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Recordings sound muddy!


phsycoandy
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New to this home recording lark, but just got an alesis usb mixer which came with cubase LE, trying to record a bassline against a track of my lads I imported and it just sounds muddy! dunno whether to record with flat eq then adj in the mix or what? Help

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[quote name='gypsymoth' post='8247' date='May 28 2007, 07:04 PM']get it sounding as good as you can through the amp - then move the mic around so that what you hear coming out of the amp is what you hear coming out of your headphones.
with luck you won't have to fiddle with the recording much, if at all.[/quote]
Oh right, use a mic, i have a xlr out of the amp direct to the mixer, is that not the best way?

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This is cool advice guys never tht of mixing the bass to one side or the other. Mixer is an alesis multimix8 usb and as u know i have a lm11 and a Lakland dple1, should i input the bass passive or with the jretro on, bugger im such a novice at this, next problem is this midi drum thing!!!!!!!!!

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I won't say it's the best way, but mics are the only way I do stuff because I want it to sound like I sound, and I play through an amp :) . if you have more than one mic it's better as you can have one close and one far, and you can pan one left, one right, or any such combination as sounds good to you.

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[quote name='gypsymoth' post='8430' date='May 29 2007, 12:58 AM']I won't say it's the best way, but mics are the only way I do stuff because I want it to sound like I sound, and I play through an amp :) . if you have more than one mic it's better as you can have one close and one far, and you can pan one left, one right, or any such combination as sounds good to you.[/quote]
Thats sounds good.....also. please keep the info coming i need to build up my meagre knowledge base.
wtf is this midi thing? how can i add drums to the recording????

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Midi's great - once you get your head around it - the answer is always between 0 and 127 or 1 and 128 - even the basic no's sometimes aren't agreed on!
You can use it for lots of stuff - not just drums - controlling external fx/mixers (if so equipped) and sound modules, soft synths etc.
As for muddy, when you're mixing, try to give each instrument it's own space in the mix.
Don't solo each bit and eq it to sound good on its own - it all has to be done to work together - that can mean in isolation, it sounds crap! With eq, try to cut rather than boost. Be awre of how your mixing environment impacts on the mix, listen to it outside the room before committing - it's a good way of picking up imbalances. My preferred option is to check the mix very quietly - just above off. If i can hear the whole thing at this vol, it seems to work anywhere. It also doesn't tire out the ears as quickly.
I must urge extreme caution tho at this stage in your recording venture. it is VERY easy to get sucked into the gear vortex where you can't stop spending. I've been trying to get out for years!
enjoy
max

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[quote name='redroque' post='9562' date='May 30 2007, 10:31 PM']can you describe the what you are doing so we have something to work on - sorry didn't get back earlier - been in studio - got to make all this gear do something![/quote]
well ive got the hang of recording audio on the LE 24 track. But now want to add drums. so at the start i have option to use midi recording, do i use that. Tried it, and recorded two tracks, but cant c how to add drums, i can get it to go ping ping as it scrolls across, so how do I add a drum track and are the samples on cubase, how do i set it up etc, Sorr u can c im a complete novice at this!

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If any of this sounds patronising, then I apologise - it's not meant to!
MIDI is just numbers, not sounds so you need a sound generator - eg, a vst instrument (LM7/ BFD etc) or a external drum machine capable of receiving midi.
In cubase, create a midi track, if you can, make it a drum track - not sure if that's possible in LE - as then you can work with little diamonds rather than the piano roll style entry.
You then have to send the midi info to a sound generator. If you have a vsti drum machine, load it up as a vst instrument. then click midi output and select the vsti that you loaded. If using an external machine, select the midi output channel that the module is connected to.
You then need to route the output of the vsti to your mix bus or in the case of the external module, connect the audio outputs to a mixer so you can hear it. Audio doesn't travel through midi cables. You can record the external into the pc as an audio file, but that rather defeats the ability to edit later on.
having done all this, you can programme away. It's not as complicated as I made it sound - once you have a setup that works, save it as a template and you can get it every time you create a new song.
Hope i haven't missed anything
max

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  • 2 weeks later...

[quote name='phsycoandy' post='8334' date='May 28 2007, 09:58 PM']This is cool advice guys never tht of mixing the bass to one side or the other.[/quote]

No he means move the guitars and if ur using a drumkit, the overhead and tom mics from one side to the other.

The other thing i will say is it could sound muddy because ur direct output might just be your bass signal so u can plug it into other amps and that. So i would reccomend either of 2 things here:

1. get a direct box (such as a sansamp bass driver)

2. get a mic and a soundcard, if ur going for the old-skool option.

you could also buy a moddling interface such as line6 pod or guitarrig software but these are probably a bit expensive if you only want one sound.

Edited by EdwardHimself
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