Bridging the gap from MIDI to audio....

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robcool
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2003 11:01 pm
Location: Ohio

Post by robcool » Wed Sep 10, 2003 11:08 pm

Hey, all. I hope someone can help me out.

I am a longtime Cakewalk user, just installed Home Studio 2004. I have completed several MIDI projects, and now I would like to get them to audio CD. I am wondering how to get there.

I can get to audio, but would like to do some effects like reverb to the final audio tracks. Called "mix down", I think? I just don't understand what should be done. I think I am missing a basic step somewhere between the MIDI version of the music and the audio version.

Can someone help point me in the right direction?

Thanks!


andychap
Posts: 685
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2003 7:26 pm
Location: UK

Post by andychap » Wed Sep 10, 2003 11:58 pm

Rob,

If you have managed to record your individual midi tracks as audio you can now start adding effects direct to the audio tracks.

Just right click on the fx box on each track and select the effect you want to apply.

You can just leave the effects running on each track but keep an eye on your processor usage. If it starts getting high then you will have to bounce the tracks (in the edit menu) with effects down to normal audio (with the effect applied) and then archive the tracks with the effects running on them. This will free up processor power to allow you to carry on with your mix.

When you have finished with all the individual tracks you can export the audio tracks (in the file menu) to a single wav file or you can bounce them all down again to one stereo audio track. This way you can add that last bit of EQ or Compression on the final mix to get it exactly right before you export to a wave file.

Hope that helps.

Andy

robcool
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2003 11:01 pm
Location: Ohio

Post by robcool » Thu Sep 11, 2003 12:32 am

OK, yeah, I think that does help. Basically that tracks have to be audio before effects can be applied, right? So I have to insert audio tracks and record the MIDI tracks to individual audio tracks. That was the step I was missing. I was thinking I could add the effects to the MIDI output.

Is the console view the best to use for the mixing process? Also, I have volume data in the MIDI track information. Should I remove that and just use the volume controls when mixing?

Thanks very much for the help! Going to give it a try right now!

robcool
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2003 11:01 pm
Location: Ohio

Post by robcool » Thu Sep 11, 2003 12:59 am

Man, now I am really fired up! I think I get it! Still working on it, though.

When I am recording from the MIDI to the audio track, if there is a bunch of silence to I need to record the entire track or only the places where the instrument actualy plays (i.e., where there is MIDI data on the track).

I can tell I am going to be up way to late tonight! :D

Thanks1

Brian D

Post by Brian D » Thu Sep 11, 2003 1:11 am

I recommend you also record the silence. Then you won't kill yourself trying to match up the measures.

robcool
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2003 11:01 pm
Location: Ohio

Post by robcool » Sat Sep 13, 2003 4:17 pm

OK, almost there! I have recorded all the MIDI tracks to audio, and I am trying to do the final mix-down. So I thought I could add an audio track, set its input to the audio output, arm it for record, and solo the rest of the audio tracks. That lets me use the console to adjust mix as I go. Problem is nothing records on the armed audio track. I must have something screwed up on the input to that track. Any help is appreciated!

This is so cool! I have been waiting to figure out how to do this for a long time! Thanks!

Brian D

Post by Brian D » Sat Sep 13, 2003 7:15 pm

To the best of my knowledge, you can't use the "solo" function. It will mute all tracks to include the armed track. Solo is just so you can hear that one track by itself. I use the solo function to find mistakes in my audio track.

robcool
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2003 11:01 pm
Location: Ohio

Post by robcool » Sat Sep 13, 2003 7:19 pm

Hum. My experiance so far has been that if I solo multiple tracks they all sound. That is how I bounced multiple MIDI tracks down to one audio. In other words, I knew there were some misc. tracks that I was going to be able to mix all as one so I "solo'ed" them and recorded them to one armed audio track.

The difference here is that I am trying to record multiple audio tracks to one audio track as opposed to multiple MIDI tracks to audio.

I did get a pretty good mix and got it out to an MP3 file. Recorded it up to CD! How cool to be able to do that! It is a 5mb file, so if I can find some place I will post it. I would like to get comments from some of the more experianced home recorders.

Thanks for the help!

andychap
Posts: 685
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2003 7:26 pm
Location: UK

Post by andychap » Sat Sep 13, 2003 11:35 pm

Hi Rob,

Glad to hear your are getting things working for you now. I think what you were trying to do is make last minute changes on the fly as you recorded the last stereo track so that you could get fades, pans etc. You can do this by recording automation. It's quite a big topic so look it up in the help files, it's well worth it.

If you are looking for somewhere to host your music, try this place. Just sign up as an artist and you host all your tracks on their server. Best of all it's free and you can just direct people to you artist page.

http://www.musicv2.com/home

Andy

robcool
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2003 11:01 pm
Location: Ohio

Post by robcool » Sun Sep 14, 2003 1:02 pm

Thanks, Andy!

OK, I have seen the term automation before. That is basically where you record the slider values as you adjust? I assume then that as you do the final mix down the sliders change also. I will do some research on it, thanks for the tip!

Also, thanks for the site! I posted my first effort out there, Waiting. I do not have the automation in it yet, but I think it turned out OK anyway. My site is http://www.musicv2.com/artist/robcool .

Thanks again, Andy, you have been a great help!
Last edited by robcool on Sun Sep 14, 2003 6:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

andychap
Posts: 685
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2003 7:26 pm
Location: UK

Post by andychap » Sun Sep 14, 2003 5:26 pm

Rob,

Looks like you have been busy over at musicv2 and have got about 200 tracks on your home page when you click that link.. It is a glitch in the forum that if you put an artist name that doesn't exist then it list all the tracks on the site.

The problem is you have included a full stop (period) at the end of the link, can you see it. I would edit that post and remove it so that people can find your page :D

robcool
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2003 11:01 pm
Location: Ohio

Post by robcool » Sun Sep 14, 2003 6:47 pm

LOL. Thanks, Andy. Looked like I had been busy!

I changed the link, it works now.

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