mix down

I'm working on a tune and I have say 25 tracks on the mpc with individual loops and samples.

I want to record like a final version but I'm finding it difficult cutting out tracks and bringing them in. Like I can only bring in or take out 1 or 2 tracks at a time with track mute.

I only have an mpc 2000xl. no mixing desk or mixing software on my pc (yet). Is it possible to do a basic mix down or structure the tracks and sequences to do this on the mpc or do I need the above?
If so what software, mixing desks do you peeps recommend?

Appreciate any help on this.

peace

I dunno about software, but if you want to do it directly on the MPC:

SONG MODE. (shift+1)

What i do is copy my seq. (highlight sequence name-->open window-->copy) about 4 times. Then go to your track mute screen, and mute tracks in each newly copied seq. so each seq. is different.

Example: seq. 1- mute the drums and use as intro
seq.2- mute the loop and use as a 4 bar break
et etc etc etc etc......

Then enter song mode and arrange your sequences as you see fit (i.e. seq 1 - repeat twice... then seq.2 repeat 4 times (if its a 4 bar seq. that'll give you 16 bars for a verse..... and so on))........

Sorry for my incoherent babble. I hope this helps you out a little. It's not mixdown, but it will allow for some arrangement when tracking later on. I used to lace all my beats live by track muting for the longest time (just count bars for verses/hooks/etc in my head) until i found out about song mode. Now, thats the standard....

Peace.

OR you can go into mixer mode and selecet mixer setup and select Record mixer changes: YES

then when you want to pan, volume fade etc. the MPC will record it, so u can play it back that way. Want the intro to be all drums? fade the other channels all to 0, then bring them back up when its time to drop it. This is how the mpc does "fader automation" and stuff like that.

Thanks for the tips. I find sometimes though that the mixer on the mpc comes in a little abruptly. Or not so smooth. Like I move it up a little but it comes in kinda loud. Maybe thats something to do with volume of loops ans samples?

Dr.Foo wrote:OR you can go into mixer mode and selecet mixer setup and select Record mixer changes: YES

then when you want to pan, volume fade etc. the MPC will record it, so u can play it back that way. Want the intro to be all drums? fade the other channels all to 0, then bring them back up when its time to drop it. This is how the mpc does "fader automation" and stuff like that.

Wow! This is Greek to me.... i never knew about this feature.... where do i access "mixer mode"????

This sounds necessary, and i've been sleeping......

I never knew u could automate the mixer thats tight I am have to check that out def in my mpc........

i gave up on the mpc when it comes doing things in song mode....i do it all on the computer now. if i start a beat off in seq one...ill have drums on track one hit hat on two and then start playing other instruments on there own tracks....since i start my beats off with the hook first....ill later mute sounds for the verse and if i got a good change up ill add it on its own track...i do all of this in one seq slot. In the past to just get your beat to sound like a full song you have to copy and to other spots maybe about 5 seq spaces....then go to song mode and put all those seq together so it sounds like a song now what i do is just record each track from the mpc to my computer daws and let it loop for about 8 to 16 bars once i get all my tracks from the mpc to my daws i just use mute automation to put the song together the way i want it to sound.....i dont this cause you never know when so and so artist wants to do a remix and needs the verse to be longer o shorter or what not. plus if you do pre mutes in the mpc once its recorded to the computer you cant change or fill in that space thats nothings there...like i read from a magazine...if you want to here a piano riff later its still there just muted. o yea the reason i just record in only 8 to 16 bars of the song is when you do anything on the mpc its gona be in the first 4 to 8 bars any ways...and then loop then you space it out by coping seq but once its in the computer i just take them 8 to 16 bars of each track and tell my computer to copie them x amount of times untill i got enuf to go back and just mute parts out for the verse hook or whatever...

yo famekeyz. what software are you using? And how do you run your mpc into you pc?

any sequencer will do but i think you already own the best one, get your hands dirty....its well worthwhile- ive been experimenting with dj style transitions between tunes using the next seq function- much more intuitive than tarying to do it on a pc....well imho....

greg

famekeyz wrote:i gave up on the mpc when it comes doing things in song mode....i do it all on the computer now. if i start a beat off in seq one...ill have drums on track one hit hat on two and then start playing other instruments on there own tracks....since i start my beats off with the hook first....ill later mute sounds for the verse and if i got a good change up ill add it on its own track...i do all of this in one seq slot. In the past to just get your beat to sound like a full song you have to copy and to other spots maybe about 5 seq spaces....then go to song mode and put all those seq together so it sounds like a song now what i do is just record each track from the mpc to my computer daws and let it loop for about 8 to 16 bars once i get all my tracks from the mpc to my daws i just use mute automation to put the song together the way i want it to sound.....i dont this cause you never know when so and so artist wants to do a remix and needs the verse to be longer o shorter or what not. plus if you do pre mutes in the mpc once its recorded to the computer you cant change or fill in that space thats nothings there...like i read from a magazine...if you want to here a piano riff later its still there just muted. o yea the reason i just record in only 8 to 16 bars of the song is when you do anything on the mpc its gona be in the first 4 to 8 bars any ways...and then loop then you space it out by coping seq but once its in the computer i just take them 8 to 16 bars of each track and tell my computer to copie them x amount of times untill i got enuf to go back and just mute parts out for the verse hook or whatever...

some nice thoughts but use Paragraphs man!

its makes things....

....easier to read!

sorry about that cuzz. I be on my t moble two writing this stuff out and sometimes i loose my singnal fast. I use pro tools and nuendo...i use nuendo more but keep pro tools on the side just to have it. you could do what i do when any program that will suport automation. right now i have a digi design mbox but i might get a motu 828 cause it has 16 inputs. I use midi time code with nuendo and pro tools when i comes to sycing it up with my pc.dubmunkey what you said is great but i have a laptop and the fact if i feed all my sounds in to my pc from my mpc i can still work on my beats with my mpc being around.....i dont add pre mutes everything is just a long loop for each track. By doing it this way i can track the size of a verse with the tap of the keyz on my computer while someone like you will have to still re record the beat in.

the motu 828 is a very good bit of kit.


do you really need 16 inputs though?

im quite happy with 4 in/out of my Delta cards and mackie board.

you also might consider a digital board/mixer and piping the data...

anyone know how to record automation on the mpc while using reason?

Cmr3 wrote:I never knew u could automate the mixer thats tight I am have to check that out def in my mpc........

yah go into the mixer screena and in the setup set RECORD MIXER CHANGES (or whatever the call it, Im used to navigating stuff and I dont really pay attention to what they call the features of the MPC, I just call em what sits in my head the best.)

this means that you can lay down a seq. then go back and do mixer changes, so instead of doing a trackmute, you can just lower the volume to zero and mute stuff that way.

recording mixer changes is mad key to peeps who dont use any other stuff (like a mixer).