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Hope209 · 12th May 2006

I've been recording daily for about a year now and I still can't get my recordings up to par. I have a Digidesign 002 clocked to a Rosetta 800 with a few different preamps running in a 2.0Ghz Mac G5.

When I record(48k 24-bit depth) it seems like the sound quality of my stuff just isn't "up there." It's almost as if my recordings are literally at some lower definition. In Pro Tools I have it clocked through ADAT at 48k and everything seems to be hooked up just fine. But today I recorded a song for a woman using samples from my Motif ES8, piano via Ivory, and vocals through a Soundelux E47/Great River MP-2NV. And once I bounced the format down to 44.1k 16-bit and put it on a cd and listened in my car the mix just seemed to lack SOMETHING...The quality just wasn't as good as commercial stuff. Also, the samples sounded noticeably better than the vocals in the recording

I know the samples are high quality and very processed, but what MAKES them so high quality and processed? I can't figure out where the weak link in my chain is. I'm recording a great singer, through a great mic, through a good(?) preamp, in a good room. This same situation applies to recording instruments. I try recording my friend's $3000 Taylor guitar, but the sound just isn't "there." I've thought it could be mastering, but I've had songs mastered by a pretty well-known engineer, and the songs sounded better, but still almost as if they were recorded on some lesser format than commercial stuff. Is the problem my converter....what? Thanks for any help/suggestions, guys!

12th May 2006	#1
Hope209 Lives for gear Joined: Sep 2005 Posts: 704 Thread Starter	Improving sound quality I've been recording daily for about a year now and I still can't get my recordings up to par. I have a Digidesign 002 clocked to a Rosetta 800 with a few different preamps running in a 2.0Ghz Mac G5. When I record(48k 24-bit depth) it seems like the sound quality of my stuff just isn't "up there." It's almost as if my recordings are literally at some lower definition. In Pro Tools I have it clocked through ADAT at 48k and everything seems to be hooked up just fine. But today I recorded a song for a woman using samples from my Motif ES8, piano via Ivory, and vocals through a Soundelux E47/Great River MP-2NV. And once I bounced the format down to 44.1k 16-bit and put it on a cd and listened in my car the mix just seemed to lack SOMETHING...The quality just wasn't as good as commercial stuff. Also, the samples sounded noticeably better than the vocals in the recording I know the samples are high quality and very processed, but what MAKES them so high quality and processed? I can't figure out where the weak link in my chain is. I'm recording a great singer, through a great mic, through a good(?) preamp, in a good room. This same situation applies to recording instruments. I try recording my friend's $3000 Taylor guitar, but the sound just isn't "there." I've thought it could be mastering, but I've had songs mastered by a pretty well-known engineer, and the songs sounded better, but still almost as if they were recorded on some lesser format than commercial stuff. Is the problem my converter....what? Thanks for any help/suggestions, guys!