razzzzz Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 I've set up a logic x template for recording my vinyl with some very basic signal routing. I'm using an Input channel strip in the environment so I can record using a limiter. - Audio comes in on Input 1/2 - Created an Input Channel Strip in the environment - Set the Input Channel Strip to Input 1/2 - Slapped a limiter on the Input Channel Strip so I can tame any peaks during recording - Input Channel Strip sends audio to Bus 1 - Deleted the auto-created Aux Channel Strip when instantiating bus 1 as it's not needed - Audio Channel Strip receives audio from Bus 1 - Audio Channel Strip sends to Output 1/2 Whats strange is that the right channel on the Audio channel strip is MUCH louder when the audio passes through the Bus, as if the Bus is doubling the right channel. I can't for the life of me figure out why this is happening. Check out the screen cap below: - At first audio is coming through the Input Channel Strip - If you check out the levels on the Audio Channel Strip you can see the right channel is much louder - I change the Audio Channel Strip to record directly from Input 1/2 and you see the issue goes away - I change the Audio Channel Strip to record from Bus 1 again and you see the issue come back - I disable the limiter on the Input Channel Strip to rule it out as the culprit What's up with this? .R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Cardenas Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 I can not confirm this behaviour. Could you attach your project here? - Slapped a limiter on the Input Channel Strip so I can tame any peaks during recording Big heads-up on this one! Understand that you are limiting after conversion. Any "overs" reaching your ADC will not be tamed by the limiter and will get printed into the audio file. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razzzzz Posted July 26, 2015 Author Share Posted July 26, 2015 Hi Eric, Please find the attached zip file containing the template I used in my original post. And thanks for the heads up about the peaks. I've since updated my template to use an AdLimiter followed by a Gain utility. I'm new to ripping vinyl, but what I've been doing is: 1) Make sure I'm not peaking on the sound cards input, aiming for a peak of about -3db. 2) Using the gain parameter in the AdLimiter to ever so gently push the signal into the ceiling of about -1db 3) Using the Gain utility to bring it up the rest of the way Also, I changed the signal flow from Input Channel Strip -> Bus -> Audio Channel Strip to Aux Channel Strip -> Bus -> Audio Channel Strip. The bug went away after I made this change. Curious. Not sure if what I'm doing is anywhere close to a recommended best practice... but thought I'd experiment a bit. Any feedback on this is welcome .R Vinyl Ripping Template.zip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Cardenas Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 I'll check your file later. I'm curious on why you are limiting your recording? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Cardenas Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 So I checked your project file and can't replicate the behaviour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razzzzz Posted July 27, 2015 Author Share Posted July 27, 2015 Looks like it's a problem with the project file then. I'll try starting from a new empty project to see if I can get it to happen again. Regarding the use of the limiter: I used to simply record my vinyl by trying to get it as near to 0dbfs with no clipping and leave it at that. When I compare them to .wav tracks I purchased, I noticed my recordings sounded very quiet. After examining the tracks I recorded, I noticed they all had very uneven peaks (some due to vinyl pops, others probably due to intentional dynamic range choices, and others that I just have no idea why they are happening... Probably DAC?) When I use an adlimiter to even some of this out, the result sounds much better. Since I have a boatload of vinyl, I thought it would be convenient to do this at record time (via the input channel strip) so I don't need to go back and process each recording one by one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razzzzz Posted July 27, 2015 Author Share Posted July 27, 2015 Sorry, meant ADC above, not DAC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Cardenas Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Hi raz! I meant that I can't replicate the behavior. Somehow I forgot the T or mistyped so it changed the meaning from Ney to Yeay. Regarding the use of the limiter: I used to simply record my vinyl by trying to get it as near to 0dbfs with no clipping and leave it at that. When I compare them to .wav tracks I purchased, I noticed my recordings sounded very quiet. After examining the tracks I recorded, I noticed they all had very uneven peaks (some due to vinyl pops, others probably due to intentional dynamic range choices, and others that I just have no idea why they are happening... Probably DAC?) When I use an adlimiter to even some of this out, the result sounds much better. Since I have a boatload of vinyl, I thought it would be convenient to do this at record time (via the input channel strip) so I don't need to go back and process each recording one by one. Ok, that makes sense as long as you are fine with the changed dynamics. Remember that you are comparing different masters when listening to vinyl vs digital. But as long as it sounds better to your ears it's all good. I've always used the transparent approach when ripping a vinyl. There's still some editing that has to be done manually when splitting the tracks so I often go through the file quickly in the audio file editor to fix any rough spots and use the find peak function to see how much gain I can add. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razzzzz Posted July 27, 2015 Author Share Posted July 27, 2015 Ah shoot. Maybe it's part of my old video-game testing days... I get excited when I find reproducible issues/bugs. I'll keep working at trying to get it to happen again on my system and report back. Would love to hear any tips/tricks you have for a more transparent approach to recording vinyl. Should I start a different post then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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