M
Malli
New member
Hi people ! I've got to sort this out now or i'll have to do the whole lot all over again, again. So i'd be really gratefull if you could straighten me out, cause so far i've been making it up as i go along... I've checked all the nuubie threads and loads of others so i appologise if i've missed something...
I've created about 30 backing tracks to gig with using a digi 8 track, guitars , bass , kybds, drum machine and some dodgy backing vocals , that i use to gig with . I sing and play acoustic and rock guitar over them.. All the tracks are different ranging from the Cult, Nirvana to coldplay, david grey , radiohead verve, u2 etc...etc... as you can imagine, they all sound completely different , some loud some soft etc.. i have remixed them many times over many months down to minidisks(using analogue leads), which i play from mdisk player through red/white rca leads into my mixer channels 1,2 , through PA to Peavy 500w speakers... My guitar is set up so i have a foot pedal changing guitar fx/rack programs ie,acoustic/distortion and volume levels for various different songs.. into channels 3,4 all set up to coinside with appropriate md songs.. My live mic is set up to reasonably cover most songs depending on how i sing....
This is how my mixer is set up
Mixer. ch 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
Input
Gain(10max) 5, 5, 6, 6, ---, ---, ---, 5,
(m/disk bk trk L, + R), (guit L, guit R), ---, ---, ---, mic,
ch faders 0 db, 0db, 0 db, 0db, ----, ----, ----, 0db,
MAIN OUT FADERS TO AMP also set at 0 db
With the above mixer settings i have to set the output from my minidisk player at 27 out of 30 (into ch 1,2)
The output of my guitar effect rack to 5 out of 10 (into ch 3,4)
This all drives my amp to produce reasonably good quality loud volume without distorting ,overloading or clipping . The heaviest drums and symbols in some songs will push my mixer output lights to +3 and +6 db regularly (mainly symbols) without a prob..(most drum beats hit around 0 db) I can push the amp more without clipping if i turn the treble down on the mixer ch1 and 2(md backing tracks) to give more vol if needs be . So generally all is well..... However
playing my minidisks on a normal hi fi shows that they are all recorded rather quietly . ie Teen Spirit drums and symbols maxing at - 4 db's in the heaviest parts.. other songs generally range from -18 to - 8 db's etc....
There is not much background noise in my tracks so they are fine turned up in the pubs but i am now about to turn fully digital with cuebase and put all the tracks on my pc as my 8 track is on its way out...
I have never used compression or any other leveling trick and my tracks sound pretty raw which i like cause it gives a more of a live band feeling instead of pro mastered backing tracks... but this volume issue tells me that i have not recorded all these tracks at there most efficient sig/noise ratio...
getting 30 tracks to round about the same vol meant i had to keep within certain volume parameters due to the limitations of my 8 track. and the fact that i didnt really worry about levels when initially laying down songs.. which i now regret...didn't help.
All 8 track songs were saved to their own individual volume scenes that reasonably equalled other songs i had previously recorded.. The slight volume differences mean i have about 9 different guitar settings for different songs although most of the acoustic songs sound correct played with 1 accoustic setting and most distortion levels are similar around another setting..
Anyway.. now im gonna digitally re-record all my songs from 8 track to cuebase once and for all.... i want to get the recording levels as good as possible just so i know i'm doing the right thing from the start..and won't have to do it again ever...and i dont know weather i should....
a) Whack all the volumes up on all the sliders of my 8 track to record each individual tracks instrument into cubase as loud as possible without clipping the cubase meter.. (leaving cuebase volumes as default) and remix them all later using cubase' mixer.
b) record each track instruments at their previously set 8 trk volume levels so overall they sound as they did before and then increase the INPUT volume in cuebase to a max level..
c)record eack tracks instrument at their perviously set 8 trk volume levels and increase the OUTPUT volume in cubase to a max level....
d) turn up both the 8 tracks out and cubase's in and out..a bit.
As i am not into applying compression yet.... (don't know the pros and con's but may do at a later date, if it makes things sound better), and i don't know anything about mastering, but will have to when i start putting out original music demo's in the long term future...) i haven't got a friggin' clue.....
And.. what really screws my head up is in the Audiophile 2496 manual (my card obviously) it says that you can't really clip a digital input so it doesn't matter if youre in the red when inputting into your soundcard any way...
so
e) does none of this matter at all as its now a digital signal passing from 8 trk to cuebase ...so you can use ANY of the volume boosters on the 8 trk or cuebase whatsoever and no one gives a shite...??
Heres a couple more....
Am i really missing out on something ace by not using compression considering i play live and dont want to sound too cd'ish.. or would a little compression or limiting?? go a long way to improoving my live sound for my backing tracks... (bearing in mind i do not have any way of compressing my live vocals and guitar unless i buy a unit.. and i'm skint..)
and finally, should i not give a toss that my backing tracks are a bit quiet (on normal stereos) and just keep making them at the same lower recording levels forever, even using cuebase... ?? Somehow i feel thats a big sin to your average producer type geezer !!
Jesus i think i just done my own head in.....
If anyone can make sense of all that crap i just wrote, i'll give you a fu#$ing medal !!
Thanks people... if anyone can put my mind at rest, i'll stop hassleing you for a while.
p.s
Is that a record ??
Malli
I've created about 30 backing tracks to gig with using a digi 8 track, guitars , bass , kybds, drum machine and some dodgy backing vocals , that i use to gig with . I sing and play acoustic and rock guitar over them.. All the tracks are different ranging from the Cult, Nirvana to coldplay, david grey , radiohead verve, u2 etc...etc... as you can imagine, they all sound completely different , some loud some soft etc.. i have remixed them many times over many months down to minidisks(using analogue leads), which i play from mdisk player through red/white rca leads into my mixer channels 1,2 , through PA to Peavy 500w speakers... My guitar is set up so i have a foot pedal changing guitar fx/rack programs ie,acoustic/distortion and volume levels for various different songs.. into channels 3,4 all set up to coinside with appropriate md songs.. My live mic is set up to reasonably cover most songs depending on how i sing....
This is how my mixer is set up
Mixer. ch 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
Input
Gain(10max) 5, 5, 6, 6, ---, ---, ---, 5,
(m/disk bk trk L, + R), (guit L, guit R), ---, ---, ---, mic,
ch faders 0 db, 0db, 0 db, 0db, ----, ----, ----, 0db,
MAIN OUT FADERS TO AMP also set at 0 db
With the above mixer settings i have to set the output from my minidisk player at 27 out of 30 (into ch 1,2)
The output of my guitar effect rack to 5 out of 10 (into ch 3,4)
This all drives my amp to produce reasonably good quality loud volume without distorting ,overloading or clipping . The heaviest drums and symbols in some songs will push my mixer output lights to +3 and +6 db regularly (mainly symbols) without a prob..(most drum beats hit around 0 db) I can push the amp more without clipping if i turn the treble down on the mixer ch1 and 2(md backing tracks) to give more vol if needs be . So generally all is well..... However
playing my minidisks on a normal hi fi shows that they are all recorded rather quietly . ie Teen Spirit drums and symbols maxing at - 4 db's in the heaviest parts.. other songs generally range from -18 to - 8 db's etc....
There is not much background noise in my tracks so they are fine turned up in the pubs but i am now about to turn fully digital with cuebase and put all the tracks on my pc as my 8 track is on its way out...
I have never used compression or any other leveling trick and my tracks sound pretty raw which i like cause it gives a more of a live band feeling instead of pro mastered backing tracks... but this volume issue tells me that i have not recorded all these tracks at there most efficient sig/noise ratio...
getting 30 tracks to round about the same vol meant i had to keep within certain volume parameters due to the limitations of my 8 track. and the fact that i didnt really worry about levels when initially laying down songs.. which i now regret...didn't help.
All 8 track songs were saved to their own individual volume scenes that reasonably equalled other songs i had previously recorded.. The slight volume differences mean i have about 9 different guitar settings for different songs although most of the acoustic songs sound correct played with 1 accoustic setting and most distortion levels are similar around another setting..
Anyway.. now im gonna digitally re-record all my songs from 8 track to cuebase once and for all.... i want to get the recording levels as good as possible just so i know i'm doing the right thing from the start..and won't have to do it again ever...and i dont know weather i should....
a) Whack all the volumes up on all the sliders of my 8 track to record each individual tracks instrument into cubase as loud as possible without clipping the cubase meter.. (leaving cuebase volumes as default) and remix them all later using cubase' mixer.
b) record each track instruments at their previously set 8 trk volume levels so overall they sound as they did before and then increase the INPUT volume in cuebase to a max level..
c)record eack tracks instrument at their perviously set 8 trk volume levels and increase the OUTPUT volume in cubase to a max level....
d) turn up both the 8 tracks out and cubase's in and out..a bit.
As i am not into applying compression yet.... (don't know the pros and con's but may do at a later date, if it makes things sound better), and i don't know anything about mastering, but will have to when i start putting out original music demo's in the long term future...) i haven't got a friggin' clue.....
And.. what really screws my head up is in the Audiophile 2496 manual (my card obviously) it says that you can't really clip a digital input so it doesn't matter if youre in the red when inputting into your soundcard any way...
so
e) does none of this matter at all as its now a digital signal passing from 8 trk to cuebase ...so you can use ANY of the volume boosters on the 8 trk or cuebase whatsoever and no one gives a shite...??
Heres a couple more....
Am i really missing out on something ace by not using compression considering i play live and dont want to sound too cd'ish.. or would a little compression or limiting?? go a long way to improoving my live sound for my backing tracks... (bearing in mind i do not have any way of compressing my live vocals and guitar unless i buy a unit.. and i'm skint..)
and finally, should i not give a toss that my backing tracks are a bit quiet (on normal stereos) and just keep making them at the same lower recording levels forever, even using cuebase... ?? Somehow i feel thats a big sin to your average producer type geezer !!
Jesus i think i just done my own head in.....
If anyone can make sense of all that crap i just wrote, i'll give you a fu#$ing medal !!
Thanks people... if anyone can put my mind at rest, i'll stop hassleing you for a while.
p.s
Is that a record ??
Malli
