I'm here all the time ... what's up?

question for Kurt

I am using a digi-002 with pro-tools le. I have a very new home built pc, a Blue baby bottle mic, and a yamaha dgx 500 keyboard. Good cables and everything also. I'm trying to make a professional sounding CD, and I'm having problems with levels and reverb. I am trying to get into the christian recording industry. I don't have any contacts and I write all of my stuff. I don't have access to any musicians that can help with background instruments, so I'm going solo so far. My town is very supportive and I sold about 300 copies of a demo I made, but it sounded horable on the radio because I coundn't get the levels hot enough. I would appreciate any input you have. thank you, Stephanie

When you track, try to get your levels to -6 on the meters ...

At mix, the levels should come up to about -2 dB on the peaks on the stereo meters. If you are going to have the recording mastered, this will not be as important but if not, then it becomes more critical.

I don't know a lot about PT so maybe some others will have something to offer.

I am going to change the title of this thread to "Levels in PT ... to attract some other answers.

Good luck and keep working on it.

There is a lot to learn in recording.

Digital recording does have it's own quirks compared to analog BUT it does bring at least one given that analog doesn't have.

0dBFS ... full scale

Once inside digital things can't be louder than full scale.

One simple thing to look for when in digital is RED lights.
With 24 bits recording there is no good reason for RED lights.

getting good levels in protools is a challenge for anyone, getting a good source is the obvious first problem.

if you are recording keyboards direct, then i would recommend that you get a plugin compressor/limiter on it to help more "level" out of it. also, i personally don't like the sound of keyboards recorded direct, so i would usually run them thru a PA and record the speakers with mics, but for this you need a good PA and speakers.

the other thing to look into is the sony oxford inflator, it can seriously increase the level without digital clipping.

good eq can help with getting things to cut through.

the final step is getting it mastered by a professional, if your serious about breaking into any music genre, you need to work with as many professionals as you can so you can have a professional product. there is a reason those guys charge as much as they do. there are a lot of people in this forum that would be willing to help you for very little.

rudedogg wrote: ... i would recommend that you get a plugin compressor/limiter on it to help more "level" out of it.

:shock:
I don't want to be difficult here BUT I think that might require just a little more information
.. we started with recording into PT but the thread now is titled "Levels in PT ... "

so I guess I could be jumping the gun

A Plugin compressor will not help you get more level into PT at the point of record
an analog compressor may.

A plugin will help to get more level on the way out of PT and please refer back to what was said above about mastering and the many level maximiser type of plugs and techniques available inside the digital domain.

Kev wrote: [quote=rudedogg]... i would recommend that you get a plugin compressor/limiter on it to help more "level" out of it.

:shock:
I don't want to be difficult here BUT I think that might require just a little more information
.. we started with recording into PT but the thread now is titled "Levels in PT ... "

so I guess I could be jumping the gun

A Plugin compressor will not help you get more level into PT at the point of record
an analog compressor may.

A plugin will help to get more level on the way out of PT and please refer back to what was said above about mastering and the many level maximiser type of plugs and techniques available inside the digital domain.

some people that are new to recording don't know how to ask the right questions. when i first started recording, everything was very quiet, and i couldn't understand why i couldn't get my kick drum to come thru, or my keyboards to stand out, and i learned it was my mix that was bad, not that i didn't have enough level. if she has a 002 and a blue baby bottle mic, there is plenty of gain on even the built in pres to get enough level IN.

her quote was:

kidlequieu wrote: ...but it sounded horable on the radio because I coundn't get the levels hot enough.

this would lead me to believe she is having mixing problems, not tracking problems. the radio uses compressors and limiters in order to bring it up to the correct level. so i very much doubt it was just plain too quiet, i would assume it was elements in the song that were too quiet, hence a mixing problem.

steve

rudedogg wrote: ... this would lead me to believe she is having mixing problems, not tracking problems

yep
ok

.. some people that are new to recording don't know how to ask the right questions.

yep
and here lies the most difficult part about giving your time in forums like this
... and we often keep our post short at the risk of leaving something simple BUT important out cos we assume too much
Steve 8-) ... keep throwing ideas in and don't change anything, for anyone ... especially me 8)

time for the original posted to point us in the right direction.

hey kev, thanks. i'm trying to start answering some of the n00b questions that kurt and everyone else gets sick of answering. i'm working on a web site with pictures and answers for a lot of basic questions so to serve as a sort of recording faq.

i was at a radio station like 2 weeks ago for my band doing an interview and i was really surprised to see that they still manually brought up the sound on a mixing board to make sure the level sounded right. i was sure that everything was automated these days. so i took our break time to check out all their gear, it was a pretty unusual site for me. didn't recognize much. our cd sounded great on the air though :)

steve

also

you can't see if there was gear at the transmitter site

of great interest is what broadcasters do when they have presentations in both Analog and Digital from the same source

so many are getting levels and data tagging wrong

need any help with the web pages ?
you know where I am