Subject:Acid To CD Sound Quality

Posted by: MusicBear

Date:11/19/2000 1:18:00 AM

I have been burning my Acid tracks to CD by first
converting my works to .wav files, and then burning them to
CD using Adaptec software.

I have noticed a noticable loss in sound quality using this
method. Would using the "create CD / Add Track " option
directly from Acid be the best way to burn my works into CD?

Any suggestions or comments are most welcomed!

Thanks,
MusicBear
www.go.to/MusicBear

Subject:Re: Acid To CD Sound Quality

Reply by: Rednroll

Date:11/19/2000 8:36:00 PM

Ray, there should be no sonic difference in quality, but knowing the
sonic quality differences you're hearing, would help out in narrowing
down where your problem might be. Have you tried burning a Cd using
Acid yet? It might just be a simple thing that your sound card D/A
converters are better than your CD players D/A converters. A test of
this would be to burn the same wave file, using Acid and Easy CD, and
play both CD's back over your CD player to see then if there's any
sonic diffences between the 2 CDs. I use Acid to create wave files
like you do and then burn it to CD either using Nero, Cdrwin, or CD
Architect and I have never noticed a sonic difference from what I had
mixed down in Acid.
Ray MusicBear Baker wrote:
>>I have been burning my Acid tracks to CD by first
>>converting my works to .wav files, and then burning them to
>>CD using Adaptec software.
>>
>>I have noticed a noticable loss in sound quality using this
>>method. Would using the "create CD / Add Track " option
>>directly from Acid be the best way to burn my works into CD?
>>
>>Any suggestions or comments are most welcomed!
>>
>>Thanks,
>>MusicBear
>>www.go.to/MusicBear

Subject:Re: Acid To CD Sound Quality

Reply by: MusicBear

Date:11/20/2000 10:54:00 AM

Hi Brian,

What I seem to notice is that the bass is not as punchy, and the
highs are very shrill. Also, as if some excessive "noise" has been
added somewhere along the line too.

I have a PlexWriter 8/4/32A (ATAPI) CD-R, in a Gateway G6-300 with 64
mb of ram. My soundcard is a Creative Sound Blaster AudioPCI 64V.

I have not tried burning a CD direcly from Acid, as I said, I convert
my work to a .wav file, and usually use the Adaptec or the
PlexWriter's own software suite to burn my CD-R's.

All I can say is, so far, I am disappointed with the way my CD-R's
have been turning out, my works soundso good on my computer, but when
I burn them to CD-R and play them back from the CD, in "any" sound
system, they are lacklustre.

Another problem is the stereo fild seems to "narrow" instead of
sounding as "wide" as it did in Acid. I have been told that some of
my CD sound, to some ears, as "hollow."

Any suggestions you have would be most appreciated.

Thanks

Subject:Re: Acid To CD Sound Quality

Reply by: AlienFarms

Date:11/23/2000 6:57:00 PM

What do you use to preview your audio tracks when playing back on
your computer - computer speakers? I have found that what sounds good
on computer grade sound equipment is often horrific on real audio
systems. In my case, what sounded like killer bass and crystal clear
highs on my computer system was actually weak on the low end and
rolled off sharply on the high end. It seems that my computer
speakers had a built-in freq boost at the extremes which distorted
what was actually being burned to my CD's.

To remedy this, I now have my sound card plugged directly into a Sony
receiver connected to Yamaha studio monitors. It's a low budget set-
up that yields much better results than crappy computer speakers. I
don't care who's name is on them or how much they cost, speaker
systems made especially for computers are not good enough for real
music in my opinion.

On another front, you may want to take your tracks into Sound Forge
and tweak them for optimum sound quality. It's always good
to 'Normalize' all the tracks so that you get the best S/N ratio
before you burn them. There are a lot of things you can do in Sound
Forge to make good audio sound better.

And lastly, I wouldn't use the CD burning option in ACID to make
CD's. It uses Track At Once (TAO) and stops the laser after each
burn. This creates and audible click between tracks which is very
annoying.



Ray MusicBear Baker wrote:
>>I have been burning my Acid tracks to CD by first
>>converting my works to .wav files, and then burning them to
>>CD using Adaptec software.
>>
>>I have noticed a noticable loss in sound quality using this
>>method. Would using the "create CD / Add Track " option
>>directly from Acid be the best way to burn my works into CD?
>>
>>Any suggestions or comments are most welcomed!
>>
>>Thanks,
>>MusicBear
>>www.go.to/MusicBear

Subject:Re: Acid To CD Sound Quality

Reply by: MusicBear

Date:11/23/2000 7:41:00 PM

Hello Alien,

Thanks so much for your reply.

Yes, it's true, I AM using my computer speakers for playing back my
aduio, they are exceptional speakers, but I am afraid you are right
in that they have a "built in freqency boost for high and low end."
I think that is what is distorting my perception of my music very
much. I think I might even get better results mixing from my
headphones. When I now listen with my headphones the tracks sound
exactly how they do on my audio system, flat and lifeless, not
anywhere near as good as my computer speakers, so this may be my
problem in a nutshell.

I don't have Sound Forge, I use "TC Native Bundle & Hyperprism," but
I can do some fancy editing with these tools too. But should I
really have to? Aren't most of the loops that Acid uses tweaked for
optimum sound? I would think so.

Thanks also for the warning me about using Acid to burn my CD's, I
was not aware of the nasty click that you mention.

I think your advice will be very helpful to me, and I thank you again
for your excellent comments and help.

Take Care,
MusicBear

Subject:Re: Acid To CD Sound Quality

Reply by: rdpete

Date:11/26/2000 9:25:00 PM

I am using studio monitors and I can tell a difference.

To go even a step further, in your Acid file, mix the individual tracks
to a new track (using the project loop bar). Now take those tracks and
open them in a program like Vegas, Cakewalk, Cubase, Pro Tools, etc...
it's an entirely different world. I think you will notice a difference
in just panning alone. Take some of your stereo files and split them
into L & R tracks.


Ray MusicBear Baker wrote:
>>Hello Alien,
>>
>>Thanks so much for your reply.
>>
>>Yes, it's true, I AM using my computer speakers for playing back my
>>aduio, they are exceptional speakers, but I am afraid you are right
>>in that they have a "built in freqency boost for high and low end."
>>I think that is what is distorting my perception of my music very
>>much. I think I might even get better results mixing from my
>>headphones. When I now listen with my headphones the tracks sound
>>exactly how they do on my audio system, flat and lifeless, not
>>anywhere near as good as my computer speakers, so this may be my
>>problem in a nutshell.
>>
>>I don't have Sound Forge, I use "TC Native Bundle & Hyperprism," but
>>I can do some fancy editing with these tools too. But should I
>>really have to? Aren't most of the loops that Acid uses tweaked for
>>optimum sound? I would think so.
>>
>>Thanks also for the warning me about using Acid to burn my CD's, I
>>was not aware of the nasty click that you mention.
>>
>>I think your advice will be very helpful to me, and I thank you again
>>for your excellent comments and help.
>>
>>Take Care,
>>MusicBear
>>
>>