Fostex VF160/ Need Help

[spanishgrass@cs]

I've owned my VF160 for a couple of years now and am really pleased with it. I've managed to record a couple of decent demos of myself. However, I am a novice at best and have had a frustrating experience trying to figure this thing out. First off, the instruction booklet that came with the recorder is put together from Japanese logic. I found this to be confusing. Second, being a novice, I do not understand some of the terminolgy, scrub, compress, to name a couple. Is there a book out there somewhere that defines the recording /mixing terminolgy? I've just discovered this site and haven't had time to read much of it yet but certainly intend to do so. FWIW, I am a solo performer, singing, and playing Dobro. I use a SM 58 for vocals and a AKG c1000s for my instrument. And my " recording studio" is my motorhome. No such thing as great acoustic in here. This is a great site and I'm looking forward to reading it all. Thanks to all for any input.

[billisa]

Originally Posted by spanishgrass@cs

I've owned my VF160 for a couple of years now and am really pleased with it. I've managed to record a couple of decent demos of myself. However, I am a novice at best and have had a frustrating experience trying to figure this thing out. First off, the instruction booklet that came with the recorder is put together from Japanese logic. I found this to be confusing. Second, being a novice, I do not understand some of the terminolgy, scrub, compress, to name a couple. Is there a book out there somewhere that defines the recording /mixing terminolgy? I've just discovered this site and haven't had time to read much of it yet but certainly intend to do so. FWIW, I am a solo performer, singing, and playing Dobro. I use a SM 58 for vocals and a AKG c1000s for my instrument. And my " recording studio" is my motorhome. No such thing as great acoustic in here. This is a great site and I'm looking forward to reading it all. Thanks to all for any input.

Welcome...
"Scrub" is what you do when you roll back and forth using the jog wheel on a given section of music on a selected track. First you hit the SCRUB button, then select which track you want to "scrub". This is very useful if you want to do any edits... It enables you to see/hear the section of the track at very slow speed, back and forth as you rotate the wheel, then precisely select and in/out point for the start/end of a given edit...

"Compress" has to do with literally squashing the music levels so that the difference in volume between the loud and soft sections can be reduced (almost to nothing). Compression is best used lightly, but some music that has a huge range between very loud and quiet sections can't be listened to in noisy environments (car) because the softest sections play below the level of the surrounding noise. With compression, the whole song can be made to sound as though it's actual volume never varies much. You access the VF160 compressor by holding the SHIFT button while pushing the COMP button (located in the EQ/COMP area to the right of fader #8). You can turn on the Compressor just prior to MIXDOWN, thus compressing the whole track. Use a THSD of around -10db, RATIO of 2.5:1, ATCK of 8ms and GAIN of 0. You will have to boost the MASTER FADER to get your song back up near 0db. Just hit the RECORD button and experiment with the levels before hitting RECORD/PLAY and actually recording the MIXDOWN.

[spanishgrass@cs]

Thanks billisa. I suppose sooner or later I'll figure it all out. I've been spending some time scouring this site and I can see that there is lots of info to digest. I went to vf16.com and downloaded those files but they wouldn't open up. Don't know what the problem is. I'm running windows xp. I've a gig on wednesday and am spending lots of time on the strings and this working for a living thing sure gets in the way sometimes also. I've several songs in my recorder ready to mix for a demo and the compress procedure has really peaked my interest. I'll be back.

[billisa]

Originally Posted by spanishgrass@cs

I've several songs in my recorder ready to mix for a demo and the compress procedure has really peaked my interest. I'll be back.

I forget, but are the Direct and Buss record files on VF16.com ADOBE ACROBAT READER? If they are you'll have to put that on your computer. You can usually find a free version.

Don't overdo compression and you'll be fine. Threshold is about how far below the 0db it will start to kick in (like raising or lowering the ceiling). Ratio has to do with how much squashing gets done. Attack is about how quickly the compression kicks in (too fast and the snap of drums will be wiped out). Gain raises the level of the quiet passages, but be careful or it will boost background noise as well.

I have found it's a good idea to go through each track and completely erase sections where nothing is happening, so if you have any extra noise in the background (cars, creaks, breathing, whatever) it's wiped out. Be careful not to wipe off actual music/vocals.

Lastly, give the VF160 time to execute each procedure (an extra second or two) before pushing more buttons. Remember too that when moving or pasting large sections of music, it takes the machine extra time to do this, and you'll see how much is left as the display counts down.

[spanishgrass@cs]

billisa, thanks again for your help. First, the direct & buss record files on vf16 are Adobe and I have Adobe reader but the other available download files aren't. I don't know what program they are. Now about the compression function. I tinkered around with it most of the day. But I don't understand the track 13-14/15-16 part. My small band recorded 5 songs into the vf160 and when using compression will all the recorded tracks , 14 , all be compressed when activating compression. The 13-14/ 15-16 part really has me confused. I assume compression is part of the initial mixing process along with EQ and effects, etc. etc. After final mixing each song is on 2 tracks only, can these 2 tracks be mixed again and compressed also? Thanks In advance for your help.

[billisa]

Originally Posted by spanishgrass@cs

The 13-14/ 15-16 part really has me confused. I assume compression is part of the initial mixing process along with EQ and effects, etc. etc. After final mixing each song is on 2 tracks only, can these 2 tracks be mixed again and compressed also? Thanks In advance for your help.

You can do a partial mixdown (ping-pong) recording where tracks already recorded are sent through the compressor and wind up on 13/14 or 15/16.

The only compression I've done is during the final MIXDOWN which then creates a new PROGRAM "MIX...."

Others here can chime in with compressing just 1 or two tracks (good in some cases for the vocal track).

[MT041122]

Can any of you help me how to record a song/program to CD, been having difficulty. I will highly appreciate it.

[THX1136]

Do you have a built-in burner? If so what follows will be of no help. If you don't have an internal burner the following may offer some ideas to try.

You would have a couple of options that come to mind - there may be more. One option would be to use the analog outs on the VF160 to dump the mix into you computer to be used by whatever audio software you may have. Following whatever method you need to with the software you have to burn a cd would be next. You could also use the digital out and accomplish the same thing although you will need an interface to get the mix into the computer - one that allows optical conversion of the signal to analog.

What I've done in my situation is use the analog outs straight into my Mac - "recording" the mix in the free version of ProTools or into GarageBand. From there I do whatever the software requires to put the mix in a form - AIFF, WAV, SDII - that can be used to burn a disc for which I use Toast to accomplish. I'm okay with the quality, but if you have a great set of ears following this route may be less than satisfactory for you. I don't listen on a great system - mostly in my car with all the road noise and such - so it's unlikely I would hear the benefit of limiting the number of ad/da conversions.

Hope this gives you some ideas to consider.