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 Forum index » How-tos » Production - engineering/mixing
Is there such thing as no noise on a channel
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aquanaut



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PostPosted: Fri Apr 22, 2005 11:29 pm    Post subject: Is there such thing as no noise on a channel Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

many questions here
i'm trying to mix down my latest songs and utterly fail at bringing the mix up to commercial cd levels. I'm always a few notch down the mark but thats not the only problem. When i push the multiband compressor (+40input+40out) plus a bit of 6db around 10k i get too much noise but i like how the mix is sounding overall (airy and spacy). for those raising their eyebrow on the fact that the compressor is pushed at that level and that alone should answer the question. i know..but if i don't push the thing up i get no sound out of the interface(and the input on the m-audio mixer are at maximum) ex: music from the thinner archives sounds way more hotter than what i hear from my stuff. I'm recording a microq and a sampler both with balanced outs and with trs 1/4 cable into an m-audio fw1814 that has unbalanced inputs. Could that alone be the problem? And is around -30db a proper noise floor? Or should i see a noise floor that is at least around -60.
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seraph
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 22, 2005 11:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

reading your message I think something is wrong. I don't know exactly but having to push the compressor all the way does not seem the way to go. firstly I would try TS cables. you know we have the same audio interface but I have neved been forced to do anything like you do.
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elektro80
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2005 2:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Seraph is right. This is weird.
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Kassen
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2005 4:28 am    Post subject: Re: Is there such thing as no noise on a channel Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

aquanaut wrote:
And is around -30db a proper noise floor? Or should i see a noise floor that is at least around -60.


60 sounds reasonable, but it´s on the bottom edge of reasonable. 60 is the noise floor of vinyl and cdplayers have a lower one (cd as a medium has a even lower one but that´s insignifficant for masters since it´s no the bottleneck). 30 is unaceptable.

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elektro80
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2005 5:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I don?t know what the levels out from the MicroQ and that other thingie are at. I think you have some sort of problem with the gain structure.
first of all I would recommend that you get some sort of compressor/limiter device in between the instruments and the interface. You will then be able to properly adjust the levels and add some very subtle compression and peak management. The whole point at this stage is to manage the signal and make it recordable. "recordable" does of course mean that it won?t clip the interface input and you are free to adjust the "hotness" and the "thickness" of the signal depending on what you need. "thinkness" mean dynamics processing.
You can get pretty acceptable results with some of the Behringer and Alesis compressors unless you ry to run them hot and use them as you would old analog high end compressors. That they won?t do at all. there are of course better devices out there, but be aware than some of these that actually sound better do have significantly more noise.

However, it is correct that the noise level as such isn?t really that bad, but something is up anyway. I have no idea how you make those recordings of yours, but have you looked into muting/gateing channels?
When you record analog gear you most definitively would want to look into this.

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aquanaut



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PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2005 2:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Thanks for all the info

I'm squashing the mix a bit too much and those unbalanced inputs are probably giving me the unwanted hiss..I've check the noise floor on a couple of cd and there's a lot a variation some have a hiss early on some are dead quiet..Now do i kiss goodbye the Protools compatibility and exchange this unit for the presonus firepod..i don't know and i hate to gamble. more coffee

thanks again
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