Not sure where to post this.

[smellyfuzz]

YO PEOPLE,

Got a situation that perhaps some of you recording geniuses can help me with.

The other night, I track Vocals and guitar to my Otari.
I was extra proud of the sound this time, for it was quite open and sweet.

I then sent the 5 track to CPU Delta 1010lt for editing and mixing.
The sound was still holding pretty well indeed.

I added a couple of more tracks on the Delta then sent it back to analogue as a mix.

I was not crazy about the mix, but it still was fair, perhaps just a little congested.

Now, I then sent it back to the CPU so I could burn to CD.

This is where the sound changed dramatically, the song got very harsh sounding.

To improve it, I did a slight Hi cut on Cool Edit Pro, this did help,
but now the song sounds dead.

So, in short, my first few generations, going to and from analogue were fine.

Final product, I have a choice of very harsh or dead sounding.

Any suggestions.


Sean

 

[Gidge]

go back to the tracks that you recorded straight to the Delta with the 5 flown in and mix it on the computer and burn them there.......

the AD/DA could be the culprit....the 1010lt has decent enuff converters, but you are taking the tracks thru 3 conversions.....i think for jobs like that youd need a more profession converter and word clock.......

but then again, if the converters did a good job with the 5 tracks from the Otari to the computer, why would it sound different for the mix.....did you use the same settings (24bit, etc)?.......

 

[Track Rat]

Maybe some truncating going on (24 bit to 16)?

 

[wjgypsy]

Why don't you just record on the 5 track, send it in to the Cpu and then insted of recording on your sound card and then sending it back to the reel, Just record on the other tracks on the reel and send it to the cpu. That way you don't have to send your other tracks back to where they came from. That's the bad thing about dealing with tape, while it came give great warmth, it can also give you alot of genuration loss.

Z

 

[smellyfuzz]

Gidge;

go back to the tracks that you recorded straight to the Delta with the 5 flown in and mix it on the computer and burn them there.......

Then I lose the board and out board gear.

but then again, if the converters did a good job with the 5 tracks from the Otari to the computer, why would it sound different for the mix.....did you use the same settings (24bit, etc)?.......

Yes, I agree and I think that my setting defaulted to 16 bit at the mix stage.


Track;

Maybe some truncating going on (24 bit to 16)?

Can you elaborate please ?


Sean

 

[Track Rat]

If you're tracked at 24 bits and and there is a bit rate change down to 16 bits without dithering, those last 8 bits will literally be thrown away. That could account for the change in fidelity.

 

[crosstudio]

i'm assuming that your Otari is an analog tape, and not an Otari HD recorder since you mentioned editing and mixing on the PC.

1 orignal (tape loss)
take a song from a CD that you like and record it to the Otari.

2 A/D (digital conversion)
then fly it into the PC through the delta.

3 D/A (conversion and tape loss)
then fly it back out to the Otari

4 A/D (digital conversion)
then fly it back to the PC through the delta.

compare 1 and 3 against each other since they are both on tape.
compare 2 and 4 against each other since they are both in the PC.
now compare 1 and 4... how much degradation do you hear?

tape loss and digital conversion both have their issues and your way of recording and mixing makes you susceptible to both in multiples.

let's say that each of the following degrades your sound:
Tape loss is some value X
D/A/D is some value Y
48khz/24bit -> 44.1/16bit conversion some value Z

assuming that your mix is recorded as 44.1khz/16bit, then your loss is 2X + 2Y

those of us who keep it digial suffer the following loss (assuming 24/48 recording and 16/44.1 CD burn)

1Y + 1Z

as long as Z isn't worse than 2X + Y

those of us who record to digital and keep it digital are better off. some of us record at 24bit/44.1khz so that there is even less of a conversion issue since dithering sound levels (24bit --> 16bit) is easier than changing sample rates.

of course the above assumes that any PC based FX you would use are of the same quality as your outboard gear!

 

[smellyfuzz]

those of us who record to digital and keep it digital are better off.

Maybe. The process that I'm using has been used though out recording studios and is still taught in Schools.

I do appreciate your input, very much.

Thanks.


Sean

 

[Gidge]

but I doubt they are using Delta 1010lt converters.......