so check this out: http://soundcloud.com/earwaxmelter/cumulus
i use my sp-404 with a drum machine at the same time. since you can't record with ext source on i record directly into audacity. so im running the 404 playing a sample and my drum machine plugged into the 404 with rca in and then have rca outs going into my macbook w/ audacity. i just do this because i find it easier to do this rather than sample each drum hit into the 404.
i always add normalize effect from audacity http://www.thebest3d.com/audacity/tutor ... itude.html to make my beats louder. i never tried amplify effect as that tutorial talks about. also, i add vinyl sim and compressor to my beats (is that too much to use both?)
i'm pretty sure my beats come out low volume only when i use audacity but it's the easiest way for me to make beats so it's starting to become a problem.
my beats always turn out low volume/muffled
Moderator: TGN
Re: my beats always turn out low volume/muffled
too much bass man. Look at the waveform in soundcloud - you see the big peaks everytime the bassdrum hits?
Heres the deal with digital audio volume/normalising - you can only turn it up until the very loudest bit (in this case the kick) is at maximum volume. you turn it up past there the sound will distort. so you need to turn down the kick/bass so that the rest of the song can be louder.
What you want to do is make the kick closer to the same volume as everything else (doenst have to be exact), so that the waveform doesnt have such big peaks, so that everything can be louder. In this particular case it is the bass that needs to turn down - the rest of the kick's frequencies are OK i think, because the kick itself doesnt sound that loud, just the bass part.
Remember you can't trust your ears though - use the picture to tell.
Here's a suggestion - the reason your bass is so loud is probably because your speakers or headphones dont have very good bass - so you turn it up so it sounds 'normal' on your speakers... but actually its really high. This is why studio monitors with a sub or at least decent sized drivers are a good idea, so you can hear bass well. Or perhaps you have nice speakers you were just high and cranked up the bass hehehe...
You want all of your frequency ranges to be close in volume to each other. If you want bass to sound louder, add some mid/high bass rather than sub-bass (up to 100-250hz) - spectrum analyzer plugin will help you see what the different frequency ranges are like - if there is one much louder than the others, turn it down. Look at some of your favorite songs by other artists with a spectrum analyzer to see what it looks like.
A Compressor or Limiter will help you to make things more evenly-volumed, but should not be relied on - use your ears and spectrum analyzer first. What a compressor does is it takes every sound over a certain db level and squashes it down, but the way it does it makes tails of sounds etc sound weird (some people like this effect, 'pumping' etc).. Generally never use more than 6db comp or it will sound very harsh.
Vinyl sim is another type of compression but it also adds sound character - including making the bass boomier, which in your case will not be helping because theres too much bass to start with.
Here's a suggestion - the reason your bass is so loud is probably because your speakers or headphones dont have very good bass - so you turn it up so it sounds 'normal' on your speakers... but actually its really high. This is why studio monitors with a sub or at least decent sized drivers are a good idea, so you can hear bass well. Or perhaps you have nice speakers you were just high and cranked up the bass hehehe...
Anyway, If you have a stereo or a sub with your speakers, turn the bass up on the stereo/sub - this way you can hear it but the extra bass wont be recorded by audacity. If you have cheap speakers/ headphones youll just have to accept that if you can hear the bass it's too loud on the track.
Heres the deal with digital audio volume/normalising - you can only turn it up until the very loudest bit (in this case the kick) is at maximum volume. you turn it up past there the sound will distort. so you need to turn down the kick/bass so that the rest of the song can be louder.
What you want to do is make the kick closer to the same volume as everything else (doenst have to be exact), so that the waveform doesnt have such big peaks, so that everything can be louder. In this particular case it is the bass that needs to turn down - the rest of the kick's frequencies are OK i think, because the kick itself doesnt sound that loud, just the bass part.
Remember you can't trust your ears though - use the picture to tell.
Here's a suggestion - the reason your bass is so loud is probably because your speakers or headphones dont have very good bass - so you turn it up so it sounds 'normal' on your speakers... but actually its really high. This is why studio monitors with a sub or at least decent sized drivers are a good idea, so you can hear bass well. Or perhaps you have nice speakers you were just high and cranked up the bass hehehe...
You want all of your frequency ranges to be close in volume to each other. If you want bass to sound louder, add some mid/high bass rather than sub-bass (up to 100-250hz) - spectrum analyzer plugin will help you see what the different frequency ranges are like - if there is one much louder than the others, turn it down. Look at some of your favorite songs by other artists with a spectrum analyzer to see what it looks like.
A Compressor or Limiter will help you to make things more evenly-volumed, but should not be relied on - use your ears and spectrum analyzer first. What a compressor does is it takes every sound over a certain db level and squashes it down, but the way it does it makes tails of sounds etc sound weird (some people like this effect, 'pumping' etc).. Generally never use more than 6db comp or it will sound very harsh.
Vinyl sim is another type of compression but it also adds sound character - including making the bass boomier, which in your case will not be helping because theres too much bass to start with.
Here's a suggestion - the reason your bass is so loud is probably because your speakers or headphones dont have very good bass - so you turn it up so it sounds 'normal' on your speakers... but actually its really high. This is why studio monitors with a sub or at least decent sized drivers are a good idea, so you can hear bass well. Or perhaps you have nice speakers you were just high and cranked up the bass hehehe...
Anyway, If you have a stereo or a sub with your speakers, turn the bass up on the stereo/sub - this way you can hear it but the extra bass wont be recorded by audacity. If you have cheap speakers/ headphones youll just have to accept that if you can hear the bass it's too loud on the track.
Samples.
Re: my beats always turn out low volume/muffled
Your bass drum is too loud and distorting the song. That aint good, unless you're going for that sound!
As for general "muffledness," try using an EQ to boost some of the high end a bit. You're overall volume seems ok, just turn the kick down and when you'll normalize you'll get a bit more dB out of the track
As for general "muffledness," try using an EQ to boost some of the high end a bit. You're overall volume seems ok, just turn the kick down and when you'll normalize you'll get a bit more dB out of the track