Subject:Upgrade to multi-channel recording

Posted by: PhilA&D

Date:8/26/2015 12:20:09 PM

I have been making recordings of piano, violin, guitar and voice using a CDROM two channel master and editing with Sound Forge Audio Studio to create non-commercial CDROMs for the musicians and friends. My usual edits are to trim beginnings/endings, normalize and add reverb.
I am considering how to upgrade to multi-channel recording.
1. If I buy a Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 will it work well to record using Sound Forge Pro 11 or will ACID Music Studio 10 or Acid Pro provide significant improvements in capabilities?
2. Should I record and mix with ACID Music Studio 10 because it will do what I need and costs less than Sound Forge Pro 11?
3. If my edits are to mix say four recorded channels down to two in preparation for CD burning will this be easier with ACID Music Studio 10 than Sound Forge Pro 11?
4. I don’t use compression during recording to avoid altering the natural sound so often I edit the wave form peaks; this has not caused changes in audio quality of the final that are noticeable. Does Sound Forge Pro 11 or ACID Music Studio 10 have a plugin that will do compression without causing changes that the musicians would notice?
5. I plan to do 24 bit masters so what are the best file formats to store the recorded master before editing? (For CD burning I’ve been saving the edited finals in Wave (.wav) format.)

I'd appreciate the insights and experience of folks who know these tools. Thanks!

Subject:RE: Upgrade to multi-channel recording

Reply by: Geoff_Wood

Date:8/26/2015 4:48:12 PM

1 - If you are only record all at once in a single take , SF is fine. If you ever want to do separate takes of individual tracks (channels in SF, cos it is not a multi-track recording application), or punch-in sections of a track, anything else (ie AMS10, AcidPro, VegasPro) is more appropriate.

2 - Yes for cost, and yes for functionality. for what you want to do.

3 - You cannot easily 'mix-down' in SF - it is not a DAW.

4 - Yes. And are open to all installed external plugin effects .

5 - 24-bit recording is the best you can ever achieve in reality. Even if you record to a 32-bit file today's best D-A converters do not quite get to quality 24 bits can theoretically provide. Only ever use WAV, or FLAC if disk space is a factor (not these days !).

Download the free demos of the other applications and try them. And search out the tutorials on this website and Youtube !

geoff

Subject:RE: Upgrade to multi-channel recording

Reply by: PhilA&D

Date:8/26/2015 8:41:15 PM

Thanks Geoff,
I didn't see any capabilities of Acid Pro I need that ACID Music Studio is missing so I can do the mix-down to two channels for CDs.with Acid Music Studio and will try that.
Phil

Subject:RE: Upgrade to multi-channel recording

Reply by: Chienworks

Date:8/30/2015 4:09:52 PM

Take a look at Vegas Movie Studio too. It has ALL the multitrack features of ACID, but doesn't have the loop/temp mapping that ACID uses to do work with looping material. I do a lot of the same work as you with acoustic recordings and mixdown. ACID really just gets in the way for this, trying to conform material to keys and tempos. Movie Studio simply gives you open tracks to work with and do whatever you wish. Yes, you can use what's called a "one shot" track in ACID, but why bother when Movie Studio already does it the way you want.

Another bonus is that you can put clips from more than one file on each track in Movie Studio. I don't think ACID Music Studio allows this; it's only a feature of the Pro version.

And, if later you decide you'd like to work with video, you'll already have a program that does it.

Subject:RE: Upgrade to multi-channel recording

Reply by: PhilA&D

Date:9/1/2015 2:21:40 PM

Thanks for this suggestion. I don't have a need for looping and Vegas seems worth a trial. I wanted to avoid the learning curve of starting new but since Sound Forge Pro doesn't provide the mix from multiple channels to stereo I will have to find out what will work best for me.

Subject:RE: Upgrade to multi-channel recording

Reply by: Chienworks

Date:9/1/2015 6:19:43 PM

I think you'll find very little learning curve. Vegas is extremely simple and easy for audio.

Subject:RE: Upgrade to multi-channel recording

Reply by: rraud

Date:9/2/2015 8:33:07 AM

"I think you'll find very little learning curve. Vegas is extremely simple and easy for audio"
+11