Help with Roland Digital WS

[BuddyV]

Is help available at Taxi on recording equipment functions, etc.? I.e. Setting recording levels, mastering,

[mojobone]

It is, if you can describe the problem; first, I'd recommend a thorough reading of the manual(s). A workstation is a complex piece of technology, and if the quick-start manual doesn't get you up and running, the device's user group will usually be your best bet for specific instruction/help. This forum is a great resource for less device specific stuff like level optimization and mastering, and we're happy to point the way to other resources, as well.

[BuddyV]

Thanks for the reply. I have read the material and it is a bit busy referencing this section for that and that section references you to someother section. It is fragmented and confusing. Long story short, I know the recording db is between -4 and -12 to avoid clipping. My problem is when I am cutting a CD the volume is way to low when playing it in a CD player.

I'll understand if you cannot answer this and will continue to read...uh.

[mojobone]

It's not unusual for your burned CDs to have way less apparent level than material that's been mastered, due to the relentless dynamic compression applied to many modern releases; you could end up with average levels up to -18dB down from the peaks, particularly when recording material with lots of fast transient peaks, such as drums. Most studios compress going in, compress again at the mix bus, and yet again in the mastering stage; it's pretty common to see less than 6(!) dB dynamic range in some modern recordings. (dynamic range, or more properly, crest factor, is the difference in decibels between the peak level and the average level)

All this dynamic squeezing requires good gain staging and a well-developed ear to avoid distortion while piling on all this gain and reducing the dynamic range. (what compression and limiting do is push the peaks down, nearer the valleys, then raise the result to where the peaks were, resulting in greater apparent energy and level; the downside is you can lose transient information to distortion, if you're not careful-the whole thing works kinda like a Venturi tube; when you squeeze the hose, you get more pressure)

As soon as you have a handle on basic recording and playback, start reading up on dynamics processing; compressors, limiters, gates and de-essers. The Yamaha Sound Reinforcement Handbook is a great resource for all things audio with good graphic examples to help you see what's happening to your audio, written for the layman, so you don't need a degree just to browse through it. Try to remember it's not how loud you make it, but how you make it loud.

[BuddyV]

Great reply, thanks.

While I follwed what you said, my working knowledge of my WS needs to improve. I am not trying to be a studio tech but just writing, recordind and creating good sounding MP3's to submit to Taxi for screening.

Thanks again,

Buddyv