Recording Direct via USB

piofusco

Inspired
I am sure this has been addressed on a thread before but I have some question about recording directly via USB.

Being a mac user, I normally go back and forth between Garbageband and Logic to tweak my presets. While my tone is where I want it (in both live situations directo FOH AND through my recording monitors via USB), I always have dB issues. If I listen to a demo track I am working on, for simplicity let's say its just a guitar track with a solo behind it being played to a click, I notice a significant difference switching back and forth between MY demo and a song on my iTunes library.

Obviously, I can't match the production value that these various artists in my iTunes library have in my college apartment BUT I should be able to at least get my tracks to the same dB, right?


I am always somewhat jealous of those who post videos of them playing while recording via USB. My recordings all sound good, but you have to crank them up way louder than any other songs in my iTunes library.



That being said, I feel I have a great understanding of setting my output levels (thanks to Chris@KatsuKuriMedia), but I wanna go deeper with my recordings and fix this db issue so I can start pumping out more recordings (like Mark Day, M@, etc).

Thoughts?
 
Are you talking about your demo mix being lower in dB?
That should have something to do with the fact that the songs that you buy is mixed and mastered?
Am I understanding your question?
 
What format are you transferring your GB files to iTunes?

I compress using the ACC Encoder at 320 kbps with the highest quality in stereo. Is this bad?

Are you talking about your demo mix being lower in dB?
That should have something to do with the fact that the songs that you buy is mixed and mastered?
Am I understanding your question?

Yes perfectly - there is a significant db difference between my demos and songs/cds I buy. But I have also seen/heard many soundcloud recordings and Youtube performances recorded direct USB with no post production which are also significantly louder than my demo as well. What am I missing? Where should I start? Surely I don't need mastering just to raise the db a little bit?
 
What makes you think they have no post-production? Unless it was directly captured off the camera mic, there had to have been some post-production, which very likely involved running it through a brickwall limiter of some sort (especially for heavy music).

An example of what you're striving for vs what you're getting would be useful.
 
After spending much of the afternoon, I think I have figured everything out. I recorded this demo during December



Then, as opposed to now, I didn't really have an understanding of how to set output levels. Notice how low the volume is on these recordings in comparison to something off of your iTunes, Or this (one of many videos recorded directly via USB) have a significant difference in db



If you go back and forth between one of my songs and videos like this you should have to turn up when listening to mine for them to be at the same volume level. If you saw on my thread, http://forum.fractalaudio.com/axe-fx-ii-reviews/66925-perfect-gig.html, I talked about a "bad" gig where my patches clipped and the sound guy made me run my rig through a mic'd cab versus the FOH. Today I realized much of the same patches I used at this bad gig, I used for this demo (all of these patches were either painfully too loud or not loud enough). HOWEVER, I did get over this hump and FINALLY had a great show using patches that I built without this issue going FOH.

After upgrading to V10, I went back and forth between this demo and my new patches comparing the db levels. I spent most of the time adjusting to V10, so I don't a before and after to show you, but I will soon.

Also, I tried using an XLR into a mixer and had a much easier time getting guitar recorded at a good volume.
 
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Hm, I'm not spotting a huge difference in perceived volume in your clip and the YouTube one. They're also very different styles, and the YouTube clip is sparser and more dynamic. Comparing your track to another rock song of the same vein (e.g. Foo Fighters), it is a bit quieter. It doesn't sound like anything that a good mastering job couldn't address, however. This is obviously assuming you were going for a distorted rhythm tone, and not a clean Fender tone. ;)

When you say you used a mixer via XLR, did you mean using a separate audio interface? That's what I've always used; USB has never done it for me (on any hardware), so I've always used an interface with high-quality converters. Perhaps there is something going on with your USB configuration or the driver. However, it shouldn't affect the overall dB level of your final mix, which you should be able to control via your DAW (regardless of input method).
 
When you say you used a mixer via XLR, did you mean using a separate audio interface? That's what I've always used; USB has never done it for me (on any hardware), so I've always used an interface with high-quality converters.

What I should have said is I am using my little PreSonus Audiobox USB interface.

217037.jpg

It's got two xlr inputs which made adjusting the level of my Axe II much simpler. While the converters aren't the highest quality, for the purposes of a demo "they'll do."

Perhaps there is something going on with your USB configuration or the driver. However, it shouldn't affect the overall dB level of your final mix, which you should be able to control via your DAW (regardless of input method).

I was wondering the same thing. I don't remember changing any of my settings, but I know I at least have the driver correctly installed. Maybe I am missing something? Either way, I think I am happier using my audio interface instead.
 
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