A Recording Question

bobc · #1 12-02-2007, 05:01 PM

I have a Mackie DFX-12 mixer and a Presonus Firebox. I also have a Boss Super Chorus pedal with a stereo output.

My question is this...

If I put the 2 outputs from the pedal to 2 seperate channels on the mixer, and sweep one channel left and the other right, and keep the mic channel in the center, would that give me a better stereo recording from the mixer outputs (L & R) into my Presonus Firebox?

Also...

My Firebox has a setting to link & pan the inputs left and right... Should I do that too?

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

rmyAddison · #2 12-03-2007, 11:46 AM

Bob, see below:

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobc

I have a Mackie DFX-12 mixer and a Presonus Firebox. I also have a Boss Super Chorus pedal with a stereo output.

My question is this...

If I put the 2 outputs from the pedal to 2 seperate channels on the mixer, and sweep one channel left and the other right, and keep the mic channel in the center, would that give me a better stereo recording from the mixer outputs (L & R) into my Presonus Firebox?

Not necessary, 2 have the two channels, pan at the end of the chain.

Also...

My Firebox has a setting to link & pan the inputs left and right... Should I do that too?

Yes, pan here, unless your software can pan, then just run the vocal channel and the two guitar channels into 3 tracks, and pan the guitar tracks there.

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

Again, once you have separate channels you only need to pan as a final step at the end of the chain. If you can do it with your recording software you can try different amounts of pan until you like it. Good Luck.

bobc · #3 12-03-2007, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rmyAddison

Bob, see below:

Again, once you have separate channels you only need to pan as a final step at the end of the chain. If you can do it with your recording software you can try different amounts of pan until you like it. Good Luck.

I'm not recording seperate vocal and guitar tracks. I'm recording to a stereo track. So by putting the mic channel in the center (at the mixer), and the guitar on 2 seperate channels (1 panned right and 1 panned left (at the mixer)), would'nt that put the vocals in the middle, and the guitar right & left in the stereo field (at the mixer)?

Sorry, but I'm just trying to understand so I can get better recordings.

rmyAddison · #4 12-03-2007, 06:32 PM

Bob,

Yes, I thought the firebox had more channels, then actually you could have gone direct possibly.

Do what you said, at the mackie for example, mike in channel 1 centered, guitar feed 1 into channel 2 panned left (not completely), guitar feed 2 into channel 3 panned right (again not a full hard pan), stereo mains out into the Presonus L/R to your computer.

You don't need to pan again at the Presonus (in fact you shouldn't) because you already have your two separate channels with guitar already panned from the Mackie. Hope that helps.....

If you can pan with your software, and have a way to playback/monitor (headphones) and adds track there are many options, let me know.

SongwriterFan · #5 12-03-2007, 07:25 PM

Never mind!

bobc · #6 12-03-2007, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rmyAddison

Bob,

Yes, I thought the firebox had more channels, then actually you could have gone direct possibly.

Do what you said, at the mackie for example, mike in channel 1 centered, guitar feed 1 into channel 2 panned left (not completely), guitar feed 2 into channel 3 panned right (again not a full hard pan), stereo mains out into the Presonus L/R to your computer.

You don't need to pan again at the Presonus (in fact you shouldn't) because you already have your two separate channels with guitar already panned from the Mackie. Hope that helps.....

If you can pan with your software, and have a way to playback/monitor (headphones) and adds track there are many options, let me know.

The fire box control panel has a link button that links the left and right channels, and automatically pans them right and left. As I monitor throught the headphones, I notice that without the link button it seems to cancel out the reverb, and sounds MONO, but with the link button, I get the sound more close to listening through the headphone jack at the mixer.

Are you shure I should not use the link button?

Thanks for your help too. I have the capability of adding more tracks while monitoring, but I just want to get the best recording possible with just me and my guitar in one shot.

I appreciate your help, and may mess around with some other stuff later on down the road.

sdelsolray · #7 12-03-2007, 08:21 PM

Consider adding effects after recording - on mixdown.

rmyAddison · #8 12-03-2007, 08:47 PM

Bob,

I have Presonus Eurekas, I guess I need to look up the Firebox and see what the link control actually does. Also what software do you use?

I think you might be confusing panning L/R with summing channels versus separate channels, but I could be wrong, short statements on an Internet post often create confusion. So back to will your software allow you to pan tracks?

bobc · #9 12-03-2007, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rmyAddison

Bob,

I have Presonus Eurekas, I guess I need to look up the Firebox and see what the link control actually does. Also what software do you use?

I think you might be confusing panning L/R with summing channels versus separate channels, but I could be wrong, short statements on an Internet post often create confusion. So back to will your software allow you to pan tracks?

Thanks you for your reply.

I am using Adobe Audition 2.0.

It does allow me to pan the tracks, and select a seperate track for each of the Firebox inputs. What I am trying to do is get the best sound out of the mixer that I can, and record on a single stereo track from the 2 outputs from the mixer to the 2 inputs on the Firebox. If I can get the vocals center and the guitar left & right (not all the way, but not center) at the mixer, then I wont have to mess around with the software (except to normalize). Just record, normalize, and save to mp3 or write to a CD.

Plus... If I ever play live, I'll know how to get the best sound out of the mixer all by itself...

bobc · #10 12-03-2007, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sdelsolray

Consider adding effects after recording - on mixdown.

Yes. I messed around with some of the effects, but the mixer has a nice reverb, and I want to learn how to mix at the mixer to get the best possible sound.

I'm probably going about this entirely the wrong way, but if I ever played live, I would want to know how to mix my sound.

Thank you for your input though, and I'll probably experiment with some of the software stuff more.

sdelsolray · #11 12-03-2007, 09:51 PM

Well, there's no right or wrong way if you like the result. Using your system to better understand how to work with your mixer is a worthy goal.

There is a technique which allows you to use your hardware reverb, chorus, eq, etc. after you have completed dry recordings (i.e., recordings without reverb, etc.). You record dry, playback your tracks and run them through your outboard gear and (at the same time) record new tracks from the outputs of your outboard gear. It's the same thing as using plugins, except you are using external hardware for the processing. You'll need some extra cables.