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

Man, I'm so pissed off right now!  I've been trying to get my songs 
from the XL-7 to CD, which in itself isn't a problem.  The problem I'm 
having is the end sound quality.  Everything sounds fine on the XL-7 
through my headphones or computer speakers.  I even took it over to my 
friends house and plugged it up to his Yamaha reference speakers and 
it sounded kick ass there.  So, I decided to make a master to CD.  I'm 
running the line-ins to my M-Audio Audiophile 2496, making the levels 
as hot as possible without going into the red in the M-Audio Control 
Panel.  That's routed into Cakewalk HS, making sure its levels stay as 
hot as possible without going into the red.  I record it at 24-bit 
with line-level EQ and export it as a 16-bit wav file.  Then I use 
Nero Burning Rom to burn the wav file to CD.  Well, after all that the 
CD comes out with to much bass and highs. Also, its way to quiet.  So, 
what I did was boost the volume of the song by 3db in Cakewalk after 
recording, and cut the bass and highs in Nero.  The CD is still too 
quiet.  Meaning, when I'm in my car I have to turn the radio all the 
way up to start feeling the music and when I turn the CD off my radio 
fucking blasts my eardrums out.  Has anyone else had this problem 
before?  Thanks, Brandon.

I have read thru your message enough to quickly recommend that you
eliminate the EQ. Also do not worry so much about peaking close to the
red for 24 bit recording. Think -6 db or so (even -11) and you are OK.
This will leave some headroom for the Mastering phase of your
production - which will bring your CD up to normal listing levels
compared w/radio or a commerically produced CD. Mastering will involve
the use of a plug-in or app designed for that purpose: frequency
sensitive compressor/expander etc. In the end - viola, you will have a
volume-matched CD

good luck

E


--- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, "zerolatencyproductions"
<zerolatencyproductions@y...> wrote:

> Man, I'm so pissed off right now!  I've been trying to get my songs 
> from the XL-7 to CD, which in itself isn't a problem.  The problem I'm 
> having is the end sound quality.  Everything sounds fine on the XL-7 
> through my headphones or computer speakers.  I even took it over to my 
> friends house and plugged it up to his Yamaha reference speakers and 
> it sounded kick ass there.  So, I decided to make a master to CD.  I'm 
> running the line-ins to my M-Audio Audiophile 2496, making the levels 
> as hot as possible without going into the red in the M-Audio Control 
> Panel.  That's routed into Cakewalk HS, making sure its levels stay as 
> hot as possible without going into the red.  I record it at 24-bit 
> with line-level EQ and export it as a 16-bit wav file.  Then I use 
> Nero Burning Rom to burn the wav file to CD.  Well, after all that the 
> CD comes out with to much bass and highs. Also, its way to quiet.  So, 
> what I did was boost the volume of the song by 3db in Cakewalk after 
> recording, and cut the bass and highs in Nero.  The CD is still too 
> quiet.  Meaning, when I'm in my car I have to turn the radio all the 
> way up to start feeling the music and when I turn the CD off my radio 
> fucking blasts my eardrums out.  Has anyone else had this problem 
> before?  Thanks, Brandon.

Hi
Dont know whats going on with your CD burning procees to cause an EQ 
change..
If the track sounds ok once its been recorded on your PC then really 
there shouldnt be any differance just because you've burnt it onto CD.
In fact you might well find it sounds better on a decent CD player.
You can either do a peak normalise or a rms normalise on your track 
as the last process before you burn the CD.
Peak will scan the file for the highest peak on either the left and 
right channels (if set to do so)and if you set it to bring the level 
upto 0db (max..) then the loudest peak will be at 0db and everything 
else will be moved up by the same db amount as the peak was to get it 
to 0db.
if you use the rms way this averages the level over time so you can 
create blisteringly hot mixes. 
This way raises the levels of sounds above a threshold and is not 
directly connected with the highest peak in your recording as with 
peak normalise. If your creating dance stuff then rms would the way 
to go (if it suits the end result your after..)
So no more than -6db (between -14db to -6db) with rms. you might get 
settings to control how the audio is treated in respect to clipping 
as well. Dynamic compression or just leave the peak at 0db could be 
some options.
You should get some attack and release time control as well that is 
used in the calculation.
Also look out for multiband compressors as well.
As for the car stereo.. its pretty normal to have a jump up in volume 
when you switch from say tape, mine does it. It seems to be a common 
design failing. 



--- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, "zerolatencyproductions" 
<zerolatencyproductions@y...> wrote:
> Man, I'm so pissed off right now!  I've been trying to get my songs 
> from the XL-7 to CD, which in itself isn't a problem.  The problem 
I'm 
> having is the end sound quality.  Everything sounds fine on the XL-
7 
> through my headphones or computer speakers.  I even took it over to 
my 
> friends house and plugged it up to his Yamaha reference speakers 
and 
> it sounded kick ass there.  So, I decided to make a master to CD.  
I'm 
> running the line-ins to my M-Audio Audiophile 2496, making the 
levels 
> as hot as possible without going into the red in the M-Audio 
Control 
> Panel.  That's routed into Cakewalk HS, making sure its levels stay 
as 
> hot as possible without going into the red.  I record it at 24-bit 
> with line-level EQ and export it as a 16-bit wav file.  Then I use 
> Nero Burning Rom to burn the wav file to CD.  Well, after all that 
the 
> CD comes out with to much bass and highs. Also, its way to quiet.  
So, 
> what I did was boost the volume of the song by 3db in Cakewalk 
after 
> recording, and cut the bass and highs in Nero.  The CD is still too 
> quiet.  Meaning, when I'm in my car I have to turn the radio all 
the 
> way up to start feeling the music and when I turn the CD off my 
radio 
> fucking blasts my eardrums out.  Has anyone else had this problem 
> before?  Thanks, Brandon.

Thanks to everyone who responded to my earlier post.  I appreciate 
the input, and will deffinatly try some of it.  What I think I am 
also going to try, is getting a level read on each individual audio 
track before recording.  I'll probably go into pattern mode and test 
each one to make sure everything is a little more even on the db 
scale.  I'm thinking when a few sound presets come into the mix, 
some are alittle too loud and others are alittle too soft; throwing 
everything off.  Well, I'll let you know how it goes.  Peace, 
Brandon.  

--- In xl7@yahoogroups.com, "zerolatencyproductions" 
<zerolatencyproductions@y...> wrote:
> Man, I'm so pissed off right now!  I've been trying to get my 
songs 
> from the XL-7 to CD, which in itself isn't a problem.  The problem 
I'm 
> having is the end sound quality.  Everything sounds fine on the XL-
7 
> through my headphones or computer speakers.  I even took it over 
to my 
> friends house and plugged it up to his Yamaha reference speakers 
and 
> it sounded kick ass there.  So, I decided to make a master to CD.  
I'm 
> running the line-ins to my M-Audio Audiophile 2496, making the 
levels 
> as hot as possible without going into the red in the M-Audio 
Control 
> Panel.  That's routed into Cakewalk HS, making sure its levels 
stay as 
> hot as possible without going into the red.  I record it at 24-bit 
> with line-level EQ and export it as a 16-bit wav file.  Then I use 
> Nero Burning Rom to burn the wav file to CD.  Well, after all that 
the 
> CD comes out with to much bass and highs. Also, its way to quiet.  
So, 
> what I did was boost the volume of the song by 3db in Cakewalk 
after 
> recording, and cut the bass and highs in Nero.  The CD is still 
too 
> quiet.  Meaning, when I'm in my car I have to turn the radio all 
the 
> way up to start feeling the music and when I turn the CD off my 
radio 
> fucking blasts my eardrums out.  Has anyone else had this problem 
> before?  Thanks, Brandon.

On 22/8/05 11:50 AM, "zerolatencyproductions" wrote:


> I'm thinking when a few sound presets come into the mix,
> some are alittle too loud and others are alittle too soft; throwing
> everything off.  Well, I'll let you know how it goes.

this is the art of mixing!  compression on individual tracks helps (though
as the xl7 only has 6 outputs you're kinda limited unless you record the
audio to a computer first) though i prefer the more open method where i use
very little reverb, compression etc and only use multi-band compression on
the final mix, which someone has already covered.

be prepared to experiment **a lot**, and don't be afraid to ask for hints &
tips!

}:-)


email :
  moose@...

music sites :
  http://www.pigpendigital.com
  http://www.alaskahighway.com
  http://www.mishikawa.com



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