Rendered Sets Sound Lifeless.....

[Dodge]

Recorded a 'DJ' set last night using the BCR2000. Not sure why but anytime I record, render and burn to CD the recording seems really lifeless and lacking in bass. The high end and mid frequencies dont seem that bad but overall the recordings lack any kind of power. I mix using the individual channel gains and the high and low pass filters from EQ3 mapped to rotary faders. Any suggestions why things sound so dull and ways in which the sound may be improved?

[am is are]

hmm - well, honestly, i remember that the first time i rendered stuff in Live (version 2 probably), i was not impressed with the quality of it's rendering algorithm. it was as you said -- dull. certainly not nearly as lively sounding as things i mixed down and rendered in SONAR on my PC (using an M-Audio Delta 66 soundcard).. btw, could it be your soundcard?

another thing to remember -- there's a good chance that if you're not monitoring on high quality flat-frequency-response monitors, that your stereo amp and/or speakers (and room) are coloring the sound you hear when mixing. don't know how your routing your signal, but i found that i had to make adjustments to my EQ on the mixer my signal ran through on the way to my stereo amp, in order to monitor my mixing signal so that it would accurately reflect what i was gonna end up with in a rendered file.

mixing with headphones on can also cause you to make a lot of bad EQing / mixing decisions

i would definitely like to hear more feedback from more people on this. it can definitely happen with different systems. i had a friend with a Protools Digi setup and he had the same complaint -- rendered files sounded nothing like what he was hearing when mixing.

[AdamJay]

EQ3, stop using it.

try EQ4 instead.
EQ4 can do everything EQ3 can do, and then some.
and it sounds better, and uses less cpu.

[milfbait]

Last time I rendered, it did not sound right either. The mix sounded spot on while I was playing in Live, I rendered and opened up the mixdown in Wavelab and it did not sound the same. I can't quite remember what was wrong, but it may have been lacking bass. Now what I do is route the master bus out the spdif of my soundcard, and record it back into another track routed to an alternate output (if you were to send this track out the master fader, you'd get feedback galore). Of course this is not a convienient work around, especially if you are DJing.

[bensuthers]

in any performance instrument like live there are substantial perceptual difference between interactive performance and playback.

in other words; of course it sounds different when you are performing. your body is full of adrenaline.

[the shoe]

your body is full of adrenaline.[/quote]

and lager

[Dodge]

Tried EQ4 and things have improved a lot. I was using the high and low pass filters in EQ3 which seemed to suck the life out of each tune, maybe I want using it well but still. Thanks for the help Adam!

[bath965]

your body is full of adrenaline.

[/quote]

I love it do you not?:I:I

[robert che]

use Audiohijack if you have a mac and set it up to record your sets. The quality if you set it up to the highest standards in the program is really good. It is better I feel than Live's audio output if you are wanting to make quick mix cds.

hope it helps...

[j0shu@]

this is called "in the box stereo summing." if you could break all the outputs individually out to a mixer and re-combine them you would eliminate some of the problem.

also, your mixing has a lot to do with it. and are you using anything to master the tracks? once they are mixed down to stereo you should go over them again with EQ, compression, and limiting to master.

on a professional recording you would send them off to a mastering house, but you can also do this yourself and it makes an absolute world of difference in the end product.