tracks quality

[zest]

hi people
I would know how to optimize the sound of the tracks i imported from ps2music generator to my pc;
i used Audacity,but the sound is not so good.Can someone tell me some operation to optimize the sound in the Audacity software?i'm not expert ,i start doing the transfer from ps2 to pc a few days ago.
Can someone tell me if there's a way,how i must set some parameters of remove rumors ..or other things to do? or it's a problem of the cable that transfer the sound in a not-good way ,and i cannot do anything?
any help would be great... thanks.
(sorry for my english,i'm italian!)

[zapphnath]

When you say the sound is not so good, is it distorted?  Does it sound like you're trying to listen to it while eating a bowl of Corn Flakes?
If so, then the problem is in the settings.  I learned (too late) that having the Gain (input volume level) set too high, when recording, can introduce a lot of unwanted distortion.  You can find this setting, in Audacity, right beneath the Play and Record buttons - it's a slider with a little microphone icon.  I've found that anything above 0.2 will make the music distorted.  You can always use Normalize or Amplify to make it louder, afterwards, but getting rid of that distortion is almost impossible, after the fact.
Record one of your songs, again, with the Gain level set lower and see if that helps.  If not, come back and ask, again - I'm sure someone else will have other tips that might help.

[147 crew]

Cheers Z, I think I have the gain on around .8 so I will try having it lower see if its better?

[DJ_Omnimaga]

I generally record lower like Zapphanath, this way afterward I can increase volume without distortion

Else, it could be the kind of cables you are using too, but in most cases it's either bad settings or your computer sound card. If you have an old soundcard it might be a big problem, as they tend to record with weird sound

[zest]

thanks for the replies... but i haven't the time to do this that i have another problem... is since this afternoon that when i open my audacity the stereo track not goes like yesterday...seems that the second line doesn't work anymore...
the L e R lines...yesterday the first two L e R (the two on the left)went good (they look green when the music goes on)...        now goes on only the second L (one of the two on the right)...and looks in red...  so the second big track whit blue waves don't start...
and the sound now is a complete disaster...it sounds better yesterday like eating corn flakes!
why this now?? if someone have the patience to tell me what is happening and how to return to the original sets of the track i thank a lot...sorry for the ignorance about program!...

[zest]

well,to explain it better, it seems thet the RIGHT line on the input (and so on the OUTPUT when i listen the recorded file) doesn't work anymore... the red/green bar go up for a second so disappear. 
Now the rec is a complete disaster and it sounds only from the left speaker. But if i load the track i registered yesterday (all good) the sound come from all the two speakers...
someone can tell me why? yesterday it works so good. have i touched something i must not touch?...

[DJ_Omnimaga]

hmmm good question, is audacity set to record via microphone? I know some people have to record each channels separately one by one, but they are hard to sync together afterward. Maybe someone else might be able to help x.x

[zest]

i record by line-in...(but microphone work too)...thanks anyway,i think i've  solved this problem (the right and left line)but the problem is still the sound.. i don't know what is happened but it's very very bad...it's impossible to listen...   the test i 've done yesterday have come pretty good... i don't know why, but now the sound has becomed horrible...i don't understand what is this... it's all new,the cable is new,the pc too...it's all ok... well thanks a lot anyway all of you

[DJ_Omnimaga]

could you post a preview of your song in mp3 or on mediafire.com? Maybe i could be able to tell what is the problem

[zest]

hi Omnimaga, i found a way to transfer the sound in optimal way,by creating on Audacity more tracks as the type of tracks on music generator( separeted bass track, melody track, percussion track,etc) and recording them ; but the problem for me is to make all this tracks starting at the same time; you know,the sound starts when i play START on the ps2 joypad...and register when i click rec on audacity... so it's so hard make the track start with preciseness...i can't do it approximate...by hands....think you understand what i'm trying to say...   my songs are also much and much complicated ,so i need a mode is totally precise...
There's a mode to move the parts,to put them in an almost-good mode,almost at the same tame(or with total precision,if it is possible!)... in short,to make the waves of the various tracks starting at the same time? I try with some settings in the audacity screen...but i can't do it...i see also some sort of tutorials...can you give me a help?? sorry for the disturb i'm going crazy with this..

[zapphnath]

This may help:  In your song, if you can, move everything to the right by a few bars and add another track, at the beginning, that is just a couple of "countdown" beeps.  Pick a simple sample and just put it at the first and third position for two bars. (beep...beep...beep...beep)
When you go to record the individual tracks, you'll mute all but the "countdown" and the track you're recording.  Each track will, then, have the "countdown" at the beginning and in the same spot.  Even tracks that actually start much later, in the song, will have the "countdown", at the beginning.
Later, when you go to line everything up, all you need to worry about is lining up the "countdown" - everything else should fall right into place.
Once you have everything the way you want it, you can just cut the "countdown" part out.

Well, that's my suggestion, anyway...

[zest]

thanks zapphnath i tried it , sorry for my thousand questions anyway!
anyway, separating all pieces of my tracks is an infinite work (i put many and many sounds in the same rectangles...hope you understand my horrible english!) so i try to record by tape to pc (i recorded in the years my music generator tracks on tapes in my stereo), and the result is pretty good...seems strange,but better than tv-ps2-pc ... i don't know why but is better by tape to pc! the sound is not great like the track started normally by music generator,but...better of nothing! i go to start my work...! thank you all for all the helps

[DJ_Omnimaga]

maybe your sound card is too old or there's something wrong in your volume settings, idk, but it's cool if you can get it to sounds fine with tape recording

[147 crew]

Got recommended sound forge. Seems pretty good. Think it records MUSIC2000 into stereo,(it sounded better than normal.)

Looks the same as audacity but records in 2 channels without touching anything

Will upload some stuff using it

Files turn out to be .wav    Have to convert them first