Whats The Problem?

Ok, so i got my MPC5K and my MOTIF Rack hoocked up to this little one mic 5 total input behringer 502 mixer. then i have it routed back out to the mpc via the cd/tape phono output (red & white aux). I only have my sennheiser hd 280 headphones plugged into the mixer phones jack. when i goto 'save as wav file' and play it back on my computer. the sounds from the motif are dead, the drums are loud. i have the rec gain turned up as high as it can get before it starts screaming. I have the volume knobs on both mpc and rack at about 65%. on the mixer i try to keep the main mix lights at a steady 0 (green) and hardly hit yellow only when heavy bass hits (808). the volume for the mpc and rack on the mixer are both on about 0. what seems to be the problem?

Im saving for a better computer (Mac) before I get pro tools and a audio interface and all that. for now im TRYING to do all my mixing on the MP. It sounds good on the headphones. but when i play it back... not so much.

You can hear the song ('Teknical') on my myspace page ( myspace.com/teknokeyz or link below in sig). compare it to 'First Time' which i made in Reason a while back.

Do you actually re-record your MPC and Motif playback into the MPC?!?!

I listened to Teknical and to me it sounded like having to much compression...I can really hear the synth and strings "breathing" when there is no bass heavy kick drum!

NguoiDuc wrote:Do you actually re-record your MPC and Motif playback into the MPC?!?!

I listened to Teknical and to me it sounded like having to much compression...I can really hear the synth and strings "breathing" when there is no bass heavy kick drum!

Yes I actually rerecorded everything back into the MPC. Im not sure if I should do my monitoring from the mixer or the MPC.

I checked the effects and I saw that I did have a compressor on the tracks. so I took that off. i had forgot I had been playing with that early on in the beat. What do you mean by hearing the tracks breath? I want to know so I can make sure its gone and so i can know when im doing it so I can fix it.

Teknokeyz wrote:

NguoiDuc wrote:Do you actually re-record your MPC and Motif playback into the MPC?!?!

I listened to Teknical and to me it sounded like having to much compression...I can really hear the synth and strings "breathing" when there is no bass heavy kick drum!

What do you mean by hearing the tracks breath? I want to know so I can make sure its gone and so i can know when im doing it so I can fix it.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but my perception of the matter is, over compressing will cause the sounds to have an "in & out" effect. One moment they're in your face, the next, they seem to fade away...hence, the breathing effect.

ok, im gonna try to rerecorded it agin without the effects. But should i plug my headphones into the MPC 'Phones' jack or the mixers?

Well, if you do tweeking on your mixing during mixdown, you should plug your phones into it.

Btw.: dabmeister's right with the "breathing" effect!

Thanks alot guys.... I cut out the compression but no matter what i could never get the track loud enough. but I found sending the .wav file to adobe audition and using the normalize effect works well enough.