Sound quality // recording recommendations?

Retro_addicT · **Joined:** Sun Mar 03, 2013 1:30 pm **Posts:** 53

okay so I have tracked a few beats out to ableton 9 via interface with xlr to rca cables and it's alright but I want better quality(I would like for my beats to sound exactly how I made them on the 404)...I am not saying they sound like complete shit on ableton but I know they can sound better

I know samiyam supposedly uses ableton for tracking out but his beats sound great(maybe it's the mixing/mastering ? )

so, now I guess I'll be investing in a recorder... any recommendations??

hseiken · **Posted:** Sun Dec 22, 2013 8:12 pm

the playback rates of abelton and 404 probably aren't equal. this might cause them to sound different.

Retro_addicT · **Joined:** Sun Mar 03, 2013 1:30 pm **Posts:** 53

hseiken wrote:

the playback rates of abelton and 404 probably aren't equal. this might cause them to sound different.

Is this possible to fix ?

timmytoga · **Joined:** Tue May 18, 2010 12:25 am **Posts:** 137

I have the same problems.

I would suggest experimenting with various levels on your SP volume versus your audio interface input gain.

I've had the best luck recording not very hot and then normalizing the whole recording. Make sure your waveform has plenty of peaks and isn't clipping or anything like that.

Apparently EQing and compression and junk like that can be utilized in software to make your recordings sound real nice, but I don't know anything about that.

Retro_addicT · **Joined:** Sun Mar 03, 2013 1:30 pm **Posts:** 53

timmytoga wrote:

I have the same problems.

I would suggest experimenting with various levels on your SP volume versus your audio interface input gain.

I've had the best luck recording not very hot and then normalizing the whole recording. Make sure your waveform has plenty of peaks and isn't clipping or anything like that.

Apparently EQing and compression and junk like that can be utilized in software to make your recordings sound real nice, but I don't know anything about that.

I have tried eqing & compression previously but it doesn't make too much of a difference...I thought that would help but it didn't...

Retro_addicT · **Joined:** Sun Mar 03, 2013 1:30 pm **Posts:** 53

timmytoga wrote:

I have the same problems.

I would suggest experimenting with various levels on your SP volume versus your audio interface input gain.

I've had the best luck recording not very hot and then normalizing the whole recording. Make sure your waveform has plenty of peaks and isn't clipping or anything like that.

Apparently EQing and compression and junk like that can be utilized in software to make your recordings sound real nice, but I don't know anything about that.

I have tried eqing & compression previously but it doesn't make too much of a difference...I thought that would help but it didn't...

Krisso The Great · **Joined:** Fri Mar 23, 2012 1:37 am **Posts:** 588

depends on the audio interface you use

hseiken · **Posted:** Mon Dec 23, 2013 11:14 pm

hseiken wrote:

the playback rates of abelton and 404 probably aren't equal. this might cause them to sound different.

Without getting too technical, even though signals are digital and therefore don't introduce 'hissing' and things like that, audio is still processed differently between devices. I'm not sure exactly what's not sounding right, but in reference to my previous post, aliasing is a big one that's introduced into digital recordings between devices. This adds extra artifacts to your sound. It's kinda what happens when you play with the lo-fi effect on the SP except unintentional and generally very subtle. It's pretty much unavoidalbe, but you can minimize it by increasing the sample rate of the recording on your computer or in some cases decreasing it. i.e. 96khz as apposed to 48khz.

In other cases, the actual hardware has a 'curve' to it's output. This is easier to fix if your tracks sound less beefy or whatever. Just compensate with EQ and maybe even a limiter with mild settings on it.

Hope this helps.

Retro_addicT · **Joined:** Sun Mar 03, 2013 1:30 pm **Posts:** 53

Kris - KRiS - White wrote:

depends on the audio interface you use

focusrite saffire 6

Retro_addicT · **Joined:** Sun Mar 03, 2013 1:30 pm **Posts:** 53

hseiken wrote:

the playback rates of abelton and 404 probably aren't equal. this might cause them to sound different.

Without getting too technical, even though signals are digital and therefore don't introduce 'hissing' and things like that, audio is still processed differently between devices. I'm not sure exactly what's not sounding right, but in reference to my previous post, aliasing is a big one that's introduced into digital recordings between devices. This adds extra artifacts to your sound. It's kinda what happens when you play with the lo-fi effect on the SP except unintentional and generally very subtle. It's pretty much unavoidalbe, but you can minimize it by increasing the sample rate of the recording on your computer or in some cases decreasing it. i.e. 96khz as apposed to 48khz.

In other cases, the actual hardware has a 'curve' to it's output. This is easier to fix if your tracks sound less beefy or whatever. Just compensate with EQ and maybe even a limiter with mild settings on it.

Hope this helps.

Thanks I'll try to play around with it some more and see what happens

Sound quality // recording recommendations?

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