Getting the best sound with what i have....

Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2002 8:33 am

My setup right now consists of a roland mc 307, 80's vintage synthesizer, an MPC, and my creativeness (probably my most valuable tool). Oh, and several soft synths as well. I'm afraid i'm not getting the most out of my sound..soundwise. By that I mean that the sound quality isn't what i'm reaching for. I'll sequence a song into the mpc, midi it up to my soundcard, and two track it, burn it, and listen in the car. It's alright but it could be better. I was hoping you could take me step by step throught the necessary process of tracking my beats. Should I run each track through outboard signal processors or what? Do you think it's the quality of my computer and sound card? Help please. Suggestions appreciated. Thanx

Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2002 1:55 pm

Hm, what specifically is bugging you about the sound?

The kind of sound card you're using would help suss this out, too. A SoundBlaster 16 is gonna sound awfully brittle.. <grin> j/k

You wouldn't believe how much miking your keyboard--even through its built-in speakers--can sometimes make a track seem like it's a real track.

Of course, this is also dependent on the style of music... Better equipment (both synths, converters, sound card, etc) will all help your sound get "there." But it's also not a magical solution: experimentation is the magical solution.

What kind of music are you going for? And how is your stuff falling flat? Being able to answer these two things will, in their own, help you find your answers.

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2002 8:59 am

I'm making mostly hip-hop and r&b tracks but i'm not involved in a monogomous relationship when it comes to that genre. I compare my productions to what i hear on the radio. It just doesn't sound as clean. Maybe that's a better term...clean. It doesn't sound so full either. Okay, but last night i went to work with this beat i had trying to fiddle with EQ's, compression, natural verb, an externalizer, a grunger, and surround plug-ins. The final mix sounded a hell of alot better then the original. I worked with that beat as a complete wave file...not tracking was done so I couldn't tweek each instrument. Had I done so, do you think I would've gotten an even better mix? Also, once a a track has been bounced to one how much tweeking can i actually do to enhance the sound versus doing it before bouncing?
I'm all over the place but I think i'm really starting to find my sound.
Thanx.

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