Can someone tell me if this is acceptable sound quality?

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
1

Can someone tell me if this is acceptable sound quality?

So I’ve recorded a mix through audacity! I’ve recorded from an Allen and Heath XOne 62, so it has a record out option which maintains all my levels which is good. then I’ve wapped a normalizer on it through audacity and nothing else. through my monitors it sounds good, although can someone with maybe a hifi, car speaker etc lemme know how it’s sounding on their end. Or if anyone knows of anything else to do to it then lemme know

https://soundcloud.com/mylesalexanderhamilton1/2014-club-mix

2

It sounds compressed to my ears?

I don’t know these songs though so it could be how they’re supposed to sound.

3

So does that mean it sounds ok?

4

I think he means it sounds like an MP3 at 128 kbps, the overall sound is a bit dull and lacking in high range.

What was the original quality of the music files you used?

What quality did you record in?

What quality did you upload to Soundcloud in?

5

The songs I’ve used are a mix of WAV and 320 mp3! I’ve used audacity to record it and I haven’t changed anything to do with how it records it, other than what mic I use. and I have converted the mix down to 320!

So do you think It could be a lot better sounding?

6

Wait, you recorded your mix to audacity using a mic?

7

I was gonna say it sounds like it was recorded through a mic!

8

Yea, I meant it sounded like a low quality MP3, sorry about the lack of clarity.

You don’t have it outputting directly to your computer’s in?

9

i’ve put an RCA from the ‘Record out’ into the PCs mic? isn’t that how you should do it? It’s the 1st time I’ve recorded from cdjs lol I’m normally used to recording from my controller

10

That is your problem. You need to get a good quality sound card or USB audio interface.

Typical onboard audio isn’t really capable of capturing very well.

11

One soundcard nurse, STAT!

12

A typical onboard Soundcard can capture sound just fine 99% of the time, so long as you are using the correct port, which he is not doing.

OP you should be using the AUX/Line-in input if available NOT mic (the input is typically colored blue).

Of course If you don’t have an AUX/Line-In, you will need another soundcard.

13

…

14

Line in ports are rarely used for playback :wink:

IMHO for throwing a set together for Soundclouds 128kbps playback anyhow theres no need for a new card if not needed.

OP what controller do you have anyhoo, does it have line/aux inputs ?

15

Doesn’t Soundcloud convert audio files to 192kbps anyway?

16

128k for streams, downloadable files are @ 320kbps though. Regardless, ideally you still want the highest quality file you can pre-conversion. Crap quality going in turns to worse crap coming out.

17

Here’s what I do

-RCA to 3.5mm from my Xones record out into the headphone jack on my computer
-System preferences/Sound → Heaphone port to route audio in, not out
-Go to Audacity preferences and change your export audio quality to 320

Should be good to go from there

For playback, yes..

You can still make your mix downloadable so if you uploaded a 320 file, it will be downloaded as a 320 file.

18

a) Will work if he has a Mac (unspecified by the OP)
b) Only an older Mac, as the Retina Pro’s don’t have a line-in anymore.

19

Yeah, I was only referring to streaming. I should’ve clarified, sorry.

20

I use my desktop’s mic in without a problem.

http://mixlr.com/andrew-hua/showreel/trance-hour-4/

Sounds pretty clear IMO (granted it was recorded at 192 kbps), but it sounds nothing like OP’s.