I'm using MultiTrack on Project 52 - a song a week

Post links to songs you made in here!
project52
Posts: 70
Joined: September 28th, 4:31 pm

Re: I'm using MultiTrack on Project 52 - a song a week

Post by project52 »

Thank you so much! I really appreciate you checking it out. I'm getting pretty excited as I just uploaded Volume 1 for digital sale on iTunes and similar stores.

Sorry to hear about your Mikey. There have been a couple times early on that I was tempted to lose mine, but I've stuck with it. I can't wait to check out stereo recording on MT 1.1.

I only had a chance to browse the Propellerhead website and read up on Record. I use Reason and would vouch for their software-making chops. I bet it's very similar - intuitive interface and relatively simple use.

Now, I would vouch for Reaper any day. It's REALLY good software. Don't let the $60 price tag fool you. It's professional grade. I feel like unless you're mixing surround sound, Reaper can stand tall against anything from Logic to Protools to Nuendo. One of the best things about Reaper is the strong community of users, grown out of the type of software that it is, (they release an update almost every two weeks!) You should go immediately and start digging through the Reaper forums. There's a Reaper wiki, an incredibly extensive manual, and a crazy active message board. Good luck, and let me know if you have any other questions.

Please pass the word on about my site, and thanks again for stopping by!
project52
Posts: 70
Joined: September 28th, 4:31 pm

Re: I'm using MultiTrack on Project 52 - a song a week

Post by project52 »

Week 16 is up and a little grungy. I hope everyone had a great holiday. Thanks again for listening and commenting everyone.
dkijc
Posts: 18
Joined: December 21st, 1:42 pm

Re: I'm using MultiTrack on Project 52 - a song a week

Post by dkijc »

Hey, I love the latest piece you did :)

and I DID purchase REAPER and I'm stoked! hopefully I'll get some great use out of it!

I purchased the break out cable from kvconnection and I seem to have two problems

1. I have a Sony ECMMS907 and I don't remember this when I first connected it but I get a constant clipping noise when i fully plug it in but good when i plug it in half way through.... have you ever had that issue?

2. Have you ever had an audio spill from the headphone jack into the microphone cable? Because when I use the breakout cable and have the metronome on, in my final recording, i hear that metronome clicking away in the distant background... meaning, I am getting some kind of audio spill from the headphone-in cable. :(

anyways, Happy new year and hope you are blessed with many blessings from god! :)
fgrittner
Posts: 62
Joined: October 8th, 11:51 am

Re: I'm using MultiTrack on Project 52 - a song a week

Post by fgrittner »

Could your mic noise be connected to the fact you are plugging in a stereo microphone cable to a mono input?
dkijc
Posts: 18
Joined: December 21st, 1:42 pm

Re: I'm using MultiTrack on Project 52 - a song a week

Post by dkijc »

Hey frittner,

Thanks for the response. :)

"It is the perfect solution for interfacing your new iPhone with your stereo, computer, home theater system, headphones and/or using your own quality stereo or mono microphone with the iPhone"

That's what it says on their site and thought I could use the stereo mic.
(Also, I used my other cheaper Sony stereo mic (the clip ons) and that seemed to have worked fine.. I tried hooking my ECM into my comp's input and it works fine.)

Tho, now, this brings me to a new question (noobie coming out):

What does it mean when the Multitrack is both mono and stereo 16 track?
1. When I record a track, say with my stereo microphone, it gets recorded into one track. Does it mean that I can split that track into two separate tracks and pan left and right?
2. If i were to use a microphone like the SM57's, would it be mono and actually be recorded into the track as a mono signal? Meaning it'll either be recorded only on the right or the left side?

I hope these questions make sense :|

Thanks so much in advance! :)
project52
Posts: 70
Joined: September 28th, 4:31 pm

Re: I'm using MultiTrack on Project 52 - a song a week

Post by project52 »

Week 17 - Old Battles is up now. Nearly 8 minutes and featuring melodica tracks. So far my closest call to breaking the week barrier. I finished the post and went live at 11:45 on Saturday night.

I wrote two songs last night, so hopefully I'll be able to start catching up to earlier in the week.

djkijc: Good luck with Reaper. If you hit any rough patches in figuring it out and getting it set up, head over to their forums. The users are very helpful.

The iPhone has a mono input up top. It's a TRRS connector which allows one left channel out, one right channel out, and one mono channel in. There are a couple of products out there that plug into the 10-pin iPhone connector at the bottom of the phone. Some of those have the ability to have stereo in. I use the Blue Mikey, which is a stereo condenser, and now works in stereo with multitrack. The stereo recording then goes into one track that you can download as a stereo wav file.

What type of cable are you using to run the Sony mic into the adapter? It may be an issue of impedance/resistance...which I know very little about. I've never been accused of being an electrical engineer. Pwnified on the other hand has written about this stuff before and may be able to shed more light on the situation. I have had clipping/noise issues when trying to use the adapter with say a preamp output.

I have had metronome bleed problems, but I just attributed it to bleed from the headphones since I'm recording at such low volumes. Actually, bleed within the cables may be the answer. I'll have to do some testing. If so, that sucks. I've managed to work around it so far, but it's definitely not optimal.

Good luck with everything.
dkijc
Posts: 18
Joined: December 21st, 1:42 pm

Re: I'm using MultiTrack on Project 52 - a song a week

Post by dkijc »

Hey Proj52,

Sony ECM has it's own standard 1/8" cable (http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Stereo-Type- ... 843&sr=8-1)

I still don't know why my other clipon mic works fine and this one doesn't :|

and for the stereo question. So no matter what kind of mic I place using the break out cable, it'll always be a mono signal, you are saying. COrrect?

Then with my childish knowledge, how does it pan left and right when the signal is coming in, then?
(I tried panning left and right and the sound certainly goes from left to right) Is that just manipulating the signal that is inputted and just placing it left and/or right?

My understanding of stereo is left and right, and looking online in the forums, the definition of stereo is using multiple mic to get the 'air' to make it two dimensional rather than one.

So my questions still remains,
1. Unless you use the dock connected mics, I will not get stereo input?

2. You mentioned that stereo recording goes into one track. Then what's the difference between a mono input and stereo input? Does the mono input only get it's input signal from the left signal of the mic and stereo input gets both the left and the right signal from the mic?

3. If that is the case the signal that I put in through the breakout cable and being able to pan left and right has nothing to do with stereo, right? Other recordings I make through the iphone mic or the break out cable will just be recorded into a single track as one signal (left.. I believe) and panning left and right is just manipulation of the sound space with in the recording. I hope I got that. haha

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my noob questions! REALLY appreciate it! :)
dkijc
Posts: 18
Joined: December 21st, 1:42 pm

Re: I'm using MultiTrack on Project 52 - a song a week

Post by dkijc »

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogI ... 7024270352 !!

New Mikey with 3.5mm input! No need for a breakout cable! woo hoo :)
User avatar
pwnified
Posts: 1571
Joined: August 17th, 9:41 pm

Re: I'm using MultiTrack on Project 52 - a song a week

Post by pwnified »

The iphone built in mic and headset mic input will always be mono, the only way to get a stereo signal into the iphone is by dock connector. With a mono input signal, it is copied into both outputs equally (center), or volume on left or right can be changed (panning), and then mixed into the stereo output bus. With a stereo input, it's the same thing, except the signal doesn't need to be duplicated. Internally, stereo is simply two interleaved mono tracks (twice the bandwidth).

As far as bleed, there could be many reasons:

The wiring of the connector. I built one of these connectors once (which I can't seem find anywhere, but that's another story) and I recall having a bleed problem until I fixed the wiring. The input and output connections on the breakout cable share a common ground, and because of the weird wiring layout of the mini it's easy swap the wires accidentally. If the stereo outputs are grounded through the input attenuation resistor, it could result in a cable that still works but has the bleedthrough.

Acoustic bleed. The simplest kind, when the sound of the headphones is captured by the microphone.

Electrical bleed. Usually when people make cables, they don't properly shield the signal wires. Since it's a highly sensitive microphone signal in close proximity to the outputs, bleed and other EMI can be picked up, and recorded. (Especially if the input attenuation resistor is missing from the cable design). I've seen plans on the internet that used plain old unshielded wire for all connections.

It's very possible to get this to work, but be prepared to spend some time debugging it :)

BTW Project52, it sounds amazing and is really inspirational to hear your recordings. Keep up the good work!
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dkijc
Posts: 18
Joined: December 21st, 1:42 pm

Re: I'm using MultiTrack on Project 52 - a song a week

Post by dkijc »

awesome, thanks for the quick and concise response :)

I figured there might have been a ground issue within wiring but the break out cable i purchased, it's hard for me to rip out the outer layer for me to check the physical wiring. haha

But when the new mikey comes out, I guess that won't be an issue since I'll be able to use the input jack (hopefully stereo :))

and seriously Proj52, kudos !

Also, I don't think I properly said, 'THANK YOU SO MUCH!' to the author of this great app!! great job! thanks for the inspiration. (I want to also build an application but time seems to be just walking away from me everyday haha, so maybe if you want some help, I could TRY to help you QA, maybe? lol, of course for free~~!!!!!!! :lol: )