Media Player

[Guest voclizr]

When I do a mix on my Zoom 8 track stand alone unit, it sounds real good. Then I transfer it to my PC and it loses something. It sounds muddled and seems to lose some hi end. I tried playing the disc I make of it on the recorder's CD-RW unit and it sounds just as good as it does in the mix, so what I gather is that it's something lacking in my PC's sound setup. I don't know whether it's hardware or software, but I'm wondering if there is any Media player out there that has a better graphic EQ than Windows media player, Winamp or Musicmatch. Preferably free, but I'd be willing to pay a bit if it's good (free trial). Thanks!

John B.

[Hope4Peace]

Well, I can only speak for myself, but Ive never found anything wrong with the sound quality of WMP. Maybe I just have low standards?

[john]

Hey John

Are you monitoring through different amp and speakers? What format is the audio in? Do you change the format when you transfer to PC? i.e. is it wav or mp3, what quality etc?

Hoe does the disc sound when you play it back in a normal hifi? Or a portable? Headphones?

One thing I learnt as a sound engineer is to listen to my mixes on a number of set ups. They all sound different, so it's worth trying a few.

Cheers

John

[Nightwolf]

Also, how are you transfering, can you play the zoom disk in your pc?

John's right, most people who mix will have a boombox, pc, car stereo, home stereo comparison and it will sound different at every step.

[Guest voclizr]

Hey Guys !

From the Zoom it becomes as CDA. the same kind of data that is on a standard CD audio disk. Then I get it into my PC via ripping with Musicmatch. I make them WAVs originally and convert to MP3 in various sizes as I need them, but I listen to the WAV's and burn using them because they have the full frequencies. I really only use MP3's for the websites. As far as playback equipment, right now I only have my PC. I burned a disc for my boss and he played it on his office PC on which he has KILLER speakers and a subwoofer and it KICKED ASS!!

So I know what you're saying. I had a stereo until a few months ago when it went broke on me. I'd like to replace it soon, but the thing I can't understand is when I play other people's indie music that I downloaded (good example: John's "Awaken") it sounds real good. I know that John's recording set up is much better than mine, but I have a whole slew of Atom2's stuff from his AMPCAST site and it sounds professional on my PC and he uses a setup like mine (stand alone HDD recorder). It also might be how I percieve it (my ears) at a given time. I only mix and listen through headphones (I know that's a sin, but my PC speakers aren't that great, whereby my headphones are AKG pro monitors). Sometimes when I play it, I think it sounds great. Then later I'll play it again with the same set up and I'll think "Too much low end" or "that high hat distorts abit". I want to dig out my kid's old boombox and see how it sounds on that. No two sets of curcuitry are the same. I was just wondering if there was a better MP3 software player out there with a better EQ section.

Thanks guys.

John B.

[ATom2]

Hey Guys !

From the Zoom it becomes as CDA. the same kind of data that is on a standard CD audio disk. Then I get it into my PC via ripping with Musicmatch. I make them WAVs originally and convert to MP3 in various sizes as I need them, but I listen to the WAV's and burn using them because they have the full frequencies. I really only use MP3's for the websites. As far as playback equipment, right now I only have my PC. I burned a disc for my boss and he played it on his office PC on which he has KILLER speakers and a subwoofer and it KICKED ASS!!

So I know what you're saying. I had a stereo until a few months ago when it went broke on me. I'd like to replace it soon, but the thing I can't understand is when I play other people's indie music that I downloaded (good example: John's "Awaken") it sounds real good. I know that John's recording set up is much better than mine, but I have a whole slew of Atom2's stuff from his AMPCAST site and it sounds professional on my PC and he uses a setup like mine (stand alone HDD recorder). It also might be how I percieve it (my ears) at a given time. I only mix and listen through headphones (I know that's a sin, but my PC speakers aren't that great, whereby my headphones are AKG pro monitors). Sometimes when I play it, I think it sounds great. Then later I'll play it again with the same set up and I'll think "Too much low end" or "that high hat distorts abit". I want to dig out my kid's old boombox and see how it sounds on that. No two sets of curcuitry are the same. I was just wondering if there was a better MP3 software player out there with a better EQ section.

Thanks guys.

John B.

Hey Bud,

I wouldn't worry about what type of player you use as you would only be using it to correct what you hear. Obviously it would do nothing to help the recording when others play it. I can't promise anything in a timely fashion, but try to e-mail me the mp3 and let me take look at it. I may, or may not be able to help. I'm thinking what you are talking about is something within the parametric EQing. If you normally mix everything roughly the same, I may be able to give you some EQ settings to guide you.

Send it to paperboy@borderlandnet.net

Tom

[Guest voclizr]

Tom;

You're the perfect guy to take this up with because your recording equipment is similar to mine and you've achieved such professional results IMHO . Do you by chance have Excel on your PC? I've gotten into the habit of making a tracking sheet in Excel for every project, so it would be easy for me to just email you the tracking sheet and you can see my mixdown parameters. I've also finally figured out how to do an automated mix on my Zoom. You do this by using the Mark function to mark the beat and measure and the Scene feature to make a "snapshot" of the parameters in between the marks. I'm sure your Roland has a similar feature. The thing that bothers me is that when I get the mix on the Zoom, it sounds great! Professional. It's only when I get it onto my PC that it seems to fall apart I know it's two different sets of circuitry and all I have to measure it with currently is my PC. If I had a stereo, it might sound great, and it might sound great on your gear. So let me know of you have Excel. If you don't maybe I can figure out something else..

John B.

PS: Regarding the MP3: You told me awhile back that your ISP wouldn't allow files that big. The track that I have the most issues with is "Nuclear Confusion" and it's a 128kbps MP3 posted on Soundclick, so if you download that track that would probably do ya! And I GREATLY appreciate your advise here!

JB