Which steps to follow to get an ideal soundquality for your songs?

[ton37]

My question: which procedure do you use to get an ideal and acceptable soundquality of your compositions and how do you monitor that?

Hi, I'm struggling getting the ideal soundquality of my recorded songs.
Momentairly I follow these steps:
0. Hardware: Genos with the original GNS-MS01 speakers. I have set the Master EQ as described in this forum as so called 'Golden EQ'. The subspeaker's volume is at 15H and the bassvolume is at 14H.
1. I record my song on Genos using Midi Multi Recording
2. Then I use Audio Multirecording.
3. Then I export the audio to my USB-stick for WAV-format.
Till now, all sounds well when I playback the song.
4. I use Audacity to convert WAV to MP3 (standard 170-210 kbps quality)
When I listen to the song now, I can hear that the quality slightly decline. The separate instruments are more dificult to hear. But when I have upload it to Soundcloud and listen throught my headphone (Mobile and Laptop) it seems that the bass/low sound are disappeared, or is it OK on your speaker-setup?
For your info: the song I talk about is one I recently placed in the Members area. For your convenience the link to that song is: http://soundcloud.com/myguitarsong/misty
How can I monitor what the ideal balance and soundquality should be?

I.e. should I directly record to my PC? Or are the steps above acceptable? Is a further finetuning, i.e. with Audacity, recommended or could that be done in or with the Genos inside?
I wouldn't be surprised that I have overlooked a lot with 'recording and mastering', as I'm in a learning curve getting to know the Genos and recording.
I hope that some advices can help me into the right direction.
Thanks in advance,
regards Ton.

[gerarde]

In Audacity, under effects, click NORMALIZE.
That might help.

Regards,
Gerard

[Toril S]

Agree with Gerard.

[panos]

Wellcome to the club Ton.
I have the same issues with my psr.
I think the basic mistake is recording on the onboard audio converter and equlizing on the keyboard.
The sound is as we wish on our keyboard but when we take that recording to a
different machine (eg our pc) with different speakers (and different Equalizer) it doesn't sound similar.
So I think we should equalize our recording on a pc and better record not straight to our computer with an audio cable but with that strange machine which I think they call it audio interface.

I have used also Audacity to convert the .wav to .mp3.
The results were just tragic!!
But I accepted the at first....piffff
Probably i had to learn the features of Audacity but no time to learn every program.  

The good thing is that later I found out that you can upload also a .wav on Soundcloud so at least I "saved" a Little audio quality by skipping the conversion to .mp3 step.

But Soundcloud probably for saving "space" I guess, also changes the sound of the recording a bit and you loose quality there.

Maybe I will buy an audio cable to connect my keyboard to my pc to see if I can record straight to my pc with better audio quality than on the keyboard.
But then again will my pc's soundcard produce a better sound?
And with which speakers or headphones to equalize the sound?
I don't have any "professional" equipment.
My TV's sound is like watching a football match between Brazil and Argentina and listening to a broadcasting from ice dancing. 

[Toril S]

I have an audio interface called Scarlett Focusrite. The sound is good when I use it between my keyboard and my computer, where I use Audacity. But I have now tried recording to the audio recorder on my Tyros and then using Audacity to normalize and convert to Mo3. The result was good. It all depends on the ears that hear I guess😀

[MarkF_48]

The encoding process to convert a WAV file to MP3 is 'lossy'. Information is thrown away during the conversion. That's why the file size is so different before and after. I don't think the algorithms Audacity uses through the Lame encoder are too much different than other similar software programs.
https://vox.rocks/resources/wav-to-mp3

Also when an audio is uploaded to Soundcloud (or Youtube) it undergoes some massaging of the audio to save bandwidth (space). This is another lossy process which makes an already degraded mp3 quality even worse.
https://www.justmastering.com/article-mixingformp3.php

As suggested, using 'NORMALIZE' can help as when the conversion is done more bits of information will be converted and saved to the mp3 file.

I listened to your SoundCloud file and it sounded good for what I've come to expect from SoundCloud and I would believe most average people that listen to music on SoundCloud would say your file sounds good, not having heard the original WAV file.

[DrakeM]

I just use the Normalizing feature on my WAV files that the keyboard creates. I think they turn out great balance wise.

I record the WAV, then listen to it 2 and 3 days later to see if I still like the balance. Then I will tweak something in the style up or down and re-record the whole thing again, until I get it sounding correct. I have even played back a recording months or more later and tweaked the style, if I picked up on hearing something I don't like in it. Then re-record it all over again. 

Once I like what I hear using the keyboard's speakers, I then move it over to my PC and Normalize it and make it an MP3. It's a done deal in my book. And the recordings have always sounded great when I upload them to SoundCloud and YouTube.

Regards
Drake

[KeyboardByBiggs]

I hear what you're describing. Based on the details of your process I believe you're falling into the same trap new studio owners do with their monitoring setup (speakers and room).

They EQ and adjust levels based on what they're hearing out of less than stellar speakers (for accurate recording that is, not performance) and the sound those speakers create in a room not built/treated to be used as a critical monitoring environment. The result is usually a thin, or tinny product lacking the correct low-end frequency balance, which can make other elements of the recording sound out of balance as well.

If you'd like to do a fun little test, record one of your songs again on the Genos just like you did, but set the EQ to flat and no compression. Send me the .wav file from that and I'll analyze it here in my studio. I'll give you usable feedback on what I hear and perhaps even do a little audio mastering on it and send you back something like I might provide to a client.

[ton37]

Hi, thank you all for your help. It's getting clearer now for me.
I'm glad to hear that the songfile on Soundcloud is of acceptable soundquality.
@MarkF_48 made it clear: due to various conversions it is unavoidable that the soundquality reduces relative to the masterrecording.
@Panos: didn't know that a WAV format can be upload to Soundcloud. Good advice, less bits loss. And good point that listening to the 'same' songfile on various devices results in worse, good and better result. It depends on the 'hardware'quality of the receiver. Good point.
And yes: your comparison with the TV.. so recognizable. And the sometimes nonsencical comment of the commentator is forgiven: in that noise he cannot hear what he is saying ;-))
@Gerard @Toril S @DrakeM: I tried the 'normalize'effect on Audacity, but there was no effect, due to the fact that there were no exeptional peeks. It looks more the opposite: increasing the sound (what I didn't)? (See picture)
@Toril S: I have an Audio Interface, but I used that for recording my guitar>interface>effects>PC. I'v connected it now for PC>interface>mixer>speakers for Play from the PC.
@KeyboardByBriggs: For the learning process I will gladly accept your generous offer. Fyi. I need some days to make a short Wav.recordings to send to you (as I'm not with my Genos this weekend ;-(. One with flat EQ and no Comp. Thanks again and I'm curious to the 'findings'. (PS I have send you a PM)

I sincerely thank you for your help and advices. What a great forum and people here!

When I make a final conclusion (more for myself) at this moment:
1. As a starting point the recorded wav_file made in the Genos with Audio Recording has a  acceptable soundquality. Finetuning is a personal choice.
2. A conversion to MP3 causes loss of soundquality. Doing that i.e. Audacity than Normalizing is recommended, if needed.
3. The final outcome and hearing depends also on the the quality of the receivers 'hardware'  and the quality of their 'organic' ears ;-)

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[EileenL]

If you record an Audio file on Genos and then convert it to MP3 you will hear very little if any difference when played back on Genos.

[ton37]

thanks Eileen, there was no reason to play a mp3 on Genos for now, but I will try that to hear the results for myself.

Regards, Ton

[ton37]

As described above, @KeyboardByBiggs has given me a generous offer. We recently contacted via PM. I feel the need for a public 'say thanks' to @KeyboardbyBiggs. He voluntarely spended  time to perform a sound check on one of my wav files and gave me professional feedback and advice. I really appreciate it!
Regards Ton

[KeyboardByBiggs]

I feel the need for a public 'say thanks' to @KeyboardbyBiggs.

Thanks, Ton, it was my pleasure.