Intro to home/PC/amateur recording?

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Intro to home/PC/amateur recording?

If what you're exporting sounds different from what's being played back or recorded, check Sonor's settings and see if there's anything in there that says Normalize to a given dB when exported. I have Sonor 4 Producer and just went through the options but didn't see anything right away. If you've got a more recent version, maybe they added it.

Either that or your signal routing in Sonor might be the issue - if you're routing a given track through the Master or Sub outs, which then go to the actual soundcard outs, and those internal outputs/routes have a separate volume setup, then that's what you'll get when you export the audio.

It's similar to a real mixer, where you can pipe out a full, uneffected signal for monitoring purposes, and have another copy of the signal running out to another end point that has all the fader positions and inserted effects and channel EQ applied. Sounds like that's what's happening with your reduced-audio and bass-heavy acoustic tracks.


Also, for digital audio, you can have a nearly-inaudible track and boost it endlessly as long as it never reaches such a low point as to not register, and as long as the analog noise from the file itself (mic/room/gear/amp hum) is not louder than the music. If Sonor is cutting the track's volume by -40dB, you can hit it with a 40dB boost to negate that without worrying about extra noise.

 

[serizawa]

Re: Intro to home/PC/amateur recording?

Welllll...going down the checklist, there's no normalization, I don't think.

I've got a single track, just some acoustic guitar, going into a bus, going out of my Line 6 interface.

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: Intro to home/PC/amateur recording?

Welllll...going down the checklist, there's no normalization, I don't think.

I've got a single track, just some acoustic guitar, going into a bus, going out of my Line 6 interface.

I don't suggest normalizing unless you absolutely have to. It brings up noise as well as the signal and should only be used as a last ditch effort.

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: Intro to home/PC/amateur recording?

he problem is that when the project is exported, the volume of the final product is so low, there's barely anything I can do with it.

How do you mean exported? Are you mixing down the the tracks or just exporting a .wav file? Have you tried different mix down methods? Also, mastering the final product if it's a multi track mix down will bring the level up.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Intro to home/PC/amateur recording?

He did say it's just a single track into one of the busses.

I'm thinking it's the internal routing. Assign the track directly to the output device (soundcard, etc) rather than routing it through a bus into the Master track.

I use Audition as Sonor was too much of a PITA for me, and in that when you mixdown it does so through the Master channel in the app itself, so if that's dropped down low but the other tracks are pegging the needle, the mixdown will be set at whatever the Master channel's volume is.

 

[serizawa]

Re: Intro to home/PC/amateur recording?

I have a feeling I'm going to be explaining myself over and over again.

Thanks for your help anyway.

 

[serizawa]

Re: Intro to home/PC/amateur recording?

I'm pretty sure that's not the case. Although I have limited knowledge of most things recording, I do know that the sound itself is bouncing around -8.5 to something like -6.8

I thought about needing a preamp before, but I had a similar setup a year ago and achieved stuff with a much more manageable output with the same microphone and almost same setup.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Intro to home/PC/amateur recording?

I learned what I know about it by years of hands-on experimenting at my computer as well as using cassette and digital standalone units, as well as Recording magazine.
Granted, the magazine focused more on "spend a bunch of money on a ton of plugins and ProTools and high-quality outboard gear yadda yadda". However, that applies mostly to professional studios.

There's no need for you to start off getting ElectricLadyland tone quality. That will come later when you have more experience in the more important areas of recording (getting sound into the PC) and mixing (making it all sound good together). Doesn't matter if the final mix isn't Finalized and Radio-Ready just now, so long as it works as a whole - i.e. bass isn't flubbing, guitars aren't overpowering the vocals, etc.

Take it one section at a time:
1) Recording
2) Mixing
3) Mastering

Don't Mix anything until you're satisfied with the Recording.
Don't Master anything until you're satisfied with the Mix.


You can do it with inexpensive software and "cheap" PC speakers, as long as you understand the limitations of each one.

PC speakers are generally designed and the amplifiers tuned for listening to music and game sounds. Those tracks are processed around the EQ curve of the typical PC/Surround Sound/Home Theater speaker. They don't sound nearly as dynamic through studio monitors because the PC/Consumer speaker preamps are designed to reshape the sound to a given curve automatically. A Flat EQ setting in a decent/average consumer speaker setup is not the same as a flat response studio monitor.


However, most consumer speaker setups include a valuable piece of technical data - the Frequency Response falloff chart. This is important to know when using them for PC-based recording, because it will show you what frequencies the speakers will accentuate and which ones they will reduce.

You already know from experience they're bass-heavy, so even though you've got a good thumping bass tone in your mix, when you put it on a CD and take it out to your car, you might have to adjust the EQ to cut or boost the bass. That means you have to adjust the EQ in the mix, and do it all over again until it matches a store-bought CD without the EQ tweaks.


This is where a Frequency Analyzer plugin comes in handy: run a track that you know through it - say your friends are doing Thrash like older Metallica/Megadeth/etc. Run a song from those bands through the Frequency Analyzer and look at the EQ curve. Mix your friends' track to match that shape and it doesn't matter what speakers you listen through, or what they're tuned to, it's going to maintain that curve. EQ adjustments (if any) would then have to be made on the playback device, not in the mix, but if someone's already got their EQ set to favor that style of music, chances are they won't have to adjust anything.

Also be aware that as sounds are stacked on top of each other, overall loudness increases. While you may have 6 tracks of guitar, bass, and drums all under -6dB individually, once they're all running at once, they're compounding. You'll end up with a playback volume above 3dB, which is generally peaking.

That's the sort of stuff you have to figure out how to correct in the mix.

 

[GoldenVulture]

Re: Intro to home/PC/amateur recording?

When you start with Sonar you select a template,Eg "16 channel recorder".
You need to set your input [where it's coming from] and also your output [where it's going out to]It will by default set all tracks to one input and output pair.Setting your in and outs is done by selecting the I/O tab at the bottom of the interface on the left where you have the "All,Custom,Mix,FX and I/O " tabs.Each channel has an in and out bar to select from.

It arrays into single tracks to record on and also will have a Master bus control and maybe some sub outs. When your exporting your tracks,even if they show decent output levels the Master bus that it will be routed through may be resticting the output. In other words it may need to be turned up.
If your exporting multiple individual tracks you will need to set the outputs first so they are balanced [Mixed]

In your interface on the computer there will be the individual tracks first.You may not be able to see the master and sub bus controls ,you may have to scroll down to see them but they should be there.Here you should be able to see the output levels and adjust accordingly.

I use Sonar 6 and 8. The basic layout and operations don't differ much. * has more in the way of Surround/mastering facilities.
If you need more pointers ,give us a hoy.:14: