Do you make the whole song mix/master on the FG or track int

[seang]

What's your process? if ya know what I mean, anybody else here making hip hop and rnb beats with this thing?



soundclick.com/nwbeats

[thextreme1]

I did one song completely with the G. It is here: www.myspace.com/myownworldlive

It is Michaels Lullaby. It is basic, but still decent for tracking into a keyboard itself. The vocals were recorded into the G and I used the effects inside it. Simple, but clean and commercial sounding. I havent tracked any bigger projects as of yet with it, as far as complete productions... but it is powerful enough to do so. It just takes a little patience and understanding.

If the audio already sounds great going into the G, you will have no problems making it sound good within the G. Especially where vocals and guitar are concerned.

[Capital Skill]

Hell Yea sean Hiphop/Rap R&B Im with ya,
I myself DO everything with the G ever since i got it,ive got a ton of FL And other software made rap/hiphop and r&b stuff as well.
But i now prefer to use, mix and master all my work in the G,For now anyway..its so much faster in my opinion.its all right there in front of you.i record my final production's into my software studio.For CD or MP3 and they all sound fine to me.
Peace
Capital Skill

http://www.youtube.com/user/CAPITALSKILL

[G-Man]

The best sonic results come if you use the Digital Output to record the mix without the Mastering Compressor on PC and master it in there (you can also use resampling but depending on the type of sounds / samples you use, you might get some pops on the recording). The sound of the FG is de-emphasized on playback (i.e. it has some high frequencies missing) and also the FG's Mastering Compressor is not too flexible (in fact, it's placed there because of the de-emphased sound in order to improve and make the sound acceptable when playing live or in studio). The Mix however can be done on the G. My personal opinion is that the G's internal effects processors are best to use on the internal FG sounds; for vocals, guitars etc the best thing would be a VS 2000 / 2480 (or BOSS BR 1600 ). With the right plug-ins the PC can also be a great solution. But of course nobody stops you from processing your external audio with the Fantom G:)

[thextreme1]

Yea, those VS units are powerful as hell. I was talking to Dan from Roland about them and he was saying that the combo of the Fantom G and the VS is one of the most powerful studio solutions one can have. I have the VS2400CD, which was Rolands flagship model before they stopped making VS units and sent them over to their Boss production line. It is powerful to use, but a monster to master. There is just so much to them, that they take an eternity to learn.

Great solution though... and they can be found on Ebay for $500 - $1000.

[G-Man]

You mean the VS 2480 is the flagship it would be cool to have one but I guess that they are hard to find in perfect working condition.

[apex]

@ extreme1 and Gman

I have a Roland VS880 VXpanded (Effects Card)... I've been thinking about selling it... (very seriously!!!)

But now reading this has me wondering...

@ extreme1 Why are the Fantom G and a VS series recorder such a powerful combo? (Your opinion and what Dan says)

@Gman so you're saying users should input their vocals, guitars, etc... into the VS first, then output the VS into the inputs of the Fantom G? Why again is this better?

[Atlas5]

I commonly record multi-track to a Korg D3200. And Mixdown to a Sony PCM-D50. No real reason other than evolved workflow. I do sequence MIDI tracks on the FG and have load many smf's from past projects into the FG for editing and playback.

I am not big into editing of audio tracks when doing solo keyboard production. I do find it useful when producing guitars and vocals.

I have Pro-Tools 8 and Digital Perform on my iMac 27", but here in the last 6 months I have used them much. I do load everything into Bias Peak to master , i.e. cutting, fades and normalization.

I catalog all of my music in iTunes as AIFF's, This allows me to burn compilation CD's pretty much on the fly.

I have two ADAT's I have used in a few years, I also have an Alesis Masterlink for CD creation, various cassette decks and DAT machines, that simply collect dust these days.

[Nik83]

Well, my Fantom G is connected to a laptop with Reaper. However, I don't quite like syncing the two right off the bat. I record MIDI data on the Fantom (all going to external sources) which keeps everything lined up nicely. Then after I'm done, I hit record on Reaper and simply play back the song off the Fantom. I also occasionally use the Fantom to sample Korg Kaosspad manipulations of the laptop output.

[thextreme1]

@ extreme1 Why are the Fantom G and a VS series recorder such a powerful combo? (Your opinion and what Dan says)

The VS 2400 has everything built in. When I say everything, think of it as Pro Tools on an external unit. It isnt quite as feature rich, but it gets the job done without needing other gear. I think what Dan was getting at , with the combo... was that between the huge sequencer(128 Tracks plus) in the Fantom G and the huge amount of potential with the VS unit, there isnt anything you couldnt do. You can master(automatically or manually) with the VS unit, line your tracks up and send them straight to CD within the unit itself. On top of that, it has some decent mic pre's built in, expansion slots for plug-ins(like world class reverb and vocal tracking), it also has built in effects and guitar distortion and amp modeling... to eliminate the need for external gear. . It is just a one-two punch combo that really leaves the need for external equipment in the dust. Basically, your imagination is the limit.

[G-Man]

apex: "so you're saying users should input their vocals, guitars, etc... into the VS first, then output the VS into the inputs of the Fantom G? Why again is this better? "

No. What I am saying is that the Fantom G's sound is de-emphasized on playback, so basically it means that what you hear is not real. Thus, for mastering, it's better to hear the real thing. If I would have a VS2480 I would use the FG's internal FX processors for the internal sounds and the VS for recording and processing vocals and/or guitars. There is no need to route the outputs of the VS in the FG; for contrary, the output of the FG would be routed in that case in the VS. After mixing the internal instrumental parts on the FG and the additional vocals and guitars on the VS, the mastering can be done either on the VS unit with the mastering tool kit, either on PC.

I stay with the opinion that the FG's mastering compressor is there because the sound is de-emphasized on playback and you need to improve it when playing live and even in studio. For this matter, a 3 band compressor is more suitable than a simple EQ.

And yes, a Fantom G and a VS 2480 would be an awesome combination of tools. It would be everything you need to make tracks ready to be played on radio.

[BrianJ]

Ok, I know this is an old thread, but Gman if you or any of the others are still around...

I've got a VS2480 and the G8 here, I'm sequencing and mixing beats on the G8 and then using the digital coax output and going to the VS2480. I'm having some issues getting the beats from the G8 "leveled, or normalized"...is there an easy way to do this?

I need to get a much "smoother" signal to the VS2480 if possible...

Should I NOT be mixing each part in the G8, and instead importing each part into the VS2480 first? I have been trying to "mix" it in the G8 and just send it as L and R digital to the 2480...

Any suggestions here would be greatly appreciated from anyone!

Brian

[G-Man]

BrianJ: if you want to normalize the sound recored on the VS, there definitely has to be an audio track edit function wich allows you to do that. If you have the user manual of it, try looking at "INDEX" for "normalize". Anyway, if you're using the digital output, the volume knob of the Fantom won't change the volume, wich will go out at a fixed level; the volume for audio input must be adjusted from the VS. One easy way would be to sequence and mix on the G and master on the VS. However, the VS will provide compression and EQ for each channel, and some parts of your mix might request separate processing. You must decide that, depending on your needs.