Bug reports & end-user support for Akai's MPC Software 'controllers' including the new MPC Studio 2, the MPC Touch, MPC Renaissance & original MPC Studio and MPC StudioB lack.
By NewbMpcGuy Wed Apr 22, 2015 9:47 pm
I'm trying to mix in mpc software but my mix is coming out distorted from my monitors. The closer I get to 0dbs, the worse the distortion gets from my drums. I've tried to adjust the compression and eq, but that just makes the sound level weak. So I go back and try to adjust everything to get closer to 0db but everything always comes out sounding nasty. Its frustrating and I'm stuck. Help?
By Jonespnice1 Thu Apr 23, 2015 1:22 am
Observe your gain staging, making sure you don't have anything hitting the red (tracks, effects, nothing), then use the appropriate compression and limiting. In some daws/production systems 0db is more forgiving but I think it's less forgiving in the Ren but that really doesn't matter much because you really don't want anything in the red. Can you explain what you're getting in the level meters in tracks, plugin, and master (what db are you getting) and what are your compression settings?
By NewbMpcGuy Fri Apr 24, 2015 1:19 am
My drums on the mixer are peaking at -14.6 db

Synth 1 is coming out around -20 dbs

Bass Synth Is peaking around -14 to -18 dbs

Synth 2 is peaking at around -28 dbs

My whole mix, right now, is peaking on the master channel at around -1.41dbs

Compression on the drums are;

Dry/Wet: 100

Threshold: -8

Ratio: 5

Attack: 57

Release: 75

Output: 0

Compression on the whole Mix;

Dry/Wet: 100

Threshold: -11

Ratio: 5

Attack: 24

Knee: 32

Release: 67

Output: 7

Maybe it's my eq settings? I tweaked it a bit but I can't really test it at full force until a little later. (Until everyone in my house is asleep. I live upstairs, my room sits above the living room. Its not really loud in their rooms.)
By Jonespnice1 Fri Apr 24, 2015 2:16 am
I'm not understanding that, if nothing is peaking into the red anywhere then there shouldn't be any distortion. Try soloing the drums to see if you have distortion and then add one track at a time to see if there's distortion, maybe it's one track that's causing it.
By NewbMpcGuy Fri Apr 24, 2015 5:11 am
I think I miss spoke a bit... I think it's a combination of bad volume gains. I messed with it a bit, and it's seems like my drums are the culprit. I'm using a drum break and the snare is killing me. I think the shares to loud but I have no idea how to kill it's potency. My dbs just slowly rise and rise until it clips... no idea how to stop this from happening. In fl, I could just use maximizer and the day would be sunny... no idea how to cut just that frequency. I've just looped the song for about 5 minutes and I went from -45 dbs to -6... extremely slowly... Gah!
By Eyalc Fri Apr 24, 2015 5:52 pm
A looped drum break can't increase in db over time. It is what it is. Sounds like you may have an overlap in your midi notes - perhaps triggering the break twice at the same time. That could make the db rise - but not gradually over time - but it may appear to do that. Check your midi notes - might be the issue.

If that's not it, and the snare is killing it, place the break on another pad, apply a low-pass to it to only keep the kick frequencies, and trigger at the same time as the unfiltered break... should then allow you to lower the volume of the break without losing the punch of the kick, and thus getting the snare under control in the mix.

But again, if I'm understanding you, the db of the break can't increase over time - something else is causing that.
By Jonespnice1 Fri Apr 24, 2015 8:54 pm
I was about to say the same thing. It almost sounds like a feedback loop, the Ren doesn't off the ability for a sound source to feed back onto itself (Reaper does) but maybe one of your plugins is doing it in some way. But checking the midi notes like Eyalc said is a good place to start.