Recording Louder & Clearer

OK, here's my problem.

I have all my instruments leveled in the MPC the way I want them and it all sounds fine coming from my monitors. I run the MPC's stereo outs to two channels in my mixer. My CD burner records from the mixer's tape outs. When I record and play it back in the burner it sounds like it did when I played it from the MPC. When I play it anywhere else (discman, stereo, car stereo, computer, etc.) it sounds like shit. The low end is way too strong and it kinda drowns out everything else. When I record, the MPC's gain is all the way up, the mixer's faders are all the way up, the trim knobs are all down and the EQ knobs are all centered. I always adjust the Rec Level on the burner so the input doesn't distort. Could someone tell me what the hell I am doing wrong? Are my monitors misleading me?

What I use (that's relevant):

MPC2000XL
Mackie 1604-VLZPro
Event PS-5 Monitors
HHB CDR-850

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Take it easy.

I get this problem sometimes. I think it'll be the monitors leading you astray. I mix stuff on headphones which is cool for the neighbours but play it in the car etc and it sounds well off balance.

I'm no expert here but maybe try playing a few CDs of artists you are familiar with through your monitors and listening to how the mix sounds. Maybe you can move the monitors around or flatten the EQ a bit to get it sounding a bit more like it will elsewhere. I always check a mix out on 2 or 3 different stereos if I can, it's hard to get the mix right but it does help.

It sounds like the problem is that your mix is bass heavy due to the lack of bass response from the 5 inch woofers on the PS5's. Try lowering the bass heavy elements in the mix, you should also be able to record a hotter signal with the bass not hittin' so hard. To get an idea of the bass response on your monitors listen to some music you're familiar with and see how the low end sounds and just try to mimic that with your mix.

Both of your responses make sense and I feel kinda stupid for not thinking about that. Although, I did think that it had something to do with the shitty low end on those monitors. I guess that's probably what's screwing me over. I'm will try what you guys suggested. I appreciate the quick response.

Oh yeah, Sten, I know about trying to mix on head phones. It's 20x worse than mixing on these monitors I have.

Take it easy.

this is a normal problem when you're in a room that isn't designed for acoustic accuracy. I had a control room in my old studio that made it extremely difficult to do accurate mixes. The answer is, it's probably partly a monitor problem and partly a room problem. The best thing to do would be either borrow, rent, or buy (and then maybe later return) some decent monitors and do a mix on them. Fact is, you almost always need to learn to adjust to your monitors no matter what. What I used to do was make a mix, play it in the car, take a couple notes, go back in, try fixing it. When you do get a mix that sounds good in the car, learn from it, use it as a reference. The other major thing to do is listen to CD's of music through your system that sound good. Notice where the bass is. Notice where the highs are. A/B your mix vs. the cd. Maybe the right bass level is barely audible on your system....ya know, just experiment like that.

jontakiff wrote:listen to CD's of music through your system that sound good. Notice where the bass is. Notice where the highs are. A/B your mix vs. the cd. Maybe the right bass level is barely audible on your system....ya know, just experiment like that.

That's the main thing I learned, you have to "know" your speakers in order to get a good mix that translates well to other systems. I mix on my home stereo system that I've had for 8 years now, the receiver and speakers cost me 199$ back then and I am very happy with my mix downs. Just listen to your favorite cd's and pay attention to the levels of the bass and highs and how they relate to each other.

Those are all very good points. Another thing you could do is to run your monitors as your main outs, a set of house speakers from your sub outs and maybe some computer speakers w/ subwoofer or the equivalent from your control room out, and some headphones. Along with listening to some of your favorite artist this will give you some different aspects of the sound you'll get from various sources. Getting a subwoofer to accompany your monitors seems like it would be very beneficial to your mixes since your not hearing to lower frequencies.

thankx,
D. James

This comes from a lot of wasted cd's recorded too low. haha Don't worry about what kind of monitors your using, as long as you know your equipment, you can use your grandads speakers to make 'beats dat bump' (that's a name I may use if cream.of.beats is already used)

1) Turn your speakers down.. real low, that way you can hear everything. Plus, your ears do get tired.. sounds funny, but if youve ever made a track, and listened to it the next morning and wondered,"what the hell was I thinking," then you know what I'm talking about
2) Make sure your samples are loud (but not clipping)! If you go to the sample screen, and your kick drum barely makes an image, you sampled it too low. It's hard to get a 'soft' sample to be loud without added noise, but it's a lot eas(ier) to reduce loud samples. Check all your samples. When your going into the mixer, make sure the sound is level. You don't want the left side hitting the red, and the right side doing nothing. Get em level.
3) Check the sound from the MPC, and the mixer with the headphones. Your gonna get two different readings, but if your getting a nice reading from the mpc, and the mixer, your on the right path. 4) Try to avoid using the gain knobs.. more gain = more noise. All samples have noise.. even from the best samplers.
5) When your going into the recorder, monitor the sound. Use the phones and the speakers. Your level on your recorder's output should be set to * 0db * Pay attention to that!! This 'may' be your problem. If it sounds good in the room and bad in the car, it may be because your actual sound going in is low, but your boosting the monitor output to compensate it. Example, if a cd is recorded way too low, you turn the volume way up so it sounds normal.
6) Check the level for each sound going into the recorder. If your two-trackin', simply using the solo on the mpc, do this for each sound. Your gonna need everything to be 'at least' hitting the half-way mark.. your kicks/snares should be way up there, but that depends on the type of music your making or feeling you want to translate thru your music. Overall, you want your tracks to be just barely below the red. With digital, you have no headroom.. maybe a little if it programmed into the machine, but in most cases, don't hit it. With analog recorders, you want your music to touch the red once in a while.
7) *cheap tip* If you have a tape deck, play a good recorded tape and check the levels, now arm the tape recorder (record+pause)and play your digital recorder and watch the levels. If it's low, and your doing everything I described, then something is wrong, and I can't do anything to help that!

. ..roxstar. ..
http://www.soundclick.com/creamofbeats

I've tried a little bit of all the stuff you guys suggested, and I seem to be getting better results, but it's not perfect yet. These monitors are really shitty. I've found that if I want the bass to not sound overwhelming I have to turn my basslines and kicks down to where I almost cant hear them unless the monitors are all the way up. I'm also noticing that my monitors seem to "clean things up." Now that I'm getting everything louder I'm noticing that I need to increase the highs on most mixes cuz everything kinda sounds blah. Anyway...

I'm noticing that after I burn something to a CD and play it on my computer, the computer is reading the audio on the CD as MONO when I thought I was recording in stereo. Any clue as to why that is?

Out of curiosity I was wondering what monitors you're using so I know not to buy them... thanks

what kind of speakers you have really makes no significant difference because most people who will listen to your productions don't have Genelec's or Mackie's but just ordinary speakers.

Try to set up 2 or 3 different sets of wack speakers, listen to a good mix through it and try to make your mix sound well on all of the speakers you have.

beware of the Sub that you might not hear on some speakers

also if you're almost done mixing stand back a couple of feet and listen to your mix through the headphone from a distance.
check if everything is well balanced and no parts of the mix get drowned by other parts...especially handy for checking the balance between vocals and beat

don't crank up your speakers all the way up untill you are done balancing the mix!!!

play a commercial CD that sounds good to you on the system with your monitors....that way u get an idea of how a good mix sounds on YOUR system...then...when you're mixing...try to duplicate that sound.....if u can get it sounding close to the commercial cd(which is easier said than done) u should have a good mix that will sound good on most systems. Also...remember a lil eq goes a long way. You can also alter the sound by boosting the opposite...meaning....if u have too much bass...reduce the bass a little and then increase the highs...remember that it's all relative....the problem could be too little bass or too much high's....

PEACE

roxstar

Excellent post.......very well put......all of the info was really good that everybody posted

you may think its the monitors!
you could have amazing monitors, but if your room is crappy, then the sound wont come out right.
i have m-audio studio phile 8" monitors. set me back 500 bucks, but i love them.
im set up downstairs in a really long and open room. this is not a room that you would even THINK of recording vocals in because its very bouncy and echoey. my mixdowns on my beats are good, but not exact so i do my final mix at my boys house. my monitors blow his away, but his room is much better. its not always what your mixing on, its where your mixing

chief is both right and wrong.....yes not many people have the same monitors as you but the point of monitors is to give an accurate response accross the whole ferquency range so you can see how every frequency range sounds..with hi-fi speakers they colour the sound and often have an eq curve which will boost or cut certain frequency ranges to make it 'listeners friendly'.....

saying that i have shite speakers and have had to 'learn' them- i still dont have the money for the alesis M1's i want so have to put up with mixing between my shite trio speakers, my head phones and then take the mix to listen to through my mates studio set up to see how it sounds....

so whilst you can mix on hi fi speakers and get good results (provided you know them) the accuracy that monitors offer is essential for pro-sounding mixes which translate well accross all mediums....from a mono hand held radio to a sub-driven car setup to a gut rumbling club sound system....if you get the mix right the mastering process is easy...

so while ill still continue with my shitty trios i cant wait for the day i can afford those alesis m1's (and perhaps a pair of sony mdrs...)

greg

greg