Audacity Forum

The general consensus amongst my band mates is that the quality of my backing tracks have gotten better over the years. I've only used Audacity and recently, I've have been taking advantage of some of the features in the latest version. On the latest backing tracks, I've done the following after all the instruments (bass, drums, and keys) have been recorded. The purpose being to achieve roughly the same overall volume and EQ levels from one backing track to the next.

In order:

1) Normalize all tracks at once to the default -1.0 dB.
2) Adjust individual track volumes.
3) Adjust bass and treble for all tracks at once.

Since I play back the tracks through a bass rig, I may scoop some of the mids out on my amp.

I'd like to re-do some of the older backing tracks I've done using the method above but before I do, I'd wanted to run what I'm doing by everyone and get some thoughts and/or opinions. If there's a better way to do what I've been doing, I'd like to try it on the old backing tracks as well as the new ones that will be recorded.

Thanks in advance.

If you get what you want from your adjustments then that's what you should do. We can only recommend specific changes based on a sound sample that you give us. There is no "Make It Better" filter. What you've been doing seems reasonable.

This is the magic place where saving the original recording without filters is very valuable. Trying to remove one filter in order to place another usually doesn't work very well. We always tell people trying to post sound samples to us to send the raw recording, not the one you've been messing with. If you go back to older recordings, that's how to do it.

If you didn't save raw recordings then you may never get there. You should start.

Koz

There's a LOT to learn about multi-track recording. You might want to pick-up a book and/or subscribe to Recording Magazine. The more you can learn, and the more you practice you get, the better your recordings will be.

It's all "links in a chain", and it all starts with a good instrument, a good performer, good acoustics, a good microphone in a good position, a good preamp/interface, etc., etc., etc.

The recording software isn't actually that critical for recording quality... Your recording software basically just routes the digital-data from your soundcard (or ADC/interface) to a file on your hard drive. But when you start adding effects, some effects are better than others. Effect plug-ins can cost hundreds of dollars, and it might be worth it if you need that "just right " reverb, etc. And of course, your skill and your "ear" make a big difference when mixing and tweaking effects.

Your basic procedure looks good...
- You probably don't need to normalize the tracks first, but if it makes things easier for you, it's a good thing to do.

- You might be doing this already, but you SHOULD normalize after mixing & EQ (but before saving) because both of these can boost your levels over 0dB, and you'll end-up with clipping if you save a file that goes over 0dB.

- If you don't need to adjust EQ (bass & treble, etc.) on the individual tracks/instruments, that's fine. I always start with the philosophy that a perfect recording doesn't need any EQ. But sometimes different instruments need different EQ, and it's common practice to filter-out the bass (maybe below 100 or 200Hz) from everything except the bass & kick drum. And in the real world, most pro recordings have some EQ on every track.

Since I play back the tracks through a bass rig, I may scoop some of the mids out on my amp.

That's fine. You want the "P.A." to sound as neutral/natural as possible. Bass (and guitar) amps/cabinets are designed to be "part of the instrument" and add "character" to the sound. That's not what you want when reproducing the sound of many instruments (or vocals). So, some adjustment may be necessary.

I'd EQ the mix to sound good on your regular monitors (or on a good system) first. Then if you can EQ the bass rig to sound good with full-range music, you're done. You can also consider making a special mix EQ'd for the bass rig, but I'd keep the mix that's EQ'd "normally" as a master. You may want to use a different system someday, and you don't want to be stuck with a recording that only sounds right on your bass cabinet.


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You might experiment with some (dynamic) compression. Most recorded music has some compression. You can compress the individual tracks and/or the final mix. Compression evens-out the loud & quiet parts and it's often used to make music "louder" by boosting the average level without boosting/clipping the peaks. Although compression is a reduction in dynamic range, people often hear the compressed version as "more dynamic" or more "punchy".

You might also consider using more advanced software. A DAW (digital audio workstation) application is designed for multi-track recording & mixing. REAPER ($60 USD for home use) is very popular for home recording and small studios on a budget. The downside is that using a DAW is probably 10 times more complicated than using an audio editor, and there can be a long learning curve.

People keep insisting on buying fancy microphones and preamps to try and create first quality when what they really should be doing is managing their room. I did a not excellent, but passable voice track with the build-in microphone on my laptop, but I did it in a quiet, well behaved, echo free room. You can't record in a kitchen -- or you can, but it's well out of the abilities of a non-pro recordist.

I've been known to create a "recording studio" on the spot as needed for quiet, clear, top-quality work. My worst performer was a tiny Asian woman who had exactly the voice needed for an animated character, but was shy and her voice never got above a rustle in the grass. She had all her ancestral baggage plus weapons grade mic fright. I remember her vividly.

http://www.kozco.com/pictures/boothFini ... op-mic.jpg

Koz

Thanks for weighing in guys...... and some good things to digest. To touch on some points;

1) Although the procedure I outlined looks ok, I'm going to look into compression further. Any suggestions on settings?

2) On possibly using a different DAW, I've tried allot of them over the years and keep coming back to Audacity. Probably due to it's simplicity relative to others and that it saves time.

3)

- You might be doing this already, but you SHOULD normalize after mixing & EQ (but before saving) because both of these can boost your levels over 0dB, and you'll end-up with clipping if you save a file that goes over 0dB.

I was normalizing after mixing, but now I don't mix down at all. I need the individual tracks at my disposal for playback. For example, if I'm playing with a live keyboard player, I'll mute the keyboard track etc etc. This is what led me to normalize first.

1) Although the procedure I outlined looks ok, I'm going to look into compression further. Any suggestions on settings?

You could try Chris's Compressor first.

http://theaudacitytopodcast.com/chriss- ... -audacity/

This is a pre-baked compressor that Chris designed to even out musical performances so he could listen in the car. I change the first value, Compression from 0.5 o 0.77 to simulate the compression in the local radio station. The performance quality doesn't seem to change, but it gets louder and more even.

Koz