16/44 or 24/96

[NoAffiliation]

also an extra tip; if you can simply run your main outs through an analog mixer and back into your DAW you might find it improves the sound - you'll need a stereo input on your soundcard of course.

I know about the first tip but can you elaborate on this on?!

Thnx
Tasos

run your master output from the soundcard into a "line-in" on an external, analog mixer. then run the master output of the mixer back into an input channel on the soundcard and record that...

hehe

No how to do it... BUT why it is better to pass the signal from an analog mixer... ?

thnx
Tasos

i thought you were asking how to do it. i personally dont think it's better and ive never done it that way myself... maybe useful for adding some gain outside the digital realm but who knows? i highly doubt it will make it actually sound better

[Jack Rock]

To me, this tip seems more like voodoo than fact.
All you get from this is an extra pass through D/A - A/D plus some cables and joints. This will add noise, more quantize errors and - worst of all - more phase distortion from the converters' filters.

Why would you ever want to do that?

Of course your sound will imediately seem more "together" just as a result of being noticebly different.
But it's not in a good way. If you distort your master, or record to - say - cassette tape, it'll also make your sound instantly blend together more. But only by degrading the mix evenly. Why would you want to degrade your mix to make it work?

And don't even get me started on running your mix through all the countless IC's and cheap EQ-components of the channelstrip in a sub-pro level analogue mixer! Don't do it, if you don't have to! Honestly.

If you want analogue "togetherness" on your mix, leave it to a mastering engineer with proper analogue equipment and the expertice needed to not overdo it. As a producer you should focus on making the individual parts fit together using all the musical and technical means available to you in the mixing/arranging stage. Making the master go loud or distort just to cheat yourself into thinking that your mix rocks is not the way to do it.

Just my 5c ...

[nospin]

To me, this tip seems more like voodoo than fact.
All you get from this is an extra pass through D/A - A/D plus some cables and joints. This will add noise, more quantize errors and - worst of all - more phase distortion from the converters' filters.

Why would you ever want to do that?

Of course your sound will imediately seem more "together" just as a result of being noticebly different.

at school we did an "blind" A/B test comparing a track that was summed in protools, and that same track, ran through an analogue mixer, and summed to a stereo track (each individual track was sent to a different channel on the mixer, with all channels of the mixer set to unity, and just having it combine everything to stereo. no extra EQ or anything) ...

its debatable how much "better" it sounds (that was a really nice mixer)... but i always thought the argument was that analogue "summing" was better, and didnt think it worked just to run a stereo track through a DJ mixer....

i often run stuff through my mackie .... i've only got 8 outputs of my soundcard, so i usually subgroup... like do my drums through the mackie, mix down to stereo, then do other instruments through the freed up channels... but i do also use extra EQ and distortion from it... i'm not sure how my mixer would do in an A/B test with everything just set to unity....

[clubfoot]

Why would you ever want to do that?

because you can. mate, you make a lot of rules - don't do this, don't do that. this is techno music we're talking about. how you use the mixer is up to the person. it's not glossy pop music. you should go and listen to some jeff mills. i will bet you the majority of producers releasing music are using an analog mixer - even before it gets to a mastering engineer.

read nospins post above. this is the method i'm talking about.

[Jack Rock]

Why would you ever want to do that?

because you can. mate, you make a lot of rules - don't do this, don't do that. this is techno music we're talking about. how you use the mixer is up to the person. it's not glossy pop music. you should go and listen to some jeff mills. i will bet you the majority of producers releasing music are using an analog mixer - even before it gets to a mastering engineer.

read nospins post above. this is the method i'm talking about.

Of course mate! You should do whatever works for you! No argument there.

I'm just saying that an analogue mixer in the low price range is not gonna do anything desirable to your sound.

And I hope you're all aware that the EQ circuit is influencing the sound even though it's set to neutral! Nasty phase trouble going on in the cross-over frequency ranges.
I used to use a cheap mackie as my monitor controller, patching the master out from Logic through a stereo channel on the Mackie and then on to the monitors.
I had this special bass frequency range in the 80-120Hz region that was always difficult for me to control. I tried everything. Moving the monitors, treating my room (which made a huge overall difference), but I just couldn't catch that single problematic range. I figured it was a nasty standing wave in my room that I would never get rid of, so I stopped worrying and tried to get used to it.

Then one day, when I had to get a proper monitor controller because of getting a second pair of monitors, I removed the Mackie from my chain. Now the sound went straight through the monitor controller (a cheap one, that is! Samson C-control) and to the monitors.
And WOW! There was the bass! Turned out it wasn't acoustics at all but a phase cancellation happening somewhere in the Mackie's EQ circuit.
Also the highs were suddenly clearer and the imaging was more detailed.

This experience really alerted me to the nasty sonic compromise that a cheap mixer is. There's a reason why real, good sounding mixers cost a fortune!

[cebec]

This experience really alerted me to the nasty sonic compromise that a cheap mixer is. There's a reason why real, good sounding mixers cost a fortune!

What do you use now? Can you recommend anything sub-$1000 or do you have to go much higher? What about Soundtracs Topaz, Ramsa, Allen & Heath or Soundcraft in that price range?

[MINIMALTECHNOHOUSE]

Ive got a UREI Dj mixer, i can confidently say that running low drums through it with a tad of clip really makes the sound warmer; i dont really care what people say about this and that, as its how i perceive it....

Give it a try, what have you got to lose???

Im saving for a moog filter at the minute, mint.