Don't know the name

[Drummyjoey]

There's something I saw my audio engineering teacher do last semester that I didn't catch the name of. The tracks were recorded onto this machine, and when he played them back he was able to have everything sent to the channels it was recorded onto (on the mixer) and adjust things after the initial recording.
I know this may be elementary to some, but...what is that called?

 

[Massive Master]

Mixing?

(10 characters)

 

[Drummyjoey]

Well how come I can't do it at home? I record straight onto a cd burner. What kind of machine do I need to record on to be able to do that?

 

[bennychico11]

what kind of setup do you have at home?

essentially, mixing is just re-recording your audio.
since the individual tracks are recorded at separate times (for various reasons) you will have separate tracks on your computer, tape machine....whatever you're recording to. Now what you do during mixing is playback all those tracks at the same time and then mix with a mixer, plugins, pan knobs, whatever. This way you can change how it sounded when it was recorded. But since you still have all the original audio, you can go back and change things as you mix. Then when you're done you re-record the audio to a separate medium again....to another place on the hard drive, to a CD, ontop of itself, etc.

Think of mixing like being able to control every aspect of the band that is front of you. When they start and stop, how loud certain instruments are, where they are at in the stereo field....all of that without having to deal with real band members in the studio complaining they don't like how quiet their headphones are

 

[andyhix]

What exactly was this "audio engineering teacher" teaching?

 

[Sirnothingness]

Well how come I can't do it at home? I record straight onto a cd burner. What kind of machine do I need to record on to be able to do that?

a mixer maybe?

 

[Drummyjoey]

My setup

My current setup is that I have 5 mics (for drums) that I run into a little behringer mixer (yes, I've heard they're thieves ) which I then run straight into a cd burner via rca's. To layer a track I play the previous track with a cd player through the mixer and play along with it on guitar, bass, etc.

The main thing is that just whenever I play the drums back, there is no way for me to change them or to change everything once it's all together. I know it's probably my method, or perhaps that I'm recording straight onto a cd...or perhaps some little button I'm missing on my mixer?

Anyone who has any advice on how to remedy this OR how to make my current setup more efficient and such, please feel free to let me know.

Thanks,
Joe

 

[Drummyjoey]

What exactly was this "audio engineering teacher" teaching?

Umm...just little techniques and stuff. It was more like if you had questions, you asked him but at the time I was so inexperienced I didn't know what to ask.

 

[Track Rat]

You need a MULTI-TRACK RECORDING DEVICE and a MIXER.

 

[Drummyjoey]

You need a MULTI-TRACK RECORDING DEVICE and a MIXER.

Oooh. Damn. I was hoping I wouldn't have to buy anything else. That's going to add noise to my signal chain too, isn't it?

 

[Track Rat]

No, a decent setup won't add noise, just a drain on your finances. Depending on what you want to do, you may already have what you need short the software.

 

[bennychico11]

what behringer mixer do you have?

unfortunately, depending on the model, you may still need to buy some more things. Not all mixers are capable of sending all 5 microphone signals to a multi-track recorder separately.

a common home studio consists of a computer, a soundcard (there are various kinds that support different numbers of inputs), and a recording software program.
for a simpler, all-in-one setup there are these:
http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/cat--Hard-Disk-Multitrack-Recorders--2880

As you can see, the price range can vary on all this stuff depending on what you need.

 

[Drummyjoey]

No, a decent setup won't add noise, just a drain on your finances. Depending on what you want to do, you may already have what you need short the software.

I was wanting to try to NOT use computers...is that a mistake?

 

[Drummyjoey]

what behringer mixer do you have?

unfortunately, depending on the model, you may still need to buy some more things. Not all mixers are capable of sending all 5 microphone signals to a multi-track recorder separately.

a common home studio consists of a computer, a soundcard (there are various kinds that support different numbers of inputs), and a recording software program.
for a simpler, all-in-one setup there are these:
http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/cat--Hard-Disk-Multitrack-Recorders--2880

As you can see, the price range can vary on all this stuff depending on what you need.

Thanks for all the help. I currently have an mx802a mixer from behringer. I was thinking of upgrading to a slightly larger allen & heath mixer...unless I find another mixer that's better for less than 1000 dollars.

 

[prestomation]

I was wanting to try to NOT use computers...is that a mistake?

Lots of people don't use computers, using a portable DAW or HD recorder. The possibilites of editing and plugins and all that just aren't quite as endless as with a computer.

 

[Drummyjoey]

Ok, thanks.