit brighter than my Yamaha home stereo an Infinity subwoofer and Yamaha NSA526 speakers. Yes-I know they're not going to sound like Alesis speakers.) I listened to the tracks from the headphones connected to both the Tascam and from the headphone out on the Roland and didn't really notice any difference.

I read on another forum topic where someone (I can't remember who, but a name that I recognized as a Senior member who regularly contributes to the discussions) said that their method is to change the eq on different tracks, making some more prominent in the highs, others in the lows, to make the tracks stand out, but still mesh together. Since I'm feeding only 3 lines into the Tascam, can the equing be done with the individual tracks in Cakewalk? I didn't see any eq's on the console mode. (In case you're wondering why I use Cakewalk when I record to the Tascam, I sequence to Cakewalk so I can control the volumes of the different patches from the different synths, drum machine, etc. better. then I run the line outs from the synths to the Tascam) I realize I could record the different instruments individually to the Tascam using midi sync, but I'm not so sure I want to do that much bouncing to get a final stereo left and right instrument mix. I'm basically lazy

mutt