Mixing Down Samples For Library

R

reflekt

Guest
Hello gents...

Thought I would seek some advice. I am totally set up for sampling from vinyl and thought that there might be some common sound quality scenarios that I will be encountering in the process. Thinking that, I thought that there probably would be some typical signal processing used in those situations while mixing down the samples before adding them to the library that someone may want to share. I'm not necessarily talking about removing the rice crispies from the sound so much as maybe just sweetening it up a bit before commiting it to the sample library. I am aware of the Waves restoration plugz and their price but will be mostly just using Logic Pro 7's available DSP for any sweetening that I perform.

Cheers!
:cheers:
 
What's yr rig like? I have a DJ setup, so my vinyl runs to that mixer, and then to the mixer that I run into my soundcard. Everything is phono ins and outs, so the sound quality is better than samples from CDs, IMO. When I used to have to convert to a 1/8" or 1/4" jack, I always noticed a layer of upper register hiss, so watch out for that if that's yr setup. But it can be tamed without compromising the samples too much.

Different records can have wildy different EQs, whether from wear and tear or differing production values, so always be ready to adjust for that. Watch out for older records that are recorded in mono(they were still making some in the 70s), they sound A LOT different than their stereo counterparts, so you may think you're getting bad sound quality, when in fact you're trying to sample a mono record to stereo tracks.

Provided yr signal chain is tight, I don't think you'll have to do too much signal processing. Most vinyl is wonderfully mastered, and because of it's analog "magic," I think vinyl samples are easier to mix. You can overdrive them (High gain, low volume before they get to yr recording gear! Don't let a kick drum blow the speakers!) and they distort warm and nicely, if that's yr thing. Don't let a low quality groove stop you either, a lot of great songs have poorly born vinyl samples. You can look at it like they're already EQ'd for that perfect track you haven't written yet.
 
Hosey,

Thanks for the great advise. My rig is a 1200MK5 into a Radial J33 Phono DI running phantom powered via 2 XLRs into my Mackie mixer with a balanced direct out into my MOTU 828. Definitely a tight chain. I've found that it actually does sound great "as is". I guess the combination of how it will be used and as you said the quality of it's mastering and production value will determine how much/which DSP needs to be done!

Peace
 
You can for example cut frequencies under 30 Hz and over 22 kHz, and then normalize the sample to -1 dB. Vinyl recordings don't usually go under 30 Hz, and if it does, it's just noise.
 
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