losing sound quality when using stand alone burner

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david strait

New member
When I mix down my finished song to a stand alone burner it loses alot of its fullness. Alot of the reverb doesn't come through and it just sounds um, thin, i guess. Is this a function of the mr-8 or would a more expensive burner yeild a higher quality end product? Thanks for the info you guys gave me on the previous thread that i posted!
 
Are you using a computer burner, or a domestic recordable cd-r (like a HHB or Pioneer).
Edited because I was on the wrong track entirely!
 
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cd

all comercial cd's are 16 bit 144 bit depth, they have to be burned at that rate, what you are lacking is the ability to master the song , adding compression , limitors and all the eq that you are lacking, when you get n track you will not beleive the difference in the sound quality, which will allow you to record in 24 bit if you get the upgrade, whick is great for definition and detail, but you will still be burning at 16 bit 144 depth rate......

i use the 16 bit version and it sounds great the difference is awsome, only trouble was i had mixed down alot of songs, and you really want to save each track in import into n track and manipulate each track from there( eq effects compression.... try audiominds.com

great n trackers there with all the answers to recording and quality issues
 
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I doubt this is a burner issue, but instead a mixing issue. CD burners are burning digital data, and rarely lose a single bit. Audio CDs are 44 KHz 16-Bit, so that is not likely the limitation.

What process do you use for mixing and how is the final result fed to the burning process?

Ed
 
A CD burner records previously recorded digital WAV tracks. There is no conversion that takes place during the burning process. What is there is exactly what gets recorded.

Since an MR8 had no CD capability, the question is how the WAV data gets to the PC that is doing the burning. That is likely where the problem lies.

Ed
 
real time mix down

What I've been doing is running 1/4" from the stereo out to the dual 1/4" inputs on the burner and recording in real time. I guess once i get n-track i'll be able to bypass this step though, and burn the final copy straight off my computer, right?
 
david strait said:
What I've been doing is running 1/4" from the stereo out to the dual 1/4" inputs on the burner and recording in real time. I guess once i get n-track i'll be able to bypass this step though, and burn the final copy straight off my computer, right?
Click to expand...

This may seem obvious, but in the MR8, are you recording at the full 16bit44khz rate or at the lesser "economy" rate?
 
I'm recording in the "extended" mode to maximize the time I can fit on my flashcard. I realize that i'm sacrificing a certain amount of sound quality here, but my problem is that even when the sound is really good in the phones on the mr-8, that quality doesn't hold after the mixdown. It's the discrepency between the quality of sound coming out of the phones jack on the recorder and the quality of the actual recording that is confusing me.
 
What you want to do is to use a USB conenction and transfer the WAV tracks from the MR8 to the PC. Then mix on the PC and burn. That way you lose absolutly nothing in the process.

Ed
 
You can use this same approach to extend the recording time. Record one or two tracks, move to PC, then repeat the cycle. This way all is full fidelity and you can record as many tracks as you want.

Ed
 
david strait said:
I'm recording in the "extended" mode to maximize the time I can fit on my flashcard. I realize that i'm sacrificing a certain amount of sound quality here, but my problem is that even when the sound is really good in the phones on the mr-8, that quality doesn't hold after the mixdown. It's the discrepency between the quality of sound coming out of the phones jack on the recorder and the quality of the actual recording that is confusing me.
Click to expand...


Whenever you mix with headphones,..you will always be dissapointed at the results.

My advice,...by a pair of good monitors and mix with those. Thats a good part of the game brother.

Take 'er easy,...
Calwood
 
carried away

well, sometimes we get carried away with out answers.

you state you are going from the MR-8 to a stand alone recorder.

What is probably happening, is this. When you leave the mr-8, you go thru a digital to analog converter (I won't gurantee that the Fostex D/A converters are the best in the world).

You go into the 1/4 unbalanced cord (which is probably not the HIGHEST quality) into the RCA in's on the Recorder.

There, again you convert from ANALOG back to digital for burning onto the cd.

Certainly going the PC route is an option. Chances are though, that your recorder has a S/PDIF input on it. you can run directly from the MR-8 to the recorder in DIGITAL format that way, and not use the 2 D/A A/D converters. You have to record in regular format, not extended, for this to work. The good news, is that most any CF card will work as long as you dont bounce the tracks, and use the tracks straigt.

hope this helps
 
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loss of quality?

I use a stand alone cd burner with optical connection with no loss of quality, i have also transfered tracks via usb to the computer with even better results. (its great for cleaning up your tracks, adding EQ, compression, or effects) Mixing with phones is tricky. I like to do a rough mix with phones and then again with monitors. I never use extended mode. Good luck.
 
ch2os7 said:
I never use extended mode.
Click to expand...

I think that's key. Somebody else posted how to save card space by using a PC. I'd go that route and leave the extended mode forever... I think it's possible the phones are adding something, but the CD is revealing the actual level of quality you're recording at.

Also, cards are getting bigger/cheaper. Ask others here about compatibility on the bigger ones.
 
extended mode

thats the problem your recordig at a lower resolution which equals lower quality...if you read the manual, it will tell you that extended mode is for mixing down to analog, not cd. fostex recomends normal mode so you are at the 16 bit rate need ed to make a decent cd

when you get n track you HAVE to use the normal mode, or the wav manager program will not funchtion......
and then n track will want to interpolate the files up to a higher res, still a bad idea...

NORMAL MODE
 
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