24 Bit Rate Questions

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Village Idiot

Village Idiot

The Love Butler
I'll try to make a long story short...

We are currently in a recording studio doing our first QUALITY CD.
And we also just ran out of money, with only the Drums and the Bass tracks laid down for all 16 tunes.

My question is this...Would there be any problem with recording the rest of the music (Guitars, Harmonicas) at my place on my equipment? I have the ok to do this from our recording guy.

We will have the money for him to continue the project in about a month. He will be tracking all the vocals, then mixing & mastering the CD. Since he knows we will have the money for him to continue using his excellent skills, this is not a problem for him.

Here's the technical lowdown...
We have been recording on his Roland VS-1680, at 24/96, into Cubase.

What I have to record on is an Audiophile 24/96 card, into my N-Track, which handles 24 bit recording.

He says he can make me a CD of the drums & bass tracks dry, load those into my N-Track, and then record the guitars & harmonicas..Then we can bring those tracks to him on a CD in .wav format, then he can load them and line them up into his recording gear..

So-My question...Is 24/96 of equal quality on every unit, regardless of price point?

And what problems might I encounter in doing it this way?

The reason we don't want to wait another month for the $$$ is because we are so booked for June & July that we want to sell these CD's at our venues.

But we do not want to sacrifice any quality anong the way of recording.

Any advice would sure be appreciated!

VI
 
I think this question would be better answered by the engineer who you are working with. Ask HIM if that is ok! and just follow everything he says in a REALLY DETAILED manner! haha.

anyway, that's what i'd do.
 
He seems to think it is...

All I'm looking for is a second opinion from someone here who has actually done this.

VI
 
24/96 is not the same everywhere, but that shouldn't stop you. A/D converters differ in quality, but the real difference will be the people using it. my guess is that if you brought your computer into the studio and your engineer did the recording, you wouldn't hear a difference from the roland. but once you move to a different room, with different mics, with a different person running the show, you will unavoidably get a different sound. whether or not you are "sacrificing any quality" depends on your skills!
 
I've never sent one scrap of music to an engineer so I cant speak on his behalf. I dont think it would be a big issue though as long as you know what your doing. He should be able to fix any minor errors and make appropriate changes if neccessary.
 
Thanks for your replies, guyz...

jrosenstein: The point about the converter quality is what has me a bit concerned.

Will the converter rate change for the better quality-wise when it is put back into his unit?
I will be strictly recording the track. Dry-No effects for plug-ins.
He will add all that later on from his end.

Thanks again for your responses.

V I
 
no, moving it to his system after recording will not change the sound that your converters have imparted on it.

but that was not my point. your audiophile is good enough that the difference in the converters is the least of your problems in recording it at home. not that you can't get good sound at home .... just that your converters are not the sole source of your elusive "sound quality."
 
You're at a QUALITY recording studio, paying a guy to record onto a VS-1680? He should be paying you! I'm assuming since you're recording to Cubase, that you are using the VS-1680 for preamps? Unless, say, the room is really fantastic, I'm surprised people can charge much for that. I would think a studio at that level (unless the room is really nice, or I'm missing some larger part of the picture) would go like $50 a day or something.

Two suggestions.

One, find a better studio at a comparable or cheaper price (there must be hundreds of studios in your area that have better equipment than that, at a comparable or cheaper price). Like, a nice analog or digital desk, and some quality outboard converters, along with some good pres and compressors...

Two, record as much as you can using your Audiophile. I have no doubt that your Audiophile's converters are as good or better than the Roland converters.
 
charger said:
You're at a QUALITY recording studio, paying a guy to record onto a VS-1680?
Click to expand...

Well, he is The Village Idiot! :D

And Dougie- don't worry about the clocks not lining up after the fact. It will. How much fidelity do you need for a harmonica track?
 
Hey Hey Charger:

We are certainly not paying as much as we would at a "professional" studio, but I'll tell you what...

This guy is a prime example of the home studio competing with the "pros".
He is a former Motown Engineer, and has workked with Steve Wonder, The Temptations, and has the stuff hangin on the walls to prove it.

We are honored that he has taken us "Whiteys" under his wing, and he has been pulling stuff outta us that he says he knows we have inside of us...The drum tracks he recorded sound absolutely amazing. And the room is fantastic.

And were you joking about we should be paying him?
I hope so...
This guy is in demand for recording at his studio, and he basically shoved us in.

He gives creedence to the argument that if you have the skills, you can make a CD that rates up there with the big studios.
Of course, 95% of the time you will get a better CD out of the big studios, but this guy has come from that, and is in the 5% that can do this from his well-appointed home studio.

And there are 2 guys at this site I can think of that are in that 5% too.

Sometimes it's WHO you are working with that brings out the best in you musically, not WHERE you are working it at, methinks.
I suppose we could shop around for a better price, but what price can you put on camaradrie, fellowship, and wisdom? We'll stay with our man..We all love this guy.

DOC: That's why I like my username...Everyone's expectations of me are low to begin with ;)

The fidelity of a Harmonica? I suppose it depends on the style.
We won't need too much digital wonderment for our guy.
He gets a dirty, raw bluesy sound outta his bullet mic.
Now-If he played in the style of Toots Theilman or Stevie Wonder, fidelity for the Hamonica would be a whole nutter story!

Thanks for you angles on this one, guyz.

VI
 
Yeah, I was joking about you paying him. But my point was, it should be pretty darn cheap with those materials, regardless of who he is. Every producer that takes you under his wing is doing it to get paid. If he wasn't, you would still be tracking, even though you are out of cash, don't kid yourself. This is just another reminder that you need to know up front what you are getting into with studios, have your whole budget worked out, and have the money in hand, or else you will be left hanging at some point. I've seen it happen so many times, I'm becoming immune.
 
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