how do you get your music out of the D8B ?

[funk]

Hello all.
my set up is 1 x mackie D8B and 2 x HDR, so all my music files are on the HDRs, mixed through the D8B.

i am looking at the various ways to get the great mix i have just done out of the D8B in to the pc to transfer to wav or MP3
ok im sure there is alot of ways, i am looking for a new way that keeps the mix as it is in the d8b.
i think my way is prob not the best after A and B ing the results.

How i do it at the mo is i use the digi out of the d8b to a digi in on a HHB burn it plus cd recorder to a Maxell CD-Rw XL2 80 music cd, which is a hi quality music disc, then i take that cd once finilised to my lap top a rip to either wav or mp3.
so..
i am looking to try better ways to do this as its a bit of a pain.
i have seen on ebay spdif to usb converters so i con take the spdif digi straight to the lap top via usb,
but then how do i record it live to wav or MP3 on the lap top ?
so how do yall do it ?
cheers for any info

[Phil.c]

I master the mix down to stereo on my MacPro which has Logic, once there I either convert to mp3 if I want to post it on a forum etc or copy the mix to an external HD, but I could burn the wav from logic to CD.

[Bruce Graham]

I do roughly the same thing but I use Artist or X3 then master the WAV file to CD!

[funk]

I master the mix down to stereo on my MacPro which has Logic, once there I either convert to mp3 if I want to post it on a forum etc or copy the mix to an external HD, but I could burn the wav from logic to CD.

Hello Phil,
so you record through the d8b to logic ? or do you take the wav files from a hdr to protools to mix ? sorry i should of made the op more clear im still using 2x hdrs so i still mix using the d8b.
i will amend the op

Hi Bruce, thanks for that, by the way your chip is done ready to go send me your address and al pop it in the post, Favor returned

[Phil.c]

I record with D8B/HDR's, mix in D8B's, when all is done I use the D8B's Mastering plugin with "Final Mix" selected and LT & RT selected in the aux's, I play the tracks and record them to stereo in Logic.

[Y-my-R]

I'm a bit late to the party, but have a few thoughts on the topic:

If you're currently outputting your mix on the D8B's S/PDIF output and go into the S/PDIF input on a CD recorder, then there is no quality loss since the transfer is digital.

If you're ripping the CD in after that, there's a slight potential for reading errors that can result in audible artifacts... but if the CD is "perfect" and the drive has no issues reading it, then the result should not be discernible from a direct digital transfer.

Of course it's preferable to record the digital output of the D8B directly, rather than burning a CD and ripping it again... and you're right, there's "USB to S/PDIF adapters" that do that... but basically that's just a USB audio interface with only a S/PDIF port on it, rather than analog inputs and outputs, too.

Most of the time, it makes the most sense to just get an audio interface that has a S/PDIF input and Output on it. This way, you can then record the digital output/Mix of your D8B through that audio interface's S/PDIF input port, directly to your computer and without any quality loss (skipping the CD burning/ripping step you were doing).

Do you currently have an audio interface on your computer? Even some PC desktop's built-in audio interface have digital inputs (via RCA) and very often they have a digital output (usually optical... but not ADAT. Just optical S/PDIF, that can usually also transfer "AC3" encoded signals for surround sound decoding at a receiver, etc.).

Anyway, sorry... main question: What audio interface do you currently use on your computer, and does it have a digital input? If not, where you looking at a particular audio interface you were interested in adding to your computer for this purpose?

[funk]

I record with D8B/HDR's, mix in D8B's, when all is done I use the D8B's Mastering plugin with "Final Mix" selected and LT & RT selected in the aux's, I play the tracks and record them to stereo in Logic.

ok gotcha so spdif out to an interface in to logic, cheers phil ... ps just noticed in your pic, are they roland DS90 monitors ? i use them also, iv never tried the speaker modeling though, do you use that at all

I'm a bit late to the party, but have a few thoughts on the topic: ?

thanks Y, ok,,, i think im on that track now, i use an old but gold M-audio fast track ultra R8, as i use that to get the keyboards and synths from Arturia out of the laptop into the d8b.
so i have just been looking and i see i can add a spdif in and out to the 9 pin midi port on the rear, at the mo i just have the old d8b midi 9 pin to two midi lead connected, but yes i can get a lead that has the midi leads and the spdif in and out on also, or i will prob just make one if i find the pin out di.
just found a guy on ebay selling some off cheap but its one of these...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/M-Audio-Fast ... SwcW9fx2KM
this i use to go into cubase 5 ( which i hate ...)
i think im going to try phils way and spdif out of the d8b and into the dreaded cubase to play with there,
so thats where im upto at mo

[Phil.c]

I used the Roland's for years, great speakers, but I read a SOS review of the Neumann KH310 A's where the guy who wrote the review was supposed to send them back but they were so good that he bought them, so I did, and they are excellent and bring lots of frequencies out that were missed by the Rolands.
https://www.proaudioeurope.com/monitori ... -pair.html

Here's the new ones set up.

[keny]

how funny you are all talking about this right now! I've been trying to run my dbb out into a Yamaha AW16g recording console, only because it has a built in cd burner. the results are not good because im running it analog, into two channels on the Yamaha, and that means the whole mix is going through two more pre-amps unnecessarily.

while I don't want to buy another thing for this old unit, I realize I probably need to get a cd recorder/burner.

Im old school. I want to put effects on channels and mix this down in real time onto something else, like one would a 4 track, but maybe that's not how it works. I see y'all talking about a stereo mix, and using the D8b's "final mix" program, but I am so dumb with this stuff. Are you saying you need to mix all tracks to a left and right first, and then mix those two tracks off onto another unit?

talk to me like im stupid (when it comes to digital, I totally am). I know cd burners like the Tascam r900 have digtital and optical connectors. Can anyone show me where exactly (pics if possible) that goes to and from? is it from the HDR, or the D8b?
ive read theres special optical cards you can put in the D8b, and dang it, if I had those I could run right out to my yamahas optical in/out. but alas I don't.

to rephrase, I need to know/see, how and where to run cables out of my stuff, into a cd recorder, and also asking if that can be done WHILE youre mixing all the tracks, or if you have to create a stereo L/R first, and then dump that out onto something else?

Ive perfected all my tracking and mixing on this thing, and finally figured out how to get effects going, but am still stuck with all this stuff on the machine. never used spdif or optical before. I know my studio guy that I bought this clunker from used a Tascam cd burner (r900) and didn't have the optical cards either, so im wondering how he was getting stuff onto the burner, but I need to be walked through it like a dummy.

from what I'm looking at, my main recourse is to run spdif cables from the D8B itself, into a cd burners spdif inputs., hit record on the cd burner, then mix the track. don't know if theres anything special to select, but I THINK you have to select digit on the output meters.

[Y-my-R]

@Funk:
I used to work for M-Audio some years back and had a Fast Track Ultra 8R for a while, so I know that one. I don't have it anymore, but I'm using the breakout cable for S/PDIF+MIDI that came with the 8R, on my HDR for the MIDI connection and that works. So, I can confirm that at least the MIDI pinout is compatible between the D8B/HDR and the 8R.
But this also means that the D8B's original MIDI adapter will NOT work for S/PDIF on the 8R (b/c it doesn't have RCA connectors for S/PDIF), but it would work for MIDI (if there's enough room around it to fit that odd D8B MIDI adapter).

In any case, the pinout should be pretty standardized, since I ran across the MIDI pin-out compatibility by accident. A MIDI+S/PDIF breakout cable from another device would probably also work.

...and as for recording into Logic vs. Cubase, etc. The sound quality will be the same no matter what program you use to record a signal from a digital input. So, if you hate Cubase, maybe just use a simple stereo sample editor to record your mix with... even the free Audacity would do. Easier to navigate than a full DAW.

I don't recall if the 8R required that you manually set the audio interface to clock to the word clock signal that is part of the incoming S/PDIF signal. If not, you may need to go to the 8R's control panel (while no audio app is open, or at least not streaming audio), and change the clock to sync to the S/PDIF input (otherwise you might get weird clicks and dropouts in the digital recording). But you probably already know all this.


As for the step-by-step for Keny, on how to record a mix from the D8B - a couple of thoughts:

Since the analog days, you bring signals into a mixing desk and route them to FX etc. from there (and then bring them back to the mixing desk in real-time), and set the pan for each channel and the levels, etc. The point of a mixing desk is, that it sums the many audio signals that go into it, down to a single stereo signal that is sent to a stereo output (people who listen to the music you mix, will later listen to what came out of the stereo output of your mixer, on their "stereo system" (albeit usually after a separate "Mastering" step, where the stereo signal is processed another time)).

While actively doing the mixing (and/or letting carefully prepared automation do it's thing) you record that single stereo output from your mixer with "something else" in order to end up with a "final mix".
That "something else" is any device that can record a stereo signal. These used to be dedicated "Master Recorders" such as a 2-Track (Stereo) Tape Machine, later DAT (Digital Audio Tape) recorders, but could also be real-time CD-Recorders, like what you're looking to do. If your audio interface has a free stereo input during mixdown (ideally a digital input, so the additional conversion won't degrade the signal), you can also just route the mix from the D8B back to an input on your audio interface, and record it into the same session that you're mixing (mute that track, or you'll create a feedback loop that will be recorded into your final mix).

You CAN use a CD-Recorder as the final Master Recorder, but it's usually preferable nowadays, to have a stereo audio-file on the computer, for a few reasons;

- CDs are 16-Bit. This means a significantly lower dynamic range than the 24-bit on the D8B and modern audio interfaces deliver (i.e. quiet sections disappear in background noise... "maximum loud" is the same maximum between 16-bit and 24-bit, since digital maximum is always "0 dB digital").
It makes sense to stay with 24-bit through the mastering step (i.e. processing of your stereo mix AFTER you're done with it), and only dither down to 16-Bit at the end of the Mastering process (retaining better signal quality during mastering-processing, and thus resulting in more accurate/detailed digital calculations) - IF (big IF) the end-product is intended to go on CD (...that's not the case for all productions nowadays - some stuff is produced straight for the internet/streaming).
If intended for CD, I'd convert my 44.1/24-bit file directly to the target format (e.g. MP3 for an online release) while the file is still in 24-Bit. Long story short, a CD-recorder as a master recorder is sub-par by today's standards, because of the lower bit depth. I'd get rid of it - it won't add anything good, but will take quality away, compared to what's possible with the rest of the equipment you have.

- You have to rip the CD back in to get an audio file that can be processed in the computer. As mentioned in my response to Funk, this "should" deliver results that are not discernible from how it sounds like when playing the CD back, but there definitely IS a potential that there are errors when ripping the CD back in (...and if you'd analyze the 1s and 0s on the CD vs. what's been ripped back in, there'd likely be numerous minor errors that you can't hear, but that are present nonetheless... already reason enough NOT to use a CD recorder as your master recorder anymore, IMO. It used to make sense when Mastering studios asked for CDs (or DATs), but that's no longer the preferred format (...unless your Mastering engineer lives behind the moon, somewhere).

- CDs can get scratched, which would result in more serious (i.e. audible) errors when trying to read the audio file back in later, such as for getting it re-mastered. So, CDs also aren't really a good format for archiving audio, IMO (...and some of the very early CDs I burned with a single-speed burner back in the mid-90s, have their metal foil lifting off or disintegrating... so, CD-Rs can become useless after 25-30 years or so).
And a little side-story: I still shiver, when remembering how many years back, I handed the CD with the final mix of an album to a musician after days of long recording sessions, and the first thing he did was to excitedly open the CD case and spin the CD around in it, audibly scratching it against the plastic in the case... aaaaaaaarrrgh!!! Even little maneuvers like that, can create tiny scratches on the CD, that can register as digital errors... definitely not what you want for your duplication master.

Long story short, unless you have a very specific reason why you want to use a CD-Recorder as your master recorder, I'd recommend to forget about that, and record the digital output of your D8B, back into a digital input on an audio interface, and make sure you're recording your stereo master to your computer at 24-bit. You'll get BETTER quality and fewer (or no) digital errors when bypassing the whole CD-Recorder step, and going straight back into a digital input on an audio interface or master recorder that can do 24-bit).

As for the steps to follow, I'll try bullets:
1. Connect a 75 Ohm S/PDIF cable (not a regular RCA audio cable) to the S/PDIF output on the D8B
2. Connect the other end of the 75 Ohm S/PDIF cable to the S/PDIF input on your audio interface (or Master Recorder)
3. I'd recommend to set your multi-track recording medium (Audio Interface/Software or HDR or other multi-track recorder) to 24-bit (!!!) and 44.1 kHz from the moment you begin recording the first audio track, unless you're producing music for video. (44.1 kHz is the music CD sample rate - if you want to produce for CD, it's best to start out with recording in 44.1 kHz as well. The 48 kHz option is meant for audio for video, since that's at 48 kHz and matches up better to common video frame rates. The minimal quality improvement of the "higher sample rate" at 48 kHz when producing for CD, is more than undone, by the quantization noise that is inevitable when resampling/dithering the signal down from 48 to 44.1 kHz (and from 24-bit to 16-bit), as is necessary for audio CDs. So, you're making the audio quality WORSE, by starting with the higher sample rate of 48 kHz if producing for CD. Just stay with 44.1 from the get-go!).
4. If recording the final mix on your master recorder (e.g. audio interface/software, DAT recorder or CD-Burner, etc.) via a digital connection (strongly recommended), then make sure to sync the master recorder to the word clock signal received on its S/PDIF input port (i.e. the D8B is set to clock MASTER, and the computer (or master recorder) is set to clock SLAVE - that is, unless you're using a separate master clock generator (Big Ben, Aardvark, Lucid, etc.) - then everything except for the Master Clock Generator would be set to SLAVE.
5. Make all the desired pan and level settings on the D8B, route all the signals the way you want them... set the FX, EQs etc. on the D8B and prepare any automation you want to use.
7. Hit record on the master recorder
8. Hit play on your multi-track recorder and make real-time adjustments (i.e. do the mixing) on the D8B and external FX units that are in the signal chain, while the signal passes through the D8B and into your master recorder, where it is being recorded.
9. When done, press stop on the master recorder (and if using a computer, save the resulting audio file).

If you're unclear about any particular step, I can try to clarify further. But in a nutshell, the above should be what you do to mix your audio and get a resulting master recording.

I hope this helps... best of luck!