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We don't know what we're doing wrong here but we recorded a song to sub earlier, played fine on my system but we get it over to the pc & sounded horrible.

It sounded muffled like my vocals weren't loud enough or even mixed right, it sounded like I was too far away from the mic. ( I wasn't) and just very flat.

The only thing we did different was to convert it to mp3 and took a listen right before subbing. Needless to say we spent a while researching it & found nothing abnormal about what we did. Like I said it sounded fine on my system here.

Can anyone help us figure it out ?

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Kelley
Star Sounds Karaoke & Mobile Recording Studio


[shadow=black][scroll]You have to respect your audience. Without them, you're essentially standing alone, singing to yourself....KD Lang[/scroll][/shadow]

Hi Kelley.  The most obvious thing I can think of is that your system speakers may have a totally different frequency response compared to your PC speakers.  You can send your MP3 to me if you'd like a third opinion.

Thanks, but I'll have to do it tomorrow but I will send it. Im so frustrated now I just don't wanna mess with it. I also want to wait till hubbys around to answer any tech qustions you guys might have. (hes in bed) I just sing, he does all the tech stuff.  I can send it thru pm right ?

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Kelley
Star Sounds Karaoke & Mobile Recording Studio


[shadow=black][scroll]You have to respect your audience. Without them, you're essentially standing alone, singing to yourself....KD Lang[/scroll][/shadow]

I really dont know if that would solve anything b/c you'll be listening on pc speakers too right ? If I sound bad on mine wouldnt I sound the same on your pc spekers?

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Kelley
Star Sounds Karaoke & Mobile Recording Studio


[shadow=black][scroll]You have to respect your audience. Without them, you're essentially standing alone, singing to yourself....KD Lang[/scroll][/shadow]

Not directly in a PM I don't think.  You'd have to either put the MP3 up on YouSendIt(dot)com and put the link to the song in a PM.  Or you can send it to my e-mail address.

not necessarily.  All PC speakers aren't created equal by a long shot. Headphones give an even different listen than speakers do.  But if the recording is indeed WAY off in EQ or balance it will sound bad on nearly every system and speakers.

The last stage or mastering is the hardest and why recording studios make their big bucks. Without knowing your system or even what software you are using I can only offer general suggestions. Many times at a show I recorded with full fx and everybody was rocking I listen to it the next day and say god I hope it didnt sound that bad Too many fx and everything was way overdid. At first it is hard to go thru the whole process and wind up with a wav file burn it to cd then have it sound decent on a cheaper home stereo or player in the car.  One of the simple ways of putting it is during the process the whole frequency range of the vocal and backing has to remain intact. To compensate for something eq or fx is radically changed and altho sounds better on your system  on another it might suck.  In your case I would find a way to test your sound on your other pc during the mixdown and mastering process by actually routing to it at various stages and see what it sounds (is going to sound ) like on the pc speakers.  In addition to near field monitors also monitor on good headphones this will show or give an indication of too much changing of the original...
 It does get frustrating at times but experience counts and gradually you will become more familiar with what works best on your system ie the limitations and strengths.

Try recording directly into your pc. Don't record 'live'. This is the best way to record.

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

Do they still sometimes throw in free records made out of rubber in cereal boxes? If I could get my submissions to sound HALF as good as the Archie's "Sugar, Sugar" that I got in a box of Cheerios back in 1973 I'd be thrilled to death....

I would love to see what a kid today would do if they found a RECORD in a box of cereal....  LMAO

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[glow=violet] **Sing like nobody's listening...live like there's no tomorrow**[/glow]

Hey! My daughter is 4, and has a collection of records, and a record player:)

She does NOT have a cd player, or an mp3 player. She has a cassette deck, and a record player, and LOVES records. She says it is more hands on, and fun, to choose the song you want to listen to, and I think it is really cute:)  I had the same when I was a kid:) I think my childhood was pretty neat, because in the span of my young life, i have had access to A LOT of changing technology.... my daughter was born into a time, when there were only cd's, mp3 players, and dvds, and everyone is on cell phones.

'kay, that was off topic:)

(But, i agree with the original topic... not all speakers on yer computers are equal... , the ones on my emac and OLD imac sound wonderful, but the my newest imac ones do NOT, but then it is more like a laptop, really. (it is a 20 inch flat screen all-in-one. And of course, most laptop speakers are Sh!t, and sound odd. But, mine DO sound better than my dad's dell.....)

OK I guess I forgot to tell you that I recorded in our mobile studio I dont have a computer software program to do the fancy things. Is this what "live" means to everyone ? (not adding any digital fx )? All we added was some reverb in the studio. It was a good mix. Anyways its in the garage pc is in the house with my karaoke set up after finalizing outside brought it in here to play on karaoke set up & it sounded great came to pc to convert to mp3 , then we listened to it after we converted it on the pc and it just sounds horrible.

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Kelley
Star Sounds Karaoke & Mobile Recording Studio


[shadow=black][scroll]You have to respect your audience. Without them, you're essentially standing alone, singing to yourself....KD Lang[/scroll][/shadow]

I think it might be the setting used to convert to MP3, since all the other pissiblities have been covered.

Im sorry I am so green at this computer recording stuff but can I hook my mixer/amp & mic and Jvc 3 tray up to my pc ? Dont throw rotten food at me if it sounds like a dumb question I just really dont know. I would have thought it being recorded in the studio would have been better but...

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Kelley
Star Sounds Karaoke & Mobile Recording Studio


[shadow=black][scroll]You have to respect your audience. Without them, you're essentially standing alone, singing to yourself....KD Lang[/scroll][/shadow]

They way I sound on my desktop speakers makes Jabba the Hut sound like a castratto singer.

kelley, to me, the "live" way is the clearest and cleanest way. I'm unsure what Jian really meant...

Sounds like something happened in the transfer process... How did you record yourself off your amp/mixer?

Kelley, also make sure that when you're converting to MP3 that you're not going any lower then 128 Kbps.  Higher than 128 is better for sound quality (especially in the treble range), but the filesize becomes larger.  When you go much lower than 128 Kbps, the high frequencies start to drop off quite a bit.  It'll start sounding a little muddier.  Other than this possibility, the differences in speakers still seems like the most likely cause of the problem.  IMO

My daughter (who is almost 16.... ) found an old Patty Loveless tape she wanted to listen to the other day & she came up and asked me which way to put the tape in to hear a song on a certain side..... and it was kinda funny to realize "Oh my gosh, she's never really dealt with tapes before". I guess when I still played tapes, she was just to young to really be inserting them herself, so she's clueless. Man, that makes me feel old.  :(


.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

-THAT was off topic-

(sorry)

Kelly, I don't have a clue how to help, I'm not the best mixer myself. On the flip side of your situation, when I think something sounds passable for the computer... and, I usually just mix in headphones for here knowing that's how most people listen.... it sounds god awful (well, worse god awful than usual) if played on a cd on a regular stereo. My hubby usually wants me to burn songs off for him before I delete them off the computer, so I've heard plenty of them in his truck. Shoulda never let him know how easy it was to do that  :twisted: .... it's kinda embarassing sometimes riding down the road, or sitting at a stoplight in town hearing MYSELF- recorded badly to boot- coming over his stereo.  LOL


.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Maybe when hubby gets home he can try the converting thing again & see if we're doing that ok. And I'll also go ahead and sub the song and see if maybe you all by hearing it can tell me whats going on.  :dontknow:

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Kelley
Star Sounds Karaoke & Mobile Recording Studio


[shadow=black][scroll]You have to respect your audience. Without them, you're essentially standing alone, singing to yourself....KD Lang[/scroll][/shadow]