Emu XL-7 & MP-7 User's Group

Thanks Andy,
 I have more!
  As you pointed out things change with the zoom and
it sems quite drastic, a spike may shrink to less than
half the height as I zoom. This does not really make
sense to me. So from what you said the closer zoom is
the more true the amplitude? It seems to continue to
shrink as I zoom As for cool edit I have thought about
working with taht after watching the speed at which it
was able to do processing at my friends... my wavelab
seems substantially slower on a similar pc. I usually
record and then compress gain compress as necessary,
but I decided I prefer the sound of my hardware
compressor. On my last set of recordings I set the
mixer output to were the peaks would hit near zero. I
then set the compressor ~2:1. I can't recall the
decibal setting at the moment, but I can check next
time I am near my compressor; I don't think it has
been adjusted again. It was probably between 15 & 20.
Smoothing the peaks, but not completely squashing the
sound (maybe I should hop on the bandwagon) I then
adjusted the output gain to where the signal peaks
were near the same level on the mixer. Next I recorded
into wavelab. Afterwards, I adjusted the gain until
the peaks appeared near zero. And everythinfg sounds
fine on my monitors. I burned to cd put in an internet
connected computer and uploaded to soundclick. Sounded
fine, until I compared with others on the charts and
most of them sound 2-3 times louder as in I have to
adjust the volume to ~30%.
 I am going to cc this back to the board as well.
--- electrolama <andylama@...> wrote:
> Hi Tom,
> 
> I'm not using Wavelab, but I'll take a shot at your
> question:
> 
> Disclaimer:  I'm not a professional recording or
> mastering engineer--
> just a hobbyist who has learned a thing ot three...
> 
> I use Sonar 3 for recording and CoolEdit2000
> (shareware) for editing 
> and mastering.
> 
> The top and bottom edges of a graph ARE the clipping
> points, BUT 
> there's a few things to understand about this:
> 
> Graphs are 'roughly representational' and the peaks
> that appear to 
> touch the 0dB point may not in actuality.  Case in
> point: zoom all 
> the way in to the sample level and see how high it
> really goes.  
> Remember that when looking at a waveform on a graph,
> that any given 
> peak may represent dozens or hundreds of samples at
> all different 
> levels.  These are all glommed together and
> displayed by a single-
> pixel-wide spike.  Can be visually misleading at
> first.
> 
> "Setting a hard limit during recording" is the job
> of a 
> compressor/limiter.  Although I own a limiter, I
> avoid using it this 
> way because it can make changes to the incoming
> music that cannot be 
> undone.  The solution is to record a little quieter,
> then boost the 
> recorded signal.  Read on:
> 
> Let's say you have a waveform that isn't very "wide"
> onscreen.  Do 
> not automatically interpret this as being "quiet". 
> Volume is not 
> determined entirely by the overall amplitude or
> "fatness" of the 
> visual waveform.  Loudness has more to do with the
> overall dynamics 
> (difference between the average low point and
> average high point of 
> the waveform).  Some folks may simply recommend that
> you "normalize" 
> the waveform, but I think you'll find that this
> doesn't actually make 
> the wave louder because it doesn't do anything to
> the dynamics (a bit 
> like suggesting that you will be taller if you stand
> at the top of a 
> staircase).
> 
> Case in point: take a few commercial CDs and rip a
> few tracks at 
> random and look at them in your wave editor.  The
> waveforms aren't 
> always huge, are they?  But they are all LOUD,
> aren't they?
> 
> Now, when I'm "mastering" a track, I use a feature
> in CoolEdit 
> called "Hard Limiting".  This is actually a limiter,
> but it does 
> actually do something to widen the dynamics and make
> the track 
> louder.  I set the settings so that the waveform is
> boosted JUST 
> SHORT of the point where the peaks start to get
> crushed down.
> 
> The important lesson:  don't overdo it. (compression
> and limiting)  
> Read a book about recording and mastering
> engineering (there are 
> several out there).  One thing that masterers gripe
> about is the 
> current fashion of overcompressing recorded music to
> make it as 
> bloody loud as possible.  This actually makes the
> music suffer.
> 
> Have fun--I certainly do.
> 
> Andy
> 
> 
> --- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, "dj 61" <dj61@d...>
> wrote:
> > What pc software would you suggest for recording.
> I lost logic on a 
> > crash and am using wavelab, but it seems to come
> out at a rather 
> low 
> > volume although in the wave view it appears to
> have very little 
> room 
> > left. Are the top and bottom edges of the graph
> not the clipping 
> > points. Can I set a hard limit for recording or is
> it only for post 
> > recording processing? I know these questions are
> kind of newbie and 
> > not e-mu, but you guys/gals seem to be able to
> explain anything:)
> > Here I'll add some e-mu stuff to stay in topic...
> Also my e-mu 
> > requires much more volume through the mixer than
> other channels. I 
> > have to turn the gain all the way up on it and
> about half way down 
> > on my tables to even them put. Is there a simple
> solution like a 
> > master amp level in the mp-7. I know the layer
> amps, but this is 
> not 
> > a good solution.
> >  To avoid a string of thank you posts from me,
> please refer to the 
> > next line after posting your reply.
> >  Thank you for your reply your help is greatly
> appreciated.
> >      Tom
>