converting question

N

no_monkeybiznus

New member
Okay- First off I record onto an ADAT. And I would like to record my band soon. But I only have 8 tracks. What I would like to do is record 8 drum track, then mix them down to a cd (I have a stand-alone burner). Then I will put the cd back into tracks 1, and 2 on the ADAT. And overdubbing from there.
This means I will be converting digital to analog, and back again.
Is this bad? Do I have other options.

I know this wont leave much room for changing the drum sound once its back in the ADAT. Is there anyway to leave things more flexible.
Thanks so much
 
Both questions here basically fall under the "You just gotta try it out and see what happens" reply. If you remember that many of the greatest Beatles recordings were done on a 4 track that would suggest that with a skilled and patient approach, you can achieve some pretty impressive results.

I would not be too concerned with the conversions you will be doing. ADAT's record just fine, and your stand alone burner records just fine. Any degregation to the audio because of all the conversions would be far less than if you were working in the analog realm that you could afford. Yes, there will be some degregation to the audio, but you MIGHT be hard pressed to hear it.

As far as keeping thing flexible till the end, well, if you only have 8 tracks, and your needs exceed that, then you will have to give up something. Again, if your approach is done with skill and patience your results will benefit greatly. If you don't have much experience and don't have all the time in the world to work on this, well, hopefully you learn well from your mistakes, because you WILL make at least a few of them. A combination of lesser skill and lesser versatility in your recording setup certainly does not shine hope that the finish product will compete favorably to recordings done with better and more versatile gear by an engineer who knows his business. But hey, not one professional engineer I know would be proud to play EVERY recording they have worked on in their life you know......;)

Good luck.

Ed
 
Wow-thank you so much. I do have pretty much unlimited time to work on this recording I have been greatly soothed by your reply(for real).
 
Wow....Hey sonusman, remember the great lengths engineers used to go to when they only had 4 tracks, and they used 2 machines, kept one track open for new material and just kept the old fashioned dual recorder pingpong for days. The lack of options teaches you alot doesn't it. I was forced for many years to deal with nothing but a 4 track analog machine, I took my lessons with me when I bought my MD8, and what was I going to do with all those tracks. You could do 6 tracks of drums, or even 4 for that matter. I don't know hwat kind of mixer you have but you could submix down to 4 into the ADAT, that way your left with some room for changes to Levels, EQ's and panning, do 2 tracks of rhythm with bass, do a quicky mix of the drums, then after it sounds good, pong it down to the remaining 2 open tracks, then your ready to record over the old drum tracks with whatever and even redo the bass and rhythm. But it all depends on the mixers bussing capabilities. My worries would not be really the data transfer from a CD back into the ADAT, but rather the quality of the drum mix prior to having other music involved. If you blow the drum mix going to cd, youve blown it totally. But if you mix with some other music, then your safer in the long run.

IMO Always.

Peace,
Dennis
 
I do have a 4 bus board.
Do you mean record some bass and gtrs to the ADAT before bouncing the drum tracks so that I can hear how the drums will sit w/the other instruments- great idea.
Awesome - Thanks
 
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