tech question

[RIP 2 wackness]

I occasionally make beats on my iPhone through the app beatmaker if I'm on the go and I come across an individual sound that I like. I figure the quickest way to drop it into my sound library and use it at home thru my DAW's is just use the iPhone headphone jack to my computer's input jack and record it with audacity, reason 5, logic or whatever I'm using at that time.

my question is will I be losing audio quality by using that method of recording samples to my computer through an AUX cable from its original source. In this case its my iphone. I also drop samples from my drum machine the same way.

 

[bandcoach]

The cable and the standard audio interface for your computer won't degrade the audio quality so much as your audio interface may not be up to capturing the signal at higher sampling rates

Can you bluetooth the audio to your computer?? If you can then use that method for transferring your audio - you will maintain the fidelity of the of the audio file.

As for what you do with your drum machine, it would be better to get a proper audio interface that allows you to plug it in directly, rahter than using adpater plugs.

 

[RIP 2 wackness]

Sorry if this sounds like a newby question but I'm fairly new at this. So should I try to record at the highest sample rate possible, or will I run into compatibility issues with different software? Is there an ideal sample rate that "quality" samples for making beats should be around?

 

[bandcoach]

"experts" differ. But you should be trying for 44.1kHz minimum and even going to 48kHz or 96kHz if you can help it.

If your end medium is mp3, then going higher than 44.1kHz won't make an audible difference in the end product (even at 320kbps/cbr), but going lower than these three sampling rates certainly will.

 

[RIP 2 wackness]

Thanks for the response!

 

[krushing]

Technically, all analog connections will degrade the signal somewhat - whether it's an audible degradation is another thing. Also, the d/a (digital to analog) & a/d (the other way around) converters have their part in the play, and I'm pretty sure the d/a of the iPhone is the weakest link in this chain. It most likely puts out 44.1Khz anyway, so recording that with a higher samplerate is just waste of hd space...

But as said, if there's a possibility to transfer the audio staying in the digital domain all the time, that's the best way as the signal will remain unchanged. Haven't tried it, but the BeatPack tool for BeatMaker probably enables you to do just that.