Recording straight to MP3?

[Big Red]

Hi Folks,

I'm a beginner in all of this, and I have spent the last few hours sampling the free trial-versions of certain MP3 recorders. Like this one:
http://www.mp3recorder.us/index.htm

I've been experimenting/recording using my keyboard (with 16-track sequencer). Yes I know that this is a guitar-oriented site, but the idea is to record my full-arrangement keyboard songs (NOT Midi) straight to an MP3 format, so that I can play guitar over them when I play these keyboard backing tracks on a MP3 player (I have Musicmatch Jukebox).

Here's my recording set-up:

Keyboard -> cable from normal headphone port on keyboard -> microphone port on computer. All of the wiring and adaptors used are stereo-spec.

The problem is that while the recorded sound (and resulting MP3 file) is good, it doesn't sound the same as plugging my headphones straight into the headphone port of the keyboard and listening to the song. The reason why I use the headphone port for recording (as opposed to L+R output or MIDI interface), is that certain effects like panning and chorus are heard only through the headphone port. Any other hook-up option on the keyboard results in a more dry (less effects) mix. I do all of my mixing and effects right on the keyboard as I'm writing/recording the music). And I'm not looking for a Midi set-up either. I want just a simple press-"record" on the MP3 program, and press "play" on my keyboard. Like I said, somehow the sound is being diminished en-route to the recorded MP3 file.

Is the reason for the diminished sound quality have to do with plugging into the microphone port in my computer (which does meets the full software requirements)? Do I need to hook it up in another fashion? Is it a sound card issue (which I doubt because it play all other MP3 files with no problems)? Or is it a simple limitation with these cheapskate MP3 recorders?

Do I need to go to a full-on recording set-up (e.g. computer software or a Boss BR-900CD)? I don't have hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars for a recording set-up. I just spent my money on a new RGA121.

Any input from you guys would be greatly appreciated.


Thank-you

[Randy G]

mp3 is not a high fidelity recording format. Your high fidelity source is eventually being downgraded to mp3 quality.

You do not need to spend additional money to obtain quality results. What you need to do is record to a higher fidelity format. Find a different stereo recorder that saves to a high fidelity format like wav. Did you ever own a Sound Blaster LIVE! card? If so, there's an LE version of Sound Forge that was bundled with it that will do the job you need nicely.

[Big Red]

Thanks for the quick reply. For some reason I thought the MP3 format was the best quality. Burning normal CD's to an MP3 format certainly doesn't lessen the quality; I thought it would be the same while recording an instrument. Oh well..lesson learned.

Just to confirm, wav files > MP3 files? What other formats should I be looking to record to? I think my card is a Sound Blaster, but I'll have to double check on that.

Thanks

[RSVampire]

wav is the greatest thing you can record to. it is uncompressed and holds all the music information it can

anything else is just compressed (takes out certain information in this case certain audio frequencies and audio quality to make the file smaller)

burning/ripping cd's to and from mp3 format lessens the quality... you might not hear it on your iPod and some might not even hear it on their home stereo but in a studio or on good quality speakers you can hear the difference.

in digital recording there are a few things to keep in mind,

sample rate = the amount of data being extracted/recorded per second (more is better because it's recording more of the sound example: 192KHz > 42Khz)

and bitrate, this is how much information is being stored in that second (from the sample rate).

high sample rate and high bit rate = good quality

it's always better to start with the best and convert down. So basically the lesson here is this... record to a .wav format and then convert it to another file format after.

[Randy G]

A recorder that worked in .flac format would be even better.

[Dee]

^^ Indeed.

mp3 strips out the frequencies beyond human hearing, to put it simply.

If you want to learn about different audio formats, spend a couple of years of at HydrogenAudio forums. I did, and it fried my brain, but I'm glad I did.

mp3 isn't all that good, really. For listening to audio on my PC I use Musepack (lossy but better than mp3) and FLAC (lossless but smaller than wav).

[Big Red]

Thanks everyone... your information has been a big help.



Cheers

[Big Red]

Hi Folks,

I followed your advice, and I think I don't have the right sound card. Here are a few problems that I encountered:

a). Plug the keyboard into the microphone port: all of the music recording programs only record the left side of the input and disperses it to both sides. For example, if I'm recording a song that has one part panned hard left, and one part hard right, then the right part disappears, and the left part appears on both sides during playback. Also, my computer won't let me monitor (no sound coming through the speakers) while recording songs.

b). Plug the keyboard into the line-in port: the music comes through the speakers at all times, but none of the recording programs will record a single note....nada....zip.

It is the sound card that is giving me a hardtime, or is it Windows? It seems like any hook-up that I do, I can't win.

Thanks

[Randy G]

You might have to mess with the Volume Control applet typically found in "Programs >> Accesories >> Entertainment" and choose the correct playback channel.

[Big Red]

Originally Posted by Randy G

You might have to mess with the Volume Control applet typically found in "Programs >> Accesories >> Entertainment" and choose the correct playback channel.

I spent an hour fiddling with the all of the audio settings found in Windows... I guess my computer doesn't meet the minimum requirements. Thanks.

[Randy G]

Did you not ever get this to work? The SoundForge LE app I sent you is not CPU intensive, especially since it's circa year 2000.