Question On "Mixing Down"

[drummerdoug86]

Ok, I am recording live onto a CD-R standalone deck. I plug all my instruments into my mixer and then hook the mixer into the CD-R. Now that the music is on the CD, how do I mix down the music and re-record it? I know I have to mess with my mixer to mix the sound, but how do I send the music to the mixer so I can hear what I am doing? When I do send the sound to the mixer and mess with it, do I just press record on the CD-R again, and I just record at the same time I mix? Please tell me what to do! Thanks.

[fenix]

you're kidding, right?

[camn]

um.. you dont. with a standalone CR-R you get one take. No Overdubs. But if you are dubbing a NEW disc with the OLD disc PLUS new tracks... just get a Difeerent deck.. and run it into you mixer... treat it like any old instrument.. and tape your new tracks that way.

to hear the disc.. you have to sent the OUT from the disc player to an IN on the mixer.

xoxo

Oh.. ANd kiddo... listen up, and listen well.

It is a FABULOUS thing that you are getting into recording, especially at your age. I WISH TO GOD I had, too. Keep asking questions about things... and keep working it.. in two years you';ll be alright.. and when you're my age you'll be fantastic, if.

HOWEVER!! you need to read up. You need to read for two hours a day and get the basics in your head. Read the main pages.. www.homerecording.com .. as well as EVERY post that has anything in it.

AND MORE IMPORTANTLY!!!
Don't cross post!
That means posting the SAME question in two different forums, at the same time. Its annoying. If you must.. post your question in ONE forum.. and see what kind of answers you get.. THEN in a couple weeks.. you can REpost in a different forum.. IF you didnt get the answers you needed.

other than that... keep it up, Dawg!

xo

[knightfly]

No, he's not... DD, you really need to find a book on BASIC multi-track recording. If I come across a good one, I'll post it for you and others.

What some of the other people were trying to tell you before, is that the reason they call it "Multi-Track" recording, is that it is made up of MULTIPLE tracks. The idea is that you record as many tracks of sound as you have mics and sources and tracks (more than two), THEN you use a mixer, feed ALL those RECORDED tracks into the mixer, and adjust levels/panning/EQ, add effects, until you like the sound of the two stereo tracks you've MIXED DOWN to, then record those two tracks to a CD, for example.


The reason they call it "MIXING DOWN", is that you go from, say, 8 or 24 tracks of sound, DOWN to two tracks (stereo)

What you've just done, is recorded what they call "Live-to-two-track"- The end result is what you're stuck with, as TRK tried to tell you. Now that you have a two track recording, about all you can do is to tweak those two tracks with EQ, balancing, etc, until you're as happy as can be with them. Even an experienced mastering engineer would have a tough time giving you more of one instrument now that you have only a two track mix.

What you've just found out (re-read this again if you're not sure) is why it takes a pretty seasoned recording engineer to successfully record "Live-to-two-track"- basically, once your done, YOU'RE DONE!!! Sooo, if you didn't get it right, you start over.

Until I can find a really good primer on multitracking for you to buy, here are a couple links you can get some terminology from -

http://www.rane.com/digi-dic.html

http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html

read/click everything you find there, it will help explain a lot. Each time you read this kind of stuff, more stays with you, until eventually things start to make sense...