How to record a mix?

welcomeinjam

I've a pair of cdj's and a mixer. I was wondering what software and connections would i need to record my mixes to a cd?
Cheers in advance.

Starfox

welcomeinjam wrote: »

I've a pair of cdj's and a mixer. I was wondering what software and connections would i need to record my mixes to a cd?
Cheers in advance.

I used to have audacity but its **** and kept on crashing in the middle of a mix, i use Amadeus Pro now, its a great app, good features to it too!

djscubasteve

Software wise, I use audacity myself (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download) along with lame MP3 encoder (http://lame.buanzo.com.ar) & I get crystal clear 320kbps mixes every time. It's completely free & pretty easy to use straight away for plain recording & exporting to MP3, although there's dozens of effects etc. for fiddling around too.

As for hardware, I use an external soundcard, but it's not essential. Get an audio cable, 2.5mm jack to phono & run it from the rec/tape output on your mixer to your computer line-in/mic connection. Open audacity (close EVERYTHING else to free up your system & prevent crashing), hit record & play a 30 second or so sample through it. The line-in/mic is the default input anyway, so no settings to mess with. Stop the recording & play it back to see if input levels etc are ok. Low is good, you can always normalise it later, just make sure the sound isn't distorted.

This is defo the cheapest & easiest way to record mixes. Worth a try at least, before spending money.

Drop me a PM if you need any more help saving, exporting etc, I can send you a few pics or screenshots if you want. I'm a big nerd at heart so I'm only glad to help with this kinda stuff!;)

Jev/N

You would wanna make sure that you have a line in available on your laptop and not just a mic in as some have

djscubasteve

Yeah, you're dead right jev/n. I should have clarified that a bit.

I know a couple of guys who have had VERY good results recording through these: http://cgi.ebay.ie/DIGITAL-AUDIO-USB-SOUND-CARD-CAPTURE-DEVICE-PC-MAC-NEW_W0QQitemZ230367837010QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_ComputerComponents_SoundCards?hash=item35a2fe3b52&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

All your long hours of practice are surely worth the 30 odd quid to give your mixes the quality sound they deserve...;)

fabbydabby

Is it possible to get a free MP3 encoder to rip the mixes I do?

I don't need Audacity I don't think, since I sequence them digitally in Ableton but the output is a WAV and I need to compress it for distribution purposes.

Any MP3 encoder I see online wants money!

djscubasteve

fabbydabby wrote: »

Is it possible to get a free MP3 encoder to rip the mixes I do?

I don't need Audacity I don't think, since I sequence them digitally in Ableton but the output is a WAV and I need to compress it for distribution purposes.

Any MP3 encoder I see online wants money!

Load your WAV file into audacity & export it as an MP3 maybe?

If you don't like that, try this program: Gnormalize

Sourceforge.net is a community of free open-source developers who distribute their programs, i.e. audacity, for free. Their enthusiasts like ourselves. Their site is always worth a search when you need free software...