help with signal chain

[Signal 9 Studio]

I record on adats and then transfer to my comp and mix with Vegas. I go out of my comps soundcard and split it to two channels on my board and pan left and right(split is with a stereo 1/8" jack then to two 1/4" jacks left and right). Is this okay? My mixes on the cds never sound like they do on my monitors (alesis monitor twos) Board is a Behringer MX 9000. Everything seems hollow. I edit with sound forge...any takers?

 

[joro]

At what part of the process do you hear the mix on your Monitors?
What pushes the signal to them in the first place and what happens after that?

What kind of "board" are you talking about?

I can just guess here ....and I am probably wrong...as usual...but, I think you monitor pre-soundcard....
then send optically to your comp...and re-send to disk through your board....

If this is correct...It might be your converters on your souindcard that are lacking....

what soundcard are you using anyways?

 

[Signal 9 Studio]

I am using a behringer MX 9000 studio board. I also am using a soundblaster card. I record using adats...send the signal optically via fire wire to the computer...mix with vegas...render to new track...edit with sound forge...then out of the computer sound card to board...out of board to amp then on to monitors. My mixes just never sound as kick ass as they do while mixing. I dont mix with the eq on the board...I use the plug ins with vegas. Is it just more practice that I need or should I go a new route other than out of the sound blaster....I'm sure the studios use something else.

 

[joro]

it's the amp inbetween the board and the monitors that is skrewing up your reference....

I think...



yup...that's it...

You are post modulating the signal...it's after the fact.....you are feeding your monitors a different flavor than what you recorded....
what it really is..........

I think that's it......

I am probably wrong though......

I usually am.....


ya know?

Joe

 

[Signal 9 Studio]

Actually I dont know what your saying....how can the amp affect the monitors? It's an alesis reference amp....

 

[TexRoadkill]

The problem is most likely your room. When you are mixing you need to hear the music presented in a fairly neutral environment. A bad room can accentuate and/or hide certain freq ranges so when you listen someplace else it will sound very different. If you haven't treated your room or have done it improperly you will most likely have mixes that don't translate well to other systems.

Part of it is simply a learning process. As you listen to the mixes in your car and in other rooms take note of what is wrong then remix it and listen again. Eventually your brain will start to learn what the mix should sound like on your system to sound good on other systems.

You still need some room treatment to get in the ballpark though. Check out the Studio Construction forum for more info.

 

[joro]

I really think That Tex is right and that I just misunderstand your listening chain man...sorry bout' that...

My mixes just never sound as kick ass as they do while mixing.

Do you mean in the same room through the same equipment?
What is different?
How do you save your mixdowns?
as .WAV files or .MP3 files?
Are they a lower resolution than what you started with?

sorry man...I am confused here....

but then again....
it doesn't take much to confuse me...

 

[13th_Omen]

I don't understand why you are going back to your board if you are not using the EQ! I would just go from your computer to your monitors since you mix in the computer.

Your soundcard IMO is your weakest link, next would come your monitors. You ideally want monitors with a flat frequency response (ie Mackie HR824, Tannoy Reveal). You could always put a spectrum analyer in the chain to "uncolor" your monitors. This IS an "it takes practice" thing though.