Problems with hearing the other tracks while recording

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jeph
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Jeph

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I've just started using calkwalk and it's great. I've already finished recording two songs. The first one was just acoustic guitar and vocals with some harmonies. The second was more complex and included bass and some percussion. Well now I'm trying to record some more rocking stuff with drums and electric guitar but I'm having some big problems.

I've managed to record the drums with a good deal of success, but when trying to add guitar, I'm having a big problem with not being able to hear the drums enough to play along correctly and it ruins the song. And even when I do manage to get something down, I've been straining to hear the drums so badly, that my performance is poor. Please help! How do I turn down (or even off) the track that I'm recording. I tried muting the guitar track while recording, but that doesn't work. I have my guitar amp in another room so I can't hear it much where my computer is, but it doesn't help. I don't want to hear the guitar very much when trying to record over the drums. Anyway, is there anyway to significantly turn either the drm tracks up or the guitar track (the track I'm recording) down. Is there some sort of monitor option?? Any help would be very much appreciated. Untill I figure this out, I'll only be able to record quiet instruments. Thanks
 
You can turn up the drum tracks using the volume control in track view or the fader in console view.
cheers
John
 
Thanks, this does help a little. I never noticed the volume section in the track display. But it was already at 108 out of a possible 127 or something. Is there anyway of muting or turning down the volume of the track that is being recorded without limiting the imput level? See I can only turn up the drums to max.... but there seems like no way to turn down the guitar without turning it down on my mixer and having a very low imput volume (which sucks)

Am I the only one that's ever had this problem???
 
No Jeph you are not, I got around it by panning all the drums to the right and having the guitar panned left. Then you can switch your monitors to mono and change the L/R balance so that the left side is down and the right up...am I making sense??
cheers
john
 
Ok, that really sounds like a great idea. Thanks. But I didn't think you could pan the track that's being recorded. Can you? Nothing on the control panel seems to affect the sound of the track that's being recorded before it is. Is there somewhere else you can adjust pan that will affect the sound that's coming in live? I think that being able to turn up the drums in this way may be enough but I am just curious, because I didn't think it was possible to pan the sound before it's been recorded. It may not matter, I have yet to try it again. Regardless, thanks for all your help John!
 
I use the APS Driver with a soundblaster live and you can pan the input at the mixer. I'm sure the Creative mixer does the same. Sorry don't know what sound card you are using but it worked for me.
cheers
john :)
 
To adjust what you are hearing while recording during playback, the best place to tinker is in the mixer of your soundcard. At least that's been my experience. I'm using the Delta 60/60. I don't know what soundcard you're using but I'm sure some of the terms are the same or at least similar.

In the mixer section, you have the Master Volume which of course controls everything. Also within the mixer you should have WavOuts (where your playback is coming from) and H/W Ins for each input in your soundcard (where you are now recording). You can balance the levels here. If you can't hear the drums, turn down your input level and/or boost the wav out. Like I said you may have different titles in your mixer, but I've found that this is the best area to control the levels while you are overdubbing.

I also agree with panning pre-recorded music to one side. It isolates the sound a little better and you can concentrate on each side.

Hope this helps.
 
up, down and around !!

these steps have worked for me

1)volume up (100 to 127)for the drums on the track display
2)volume up on the play section of your sound card
3)volume down in the input section of the sound card
4)play around with volume of guitar in track display

if that doesn't work panning is the best solution !

wari
 
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