I''ve been doing some sound design on a project for the last several months with a simple home setup lexicon core2, cakewalk sonar, and the musician/other audio engineer on the project has access to a protools hd setup. Basically he''s saying that my work is coming out a bit mirky and that I should pick up at least pro tools 001, I don''t want to abandon my cakewalk software however. I was wondering if someone could bring up some pc audio hardware comparable to pro tools audio hardware (besides Sonic Solutions lol). DRINK GIN! IT MAKES A MAN MEAN-milk and cheese

I don''t really know much about cakewalk or protools, but could it be your mixing? Honestly it doesn''t really sound like your software or hardware is to blame. I read up on the lexicon core2 specs and it seems to be a top notch card.

When the other musician said your stuff sounded mirky what was he talking about? Is there a place I can download a sample from your project? I''m not a pro myself, but maybe I can help a little.

Yeah Draken he''s right, the mix plays a real important part of audio design. it''s not about your tools but how you use them. and it''s pretty easy to blame not having the latest and most expensive soft/hardware and using that as the fault.

or then again, perhaps your setup could be touchy, depends what you''re inputing, in which case, not even a pro tools set up would be of any benefit right?.

as for hardware alternatives, try picking up a copy of cubase 5.1 and wavelab3, they come pretty cheap these days and Steinberg even make a midi controlled mixing desk for use with Cubase 5.1,

at the end of the day its the audio card which records, so the multitrack makes little odds. take it easy dude!





Purple Hamster
Helped and be helped!

if things are mirky, is it possible you are using mp3 samples? mp3s (and other lossy compressed formats) are horrible when it comes to sound quality compared to the original uncompressed sound. quite possible this could be to blame.

quote: Original post by a person
if things are mirky, is it possible you are using mp3 samples? mp3s (and other lossy compressed formats) are horrible when it comes to sound quality compared to the original uncompressed sound. quite possible this could be to blame.

Yeah this could be a problem to. All your samples should use wav format then when your done mixing drop to a final wav file and then convert to a mp3 file. If your just using wav file exclusively then it could be a problem with your mixing.

Im an experience sound designer from Australia, however Ive only done one game project to date, but what youre talking about here is within my realms of expertise.
A common mistake in mixing is poor use of panning and keeping in mind what sort of frequency response youre getting from the various parts of your mix.
Fox example, in music, if youre using lots of stereo inputs from various midi sound modules, mixing them together a bass track in stereo with other stereo sources will instantly murky things up - youre better off monoing the bass components to tighten up your stereo image.
Also, in response to frequency spread, An example would be making a tire screech. Youve got a screech, the slam of the brakes just before and maybe a glass shatter at the same time to add a high end component. Split up your eq on them, roll off the top end from the brake slam, put the screech in the mid range and roll off the bottoms from the glass to make a less complex spread of sound - maybe more easily compressed without losing too much integrity. Anyway - these are just rough concepts Im putting to you, not gospel. Every sound needs a different touch, but use your ears, not your gear, to make a mix.


Kind Regards,
Brent
Sound Designer/Engineer
www.mountainsound.com.au