mixer pan and eq to hard disk

  • Thread starter Thread starter dobro
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dobro

dobro

Well-known member
I'm a bit nervous that this is a really stupid question, but does anybody here use their mixer to put pan and eq on the signal being sent to computer hard disk when recording? Is it possible? I tried and failed. And if it *isn't* possible, then what's the use of having a mixer for hard disk recording, other than for outboard effects and headphone monitoring?
 
What's your mixer, how are you hooked up from the mixer to the card (you've got a 4/96 or an 8/24 doncha)? How many input signals do you have, and how many are you sending to the card at one time?

My mixer is pretty much used as a bunch of preamps and fine-tuning for input levels, on the recording end (mine gets more use with the playback gear and routing things around). Sometimes I use a touch of EQ for specific things when recording (I often cut a little low-mids on acoustic guitar). And I still like some of the reverbs in my S-100... I'm not afraid to commit some stuff to "tape" with effects already on 'em. There's no reason you can't do what you're trying to do, but exactly what is it?
 
EQ should work fine, depends how your outputing the signal. For panning during recording, you would have to send the signal out a stereo bus on your mixer, and record on 2 inputs of your soundcard at a time.
 
Hmm... So, the good news is that it can be done. The bad news is that I'm not getting it right.

Here's my setup. Mixer Main Outs (Stereo Outs) to soundcard Ins. I'm trying to apply mixer pan and EQ to the signal I'm sending to the hard disk, but although I can hear it in the headphones, it's not getting to the hard disc.

This is exactly the problem I had a couple of weeks ago with the outboard reverb unit. What I learned then was I can't use the mixer inserts to send anything except the bare signal to the hard disk - I can only get effects to the hard disk by using the mixer Main Outs (Stereo Outs). Is this the case with EQ and panning as well? And if so, I wonder why it isn't working for me?
 
Yup, that's correct, to get stereo panning and filters and all that stuff you need to put use the mix outs to the inputs of the soundcard.

It sound like you do it right!
But obviously something is wrong, the question is what... :confused:

You say "it's not getting to your harddisk". So, what does get there? Silence? Everything but the panning?
 
I'm with regebro... it sounds like you're doing everything right, but something must be setup wrong.

Just to make sure: you're sending your left and right stereo outs to two inputs on your sound card. You have your software recording two tracks from those two inputs, and when you play-back you have the tracks panned hard left and right to match what the inputs originally fed to the software. Is that right?
 
Well, I had another blast at it (doing the same thing as I did before near as I can tell), and this time I got EQ to disk, but still no panning.

Okay, I can do the panning in the software, and my main aim is to get the EQ working so I can cut a touch of bottom end on the acoustic guitar and see what that sounds like, so I guess this is a success of sorts, but I still don't understand the panning thing. Duh.
 
More details, Dobro. You know the deal ;). What's your software? Are you recording two mono tracks, or a single stereo track in the software? If you're recording 2 mono tracks, you'll need to pan the left one left and the right one right to match the stereo image of the input (like I said before). But I don't know exactly how you're trying it, so all I can do is guess :(.
 
I'm using Cool Edit Pro. It does what recording/editing software should, except for real time effects.

The soundcard's a Wave 8/24, so no problems there.

I'm recording mono tracks.

Mixer Main Outs to soundcard Ins 1 and 2. Soundcard Outs 1 and 2 to mixer Ins 1 and 2. Mics 1 and 2 to mixer Ins 1 and 2.

When I tried two mono tracks, I noticed something strange. Cool Edit Pro has a recording level meter which indicates two levels. If I use two mics using the mixer inserts (or just straight into the soundcard through preamps), the level of each mic is indicated on the level meter separately - one jittering red bar for mic 1 and the other jittering red bar for mic 2. But when I used the mixer Main Outs instead of the inserts, the Level Meter bars fluctuated together, in sync - the level meter was either averaging the two signals (unlikely) or responding to just one input. So I decided to work with just one mic. Anyway, whatever mixer EQ I assigned it played back just fine from the computer hard disk. But no matter what panning I gave it, it only came through the headphones, and didn't get recorded to hard disk.

Okay pg, I guess you asked for it, but I apologize for all this boring description nevertheless. Welcome to the nerdolarium. I don't see how anybody else is going to benefit from this boring post. :) Feel free to shake your head in incomprehension and walk away from this one. That's how I feel.
 
Hmmm... Sounds like the problem is a setting/switch on the mixer. Have you tried
another true stereo signal (like a CD player out) in place of the stereo out on the mixer to see if you get two different channels recorded to your computer at once?
Most likely each mic signal is being routed equally to the L and R busses on the mixer. So it looks like mono.
 
Whaddya talkin' about, Dobro... isn't that what the board is here for? You should be able to do what you want, and it should make things easier for you once you figure it out. The signal chain is your key to everything when recording.

The signal is either leaving your mixer in mono due to a switch or other oddity, or it's leaving in stereo and you have something setup wrong in software. Doc's suggestion is a great way to determine which is the problem.
 
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