old gear :(

[kadence]

Hey all-

I have a Tascam 688 midi-studio and a Tascam cd-rw700 (the latter which I have less experience.) and I am trying to mix and master some old material on to cd. I having trouble getting good levels from the burned cd. I do not think the problem is inadequate signal from the 688. So I am wondering if there are paticular things about the burner I should know or if there are things I do to compensate for this loss with other gear etc. Please help.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

It is most likely not a gear problem so much as it is the way things are. 99% of mixdowns are of "inadequate" volume, that's the nature of the beast. What you are missing is the intermediate step of "mastering".

What you need to do is mix down your tracks to a stereo mixdown before you burn to CD. This mixdown could be in the form of a bounce, or as a mixdown to some recording software on a PC. Then when you have that stereo mixdown you can apply extra processing to it via either outboard gear (better) or via software plug-ins (cheaper) in the form of limiting and/or compression and/or volume boosting. Once you have done that, you'll have your own homemade "pre-master" which will then be ready - or at least "more ready" - for CD burn than what you have now.

Will it be as loud as most commercial CDs? Maybe, but probably not quite. But it will be louder and - if done right - sound better than what you can get now w/o the mastering.

If you are unfamiliar with much of this process, search this forum for the key word "mastering" and "volume" you'll get all sorts of tips, advice and arguments as this is a very controversial topic in its details. But you'll find all sors of info nonetheless.

G.