Recording in MP3 format for uploading to Podcast

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This topic contains 28 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by Profile photo of [XAP]Bob [XAP]Bob 9 years, 1 month ago.

Viewing 14 posts - 16 through 29 (of 29 total)
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  • #44531
    Profile photo of [XAP]Bob
    [XAP]Bob
    Participant

    I would recommend audacity, there is a normalise function that will pull the gain up, and it’s easy to top and tail the recording before exporting as MP3.

    Our church office have got the hang of it, and they’re not the most technical bunch

    #44533
    Profile photo of gilly
    gilly
    Participant

    Bob why wouldnt Mp3DirectCut work ok instead of Audacity. Thats the way it is now on our GL2000. Connect from USB-B output directly into PC that has Mp3DirectCut on it.

    Can’t see why A & H have to complicate things by having 24 tracks being sent when just recording 1 or 1 pair of stereo channels

    #44534
    Profile photo of Andreas
    Andreas
    Moderator

    Gilly, your last question was about recording WAV on the desk and converting it to MP3 later. Since Mp3DirectCut does not support importing WAV you’ll need another tool for this purpose.
    You’re still free to record directly to PC from the USB connector on the back. Since Mp3DirectCut operates on windows drives it only sees two channels, everything is as before, just without the audio interface.

    Its not about complicating things, its about the Qu offering more options and ways to accomplish your task, its up to you to pick the most comfortable. Well, that latter may be the complicated part… 😉

    #44538
    Profile photo of [XAP]Bob
    [XAP]Bob
    Participant

    Mp3directcut will work exactly has it has done, analogue feed to the pc.

    I don’t know if it had normalisation routines, but the “apparent level” sent over the USB interfaces is relatively low, allowing for dynamic levels (which are then compressed out of most modern music)

    If you retain an analogue feed (a valid option) then you can do exactly as before.

    If you use the USB B streaming then 24 channels of audio are transferred, because you just hooked up a 24 channel sound card. You can then choose to record only one of these if you like – but the level will be ~18dB under what you might have expected, so you’re going to want to boost it.

    If you use QDrive then you can easily grab a stereo recording, but you’ll need to convert it to MP3, and probably normalise the volume (same ~18dB drop from what you might expect)

    With 24bit was files that 18dB drop doesn’t impact s/n, it does mean that the guitar/drum solo doesn’t clip.

    #44746
    Profile photo of gilly
    gilly
    Participant

    Hi guys.
    We just got the Qu-24 installed in the church on Thursday and i tried some recordings yesterday. I downloaded the QU-Driver software onto PC. Connecting the Alt out jack output (set at level 7 on desk) into the existing jack to USB converter (which connects to PC USB) everything works as before using Mp3DirectCut. I then tried connecting from desk USB-B directly into PC USB and again using Mp3DC,and as you said above the recording level is so low i can hardly hear a thing. I now have to figure how to raise the send level from desk. Will try that later.

    #44749
    Profile photo of [XAP]Bob
    [XAP]Bob
    Participant

    You can’t raise the level from the desk, you need to raise it in software.

    The level is digital, remastered. You need to master it, this includes normalising it to listening levels.

    #44752
    Profile photo of Andreas
    Andreas
    Moderator

    You may either use the Normalize or Gain functions within Mp3DC or raise send feeds within the mixer (along with compression) as I described on first page of this thread.

    #44753
    Profile photo of [XAP]Bob
    [XAP]Bob
    Participant

    Have you tried a USB drive for stereo recording from QuDrive? Given that you have to do something in the way of gain correction and/or trimming the file anyway it should be easy to “Export to MP3” as much as a “save as” <filename>.

    Without knowing M3D I can’t say anything about its workflow, but you seemed OK with audacity earlier, and I’ve done a fair amount of that before – so I can point you in the right direction there…

    #44754
    Profile photo of [XAP]Bob
    [XAP]Bob
    Participant

    For instance – in Audacity:
    Open the stereo track from the QuDrive, then select Effect -> Amplify
    Choose “New peak amplitude” of -3 dB and click OK

    Then zoom into the front of the desired section of the waveform, and select a point just before that.
    Edit -> Select -> Track Start to Cursor
    Hit delete or backspace

    Do the same at the end of the desired section (Cursor to track end obviously)

    The File -> Export
    And choose your desired format/filename/location

    #44756
    Profile photo of Dick Rees
    Dick Rees
    Participant

    “Hi guys.
    We just got the Qu-24 installed in the church on Thursday and i tried some recordings yesterday. I downloaded the QU-Driver software onto PC. Connecting the Alt out jack output (set at level 7 on desk) into the existing jack to USB converter (which connects to PC USB) everything works as before using Mp3DirectCut. I then tried connecting from desk USB-B directly into PC USB and again using Mp3DC,and as you said above the recording level is so low i can hardly hear a thing. I now have to figure how to raise the send level from desk. Will try that later.”

    You can’t raise the level from the desk, you need to raise it in software

    Well, I would suggest you carefully examine how you’re setting your channel input gains. This does in fact give you the ability to “raise the level from (at) the desk”. My guess is that the input gains are being set very conservatively and with reference to live rather than recorded sound. Perhaps optimizing the inputs for recording might be in order. It shouldn’t really effect your live sound as you can always feed the house system from the AltOuts and use that trim to balance the recording/live levels.

    This is how I do it for live/camera feeds. Board USB for recording, analog live from AltOut.

    #44761
    Profile photo of [XAP]Bob
    [XAP]Bob
    Participant

    The issue with raising gain that much in the desk is that you run the risk of transients causing clipping.
    For most place speech is not going to be a “loud” section of the PA usage, so the levels will naturally be significantly lower than other elements of the service.

    The QU has enough headroom, and enough bit depth, to record with that headroom (providing a safe recording) and then boost the levels later. There is no significant S/N reason to try to push the levels internally in the QU, and the risk of hitting digital clipping in the event of a transient (when the preacher gets impassioned) is not worth the (virtually null) reward.

    Since there has to be some post processing (even if it is just topping and tailing the recording) I’d look to do the volume boost (and maybe some final compression) at that stage.

    I think I suggested earlier that “do it the same” was a good first step, I still think it can be (because that can be practically zero cognitive load) – but there is nothing stopping you doing QuDrive stereo recording at the same time – and long term I think that is the optimal solution.

    #44762
    Profile photo of Dick Rees
    Dick Rees
    Participant

    The point is to set up your gain structure properly for the recording. If you’re recording stereo from the mains L/R, you need to have separate level control for record and live feeds.

    The simplest way to do this is to optimize the mains L/R for recording and feed the house from another bus so you can regulate that level as needed without changing the record feed. As I first described, this is easily done by feeding the house via the AltOut.

    #44768
    Profile photo of Andreas
    Andreas
    Moderator

    …just to repeat myself: Since we’re talking about a Qu24, why not using a Matrix send for recording? Source it from LR (pre or post), use the compressor to add gain as required and adjust ratio to handle transients. This really is easy to setup and provides even more control regarding transients (=clipping) than the previously used external interface.

    #44770
    Profile photo of [XAP]Bob
    [XAP]Bob
    Participant

    Yep, that would work too, get the gain and compression off the desk, with levels still sane.

    I’m not fortunate enough to have a 24 around ;(

    Still need to top and tail, but that’s no different

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