recording my boards

[bombaycharlie1]

Hi. I have a question about recording my Motif ES6. If I just take the stereo outs and record them into my DAW (SONAR 6PE), they sound good, but aren't I getting just a big mono track? Should I be tracking everything separately and in mono to get a track with more depth?Just thinking out loud. What does everyone else do?Charlie

[crs7string]

Charlie,If you look at the wave form on the track you've recorded you should clearly see two wave forms one above the other in the track if you did render a stereo track. If not, that is an issue with inputting your keyboard properly to your sound card or interface.What kind of soundcard do you use?Chuck

[bombaycharlie1]

Hi. I guess I'm just curious what other people do. I love the sounds on the ES. I don't have the mLan16e attached, so i have two pairs of stereo outs. I've been experimenting with using the onboard fx, or muting them and using Sonar fx. It's definitely easier looking at a big lcd monitor than a tiny lcd screen on the synth. Thanks BTW I use a MOTU 2408 to record into my PC.Charlie

[mazz]

Hi,I'm not very familiar with the Motif but I would recommend recording seperate tracks if at all possible. Unless you are using a sound that relies on the internal effects for its character, I'd record dry in to your DAW and do effects there. Most keyboards have one or two effects that are global to the entire mix (not familiar with the Motif regarding this) and also the reverbs may not be as good as what you have in your DAW.The mLan board may be a good way to go if you can record more than two tracks at a time. That would save you time.I think overall your sound will improve and you will have more flexibility when mixing if you track your sounds seperately.Good luck,Mazz

[vermeer]

I'm with mazz on this. I will even go a little further: record all synths in mono. Altough it may sound unituitive at first, the DAW is where you actually do the panning (left to stereo right position). If you "bake it" at recording, you will not be able to move your synth in the mix. You can always get back the stereo effect by adding a stereo delay and/or reverb to the synth track(s).The only reason one would record in stereo is if you have a workstation like the 10,000$ Korg Oasys and have done all the arrangement on this board first. Then again, if that was the case, you probably would not use a DAW Vermeer

[mazz]

I think recording in mono is a great idea, as long as you know ahead of time how the mix is going to be structured. For a bit more flexibility, I'll record in stereo and then if I want mono, I'll use the TRIM plug in in Digital Performer and close down the stereo panning to almost mono and then do my panning of the mono signal on the channel strip.I have a Nord Electro and will almost always record the Wurly and Clav sounds in mono (that's the way they are in their "real" versions). Since I use these sounds a lot for groove elements, I like to have them more pinpointed, they help the groove better in mono than in wide stereo. Even if I record the Nord Electro Organ in stereo with the simulated Leslie effect, I'll narrow it down and push it a bit to one side or the other.Having a mix of stereo, mono, effected, and dry elements in a mix really helps to add a sense of depth. Having a groove with different elements popping in and out of different speakers gives life to the sound, IMO. This is another reason I recommend recording each MIDI track seperately. If the sounds are mixed in the synth, sometimes the internal effects can make the mix washy and indistinct. And once it's "baked in" (I like that term!), you have to go back and re-do it if you don't like it.Mono is way cool, and if you haven't heard it in a while, it's refreshing after the huge hypey patches in modern synths these days.Have fun,Mazz

[vermeer]

On my ProTools LE rig, I am limited to 32 tracks, so I have learned not to waste any "voice". I start every mix with an analog simulator on the main bus. Then I add every track one by one.The only elements I like to baked from the start are drums and vocal harmonies. This way, they don't take too many tracks. If I have some adjustment, I prefer to go back to the sub-mix and then "bake" them back to a stereo track.After years of using a Triton, I'm moving away from keyboards and closer to soft-synths. It's so much more convenint to store a synth parameter with the track data. Plus you can synch some of these parameters with DAW effects such as delay/echo/flanging.Vermeer

[mazz]

Quote:On my ProTools LE rig, I am limited to 32 tracks, so I have learned not to waste any "voice".VermeerThis is one of the many reasons I've stayed away from Pro Tools and put my money in to a native system (Digital Performer, dual 2.7 G5 Mac). Pro Tools is no doubt the standard of the industry if one is running a studio and doing a ton of recording of bands, etc. For me, as a one man band composer, having more tracks (voices) available and more extensive and flexible MIDI capabilities is more important. I use .wav files anyway and if I'm transferring to another studio, I just bounce them all from time zero and they just line right up in Pro Tools or whatever.As far as soft synths go, they are fantastic. I use them every day. I still recommend baking the synth tracks as audio. If your plug in gets corrupted or some other weird thing happens, you can still re-mix your tracks or even import them in to another session. If you need to do a quick edit for a 30 second version its much quicker to cut the audio up, IMO.Have fun,Mazz

[bombaycharlie1]

Hi. I'm going to try doing my tracks in mono for now and see. It all makes sense, and since I'm not happy with the all of the results of what I have posted on my hosting page(www.taxi.com/charlieernst), I'll probably go back and remix a bunch of stuff.Thanks for the great tipsWhen I used to use a Fostex B16 recording seemed to be a no brainer...now that I'm doing it in the box, I can't wrap my brain around the whole thing sometimes and I loose focus!Charlie

[vermeer]

Quote:This is one of the many reasons I've stayed away from Pro Tools and put my money in to a native system (Digital Performer, dual 2.7 G5 Mac). MazzSure right. ProTools LE has an artificial barrier (32 to 48) that's designed to keep it from competing with their 10K HD systems. That blows I have tried both Logic and DP and I find them less intuitive than ProTools. For what I use it for, MIDI on ProTools is now on par with DP and Logic. LE with high-end McDSP and Waves plug-ins is hard to beat at that price. Plus, I can walk in and use my PT sessions at any small studio to record drums and group vocals. Priceless.I have a friend who mixes on 24 channel analogue board and he laugh his head off when I complain of having "only" 32 tracks. He then proceed to give me that old line about how the Beattle recorded on 4-tracks and most hit records from the 70s and 80s were limited to 24. Well, that was then; I still want more tracks If you can, I recommend buying Charles Dye's "Mix it like a record" DVD. It totally changed the way I look at digital mixes and sold me on the McDSP plug-in. Basically, digital is a different beast and you have to understand what it's trying to emulate to get the best out of it.Vermeer