Newbie questions - 16 bit recording/mixing and such...

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u2bonoman

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Hi all, I am new here. I have myself a pretty nice newbie setup including Sonar 3 Producer Edition and an M-audio Delta 1010 soundcard/interface.

I am having problems with CPU drainage. My computer has a 1.7 GHz processor w/ 768 MB Ram. I was recording at 24/96 but that gave me major dropouts. So I took it to 24/44.1 and I still got dropouts after about 20 tracks. Should I take it to 16/44.1? Can I still get Pro results or does that just depend on the quality of my plugins? Can mastering help a 16 bit recording sound really professional?

Also, when it comes down to mixing, do I just mix everything down to one track on a CD? Can it be mastered from that source? Thanks!
 
No expert, but a few things come to mind...

24/96 really works a HD even @ 7200rpm.

24/44 should work fine.

Check your latency setting in the Delta control panel.

Poorly designed plug-ins can drain the cpu.

Mastering can help ANY source - of course better in = better out.
 
Maybe I should I swicth to classic mode in Windows XP and turn off error reporting? That may help... Thanks for your assistance!
 
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To change your theme, right click on a blank space on your Desktop > click Properties > brings up Display Properties > Themes > select the theme > click Apply > click OK.

Check this link for tuning WinXP for music apps...

http://www.musicxp.net/


Also, make sure you kill your Anti-Virus, Firewall, etc. before a session.
 
Your processor is not a Celeron, right? Celerons are not good for recording.
 
u2bonoman said:
Can mastering help a 16 bit recording sound really professional?
Click to expand...

There are so many variables to sounding "really professional" before you ever get to 16bit mixing but here goes my current (changes daily) feelings:

- acoustic instruments, fairly dry actually don't sound too bad in 16/44 if EVERYTHING ELSE is "pro"

- synths and big fx (especially big reverb) sound much, much better the bigger bit depth/rate

This is how my ears hear it. Your mileage may vary.
 
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