I was experimenting with making my own kicks using track layering, processing and compression and trying to re record them. However a recorded kickdrum is at least 6 db quieter than what i hear from monitoring. i turned off velocity, set sample level and track to max, still much quieter than before. Strangely, the waveform looks the same height, and i believe DT should be normalizing a recorded sample. What gives? are there any tricks to improve this?
i tried setting compressor to treshold 0 and amping the gain, to get more internal volume, but that just sounds distorted.
It’s really annoying since the S/N loudness loss is so big it would make me reluctant to use the Dt for resampling, and i’d rather not have to use a convoluted workflow with a daw and transfering files.
Hmm. When you refer to “track [level]”, is that the mixer level or the amp level?
If it’s the latter, perhaps the new track that your resample has arrived at, has a lower track level in the mixer. And of course check that you have resampled in stereo if there’s stereo information in the original sound.
Sounds peculiar though.
after some more tests, i’m wrong and it’s possibly user error? If i record in the daw, and upload, the sample has the same loudness (i do hear a bit more detail, but that’s due to the higher quality preamps)
my mistake is this: i am mixing two tracks, one does the transient/mid body/acoustic character, the other the sub boom and click. Both tracks are have their sample level and track level at 127. So the resulting summed output is much higher amplitude. The recorded sample is normalised at 0db, but it’s one track so it makes sense that it’s quieter.
The digitakt has a lot of gain on tapt, maybe i still need to learn good gainstaging.
When compared to other samples in the DT, the kicksound before resampling was super loud. The resampled one is more on par.
Ah, yes, I think this is the answer. If you have raised the track mixer level on both sounds before you sample them, what you have been hearing are those two directly monitored.
The sample that you end up with is probably played back on a track with the default level 100, so thus the difference. But I don’t think this makes any gain stage difference apart from your monitoring, as the headroom is still not reached either before or after resampling. Just lower the presample levels (they will be normalized anyway) or raise the resampled levels.
Well, even if i max all gain options on the digitakt (sample level, track level and amp level) i still can’t get the recorded kick to come out of the DT2 as loud as the pre-recorded one.
But if i try to make a layering of sounds with that loudness to match, i’m probably going to be struggling and fighting for headroom.
So instead i will increase the gain on my mixer preamp from the digitakt when arranging/mixing.