At which volume do you record ?

sup, sorry for this noobtype of question
but real quick: do you record your finished beats from the mpc to pc with max mpc volume and then make it more quiet or how do you manage that ish ? because im always scared my beats come out distorted but they are all just to quiet i just noticed lol

try to record it as loud as possible, without the beat sounding distorted.
If you record it at a low volume, then you'll probably need to alter it later. And that means that youll probably raise the noise or the hiss as well.

Go for it! or just do it, do it, do it!

completely disregard the above poster. the proper way to track them into the computer first things first you're going to want to track in at 24 bit because you gain much more dynamic range as opposed to 16 bit. second you're going to want to stay far away from clipping... i like to keep my tracks peaking at probably -12 thru -16 db on your digital vu meter...analog reads different and works different than digital. the reason for doing these things is you're preserving your headroom. clipping is obviously the worst thing for your digital audio and you want to stay far away from that. you're also setting your self up for mastering which will then turn up your final volume, and give you the loudness you seek.

i try to remember it like this ...you can always turn it up later but once its clipped its for ever distorted.

Scarecrow wrote:completely disregard the above poster. the proper way to track them into the computer first things first you're going to want to track in at 24 bit because you gain much more dynamic range as opposed to 16 bit. second you're going to want to stay far away from clipping... i like to keep my tracks peaking at probably -12 thru -16 db on your digital vu meter...analog reads different and works different than digital. the reason for doing these things is you're preserving your headroom. clipping is obviously the worst thing for your digital audio and you want to stay far away from that. you're also setting your self up for mastering which will then turn up your final volume, and give you the loudness you seek.

i try to remember it like this ...you can always turn it up later but once its clipped its for ever distorted.

you are right, real talk...

Try this on if you're feeling anarchistic:

Take a bass sample and record it hot (distorted) then filter it down in your MPC. It sounds fantastic!!

Dude, if you dont use a quality preamp get one and learn the craft of proper mixing and signal input/gain. Try not to user compression while tracking and few plug-ins. Go dry as possible, learn judicious EQing, and how to apply limiting. Last but not least if you r serious about recording take your draft of the tracks to a mastering house.

The recording hot thing is BAD NEWS and will kill any mastering applications you may want to implment in the digital world.

Again, the recoding hot thing is simply wrong and is just bad advice.
when you clip in digital world, you've already lost!

i wouldnt record too hot in general if you are after a good hifi production, but if you want to experiment getting new sounds, then distortion is always a great tool. I find the idea of digital distortion with filtering applied quite refreshing.

the proper way to track them into the computer first things first you're going to want to track in at 24 bit because you gain much more dynamic range as opposed to 16 bit.


is it still worth keepng the beats tracked out at 24 when the 200xl is only 16 bits anyway? or do you just keep your sessions at 24 for adding other things late such as vocals and whatever other shit that may be over a6 bits?

i move my little trigger thing on the mpc up to -2, then get my levels to peak at that.