Discuss the various methods you use in music production, from compressor settings to equipment type.
By smoovbudeadly Sun Apr 11, 2021 12:57 pm
Hi everyone,

Had an question since I started using my MPC with DAWs and hope someone will be able to help me.

My workflow is basically to make beats in standalone mode, than export tracks in audio, in order to mix them in a DAW. If that is something you've ever done yourself, you most likely have noticed that there is a consequent difference between the master from you're MPC, and the master from your DAW after exporting each of your MPC tracks in your DAW.

The MPC master seems way warmer and grimier than the DAW master which is completely flat and lifeless (my personal opinion here I guess). My guess is that the interaction between sample is glued by some kind of compression on the master level. I searched for explanations in the manual of the 1000 and the Live (I use both), but couldn't find anything. I also use the MPC 2.0 software, and I get the exact same thing on it than on my MPC 1000.

I can't explain it, I just feel that MPCs somehow compress and glue tracks together on the master, without you doing anything about it.

And my issue is that I LOVE that sound. That's the reason why I make beats on MPC, because I want this to happen on my master.

However, I also want to be able to mix my tracks in a DAW, to get my beats exactly where I want to get. And until now, I haven't found any way to export separate audio tracks without completely loosing that feeling and that sound.
The issue being that this sound is created by the interactions between tracks.

Therefore, is there any routing/exporting parameters/black magic that would allow me to export separate tracks, but with them interacting with each-other at the same time?

Hope this is clear, let me know if it's not.

Thanks
By DokBrown Tue Apr 13, 2021 7:40 pm
Instead of exporting, record each track 1-by-1 with good audio cables & audio interface perhaps ???


You figure this out & you will be 1 step closer to being the legend that you look up to . . . . . .
By smoovbudeadly Mon Apr 19, 2021 8:29 am
Yes exactly @Cockdiesel. I used to do that too with my MPC 1000 but had the exact same problem. Thanks for your answer anyway @DokBrown.

I'm at a point where I feel completely hopeless: I make beats on my MPC, they sound a certain way that I love (and by certain way I mean they sound hard lol) but I want to be able to add effects and sequence tracks on my computer to take advantage of all the DAWs possibilities. And I just can't. Therefore I have to export track by track, and try to copy the hardness of the MPC by mixing, but obviously I can never get the exact same sound and it pisses me.

If anyone has any idea, I'd be very, very happy to solve this. It feels like there is a solution to this, in someway this is a super simple issue.
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By NearTao Mon Apr 19, 2021 11:10 am
Instead of going track by track, is there a reason you don't just resample the entire beat in the MPC?

On the other hand... I kind of think the dragon you're trying to chase here is the sound as an overall component of MPC, DACs, ADCs, cables, speakers, mixers... whatever else you throw in. With that, yeah, you're never going to get the *exact* sound you hear through speakers, and without an in depth analysis of your setup (and even then) it'd be incredibly hard to pinpoint what you're hearing or thinking is awesome about the MPC versus what just might be an effect from something else.

Honestly though, I'd try resampling, or use the digital interface on your 1k... and then see what you need to do to reproduce the same sound in your DAW. You ought to be able to get 95% of the way there by just thinking it through and thinking about what factors you have control over and what factors you don't have control over.
By smoovbudeadly Fri Apr 23, 2021 8:32 am
Thanks NearTao. I know there's no way to reproduce the exact same sound of the components in the MPC.
I thought about resampling, but it doesn't really seem right to me: from the MPC to the DAW to the MPC to the DAW again...

I looked in the manual, but couldn't find anything regarding the process happening on the master. For example, something happens when you turn the master level above 0db. Sounds like compression with a bit of saturation to me, but in such an organic way that I can't manage to reproduce it with plug-ins. And if I do the exact same change on Logic (for example +2.00db on the master), with the exact same tracks at the exact same level, the sound is completely different. For reasons beyond my imagination lol it's a bit better on Ableton, but still not like it.

It pisses me off because it feels like something that can be solved knowing a way to link an MPC to a DAW that I don't know about.
Thanks for the help
By 6/8 Stanley Sat Apr 24, 2021 7:51 pm
I would mute everything except two tracks I want use with an effect (say a stereo leslie) and run the stereo outs to a hardware mixer and add the external effects. Then send it to a multitrack recorder (or computer in your case).
Then mute all except a different two or more tracks and send to mixer and add different effects and send that to recorder/computer. I'd use the mixer's EQ (or put a hardware EQ somewhere in the chain) and mix down there after the other tracks are recorded but I guess most users would rather use the DAW for that. I'd only use DAW to line up the tracks. Because I'm not good with the DAW and prefer to mix with a mixer.

Seems like it would work to get the stereo outs sound on all tracks, haven't tried though. It wouldn't record everything at once though, which seems like what you're asking about.
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By v00d00ppl Tue May 11, 2021 11:15 pm
DokBrown wrote:Instead of exporting, record each track 1-by-1 with good audio cables & audio interface perhaps ???


You figure this out & you will be 1 step closer to being the legend that you look up to . . . . . .



I agree .

This will probably do it. Track your master out and solo the tracks you are isolating. Record into your DAW.

If you like the D/A output stage of your MPC then track it out. Yes it’s a grueling exercise but you will catch mistakes better when you are tracking on a per track basis. I usually track with my favorite sampler to synth into a hardware compressor or mixer line. Then I do the surgical work and heavy lifting with my DAW.
By smoovbudeadly Thu May 13, 2021 9:47 am
Thanks 6/8 Stanley. Need to get an hardware mixer to try it out tho, but will let you know if that works.

Thanks for the reply v00d00ppl. I've tried that already, but as Cockdiesel mentioned, doing this this you loose the interaction of each tracks on the master level, and I don't know if that's compression, saturation, clipping or whatsoever, but it just doesn't sound the same unfortunately.