How to Determine Sample Zone for A KN7000 Sound

Sound on KN7000 has some samples itself. For example, a piano sound has 3 samples in one octave. C, C#, D, and D# have 1 sample, E, F, F#, and G have 1 sample, G#, A, Bb, and B have 1 sample.

How to determine them?

Select a Piano sound, then press C key. Pitch it up to D using pitch bend, then press D without pitch. If you hear a different sound between both keys, so C and D are using different sample. Then press the next key (C#) and use the same step as above (pitch up to D#). Follow the same steps for other keys and you will know the sample zone for it. You could do this for the other sounds.

By RoNz

Mastering

Mastering is an art generally considered best left to a professional mastering engineer; however, if you are simply creating CDs for your family and friends, there is really no reason not to do some simple mastering for your own recordings. As for mastering demo CDs, it really depends on how much you are willing to spend.

Mastering mainly consists of following these processes in order:

• Equalization
• Ordering the Songs
• Compressing/Limiting
• Reverb
• Normalizing

Equalization

I do all of my equalization as part of the mixing process. I equalize each track as needed to obtain the final sound I'm looking for. The most difficult part of equalizing (EQing) a mix is getting the bass track right. This will probably take a little practice and require getting used to your monitors. After EQing a song, I play it back on as many systems as I can. This includes, the home stereo, boom boxes, and car stereos. I never use headphones for EQing because they are too misleading.

I find having a reference CD extremely valuable. Find a professional CD that has a similar sound to what you are aiming for, and compare your recordings to it.

Ordering the Songs

You should decide on the order of the songs at this point. The order will affect how loud each track needs to be. The CD should flow naturally from song to song. Also pay special attention to the songs that you choose for the first and last tracks. When doing the following processes, consider how the songs move from one to the next.

Compression/Limiting

Compression in the final mix depends greatly on the style of music you are recording. Most popular music these days is compressed extensively to make it loud. The idea is to make your CD louder than everyone else's. If you really care about the dynamics of your recording, go easy on the compression. I try to use just enough compression to smooth out the sound but not enough to take the life out of it.

If you want to make your recordings loud, you should use a limiter. Limiters are available as software plugins. I like to run the final mix through a compressor followed by a limiter. I usually set the compressor for a 1:2 ratio and set the threshold so I'm getting about a 3db gain reduction. I set the limiter's threshold so that I get a gain reduction of 3db to 6db . The amount depends greatly on the sound I'm looking for.

This step should be done with respect to the other songs on the CD. You need to aim for a consistent sound throughout the CD. If a certain song really needs to be louder than the others you can use compression and limiting to make it so. If a song needs to be quieter, I opt to use less compression rathar than lowering the volume of the recording.

Reverb

I often add a very small amount of reverb to the final mix. It's easy to add too much, so keep the amount very small. Just add enough to give the recording a natural feel.

I usually route the reverb before the compressor and limiter. It's best to keep the compressor and limiter at the end of the chain.

Normalizing

Normalizing usually refers to setting the volume so that the loudest peaks in the recording reach zero db exactly. When making a CD it may not make sense to normalize every song. You should set the volume of a song based on how it should sound in relation to the other songs; however most of the time, you will probably find normalizing all of the tracks works very well.

I actually try to avoid using the normalize function of my software. Instead I try to set the master volume level in the songs when mixing down so that the peaks are right at zero db. It is more work than using the normalize function, but it actually produces a better recording because it makes full use of the dynamic range.

As a final touch I enable the dithering option in the master output. This function provides a subtle improvement to the quiet passages in the recording. If you are recording songs that are loud throughout, dithering won't be of any benefit.

If you follow these guidelines, you should be able with practice, to make very good recordings. In addition to the things I have mentioned, the quality of your listening area is a big factor in how your finished recordings turn out. There are many books and websites covering this topic. If you are up to it, it would really pay off to learn more about acoustically treating your listening area. You can do several inexpensive things you can do to an untreated room to improve it In the meantime, get started recording and have fun.

by Kevin Kemp

Separate .mid and .kar files for KN7000

To separate between .kar and .mid files, do the following steps:

1. Go to the .mid or .kar folder.
2. Open search menu by clicking search button on explorer toolbar.
3. In the search panel, click All files and folders.
4. In "All or part of the file name" section, type "*.kar".
5. Click search button.
6. You will find some files in the list.
7. After finished, type ctrl+a to select all files in the list.
8. click ctrl+x to cut the files.
9. Make a new folder like "d:\kar".
10.Press ctrl+v in this new folder.
11. You will got the files moved into this new folder.
12. All files you moved to this folder are the .kar files.

To make .kar files readable in Technics keyboard:

1. Click start menu->run.
2. Type cmd or command to open a DOS Prompt.
3. Go to your .kar folder by typing "cd pathtoyourfiles" (eg. "cd d:\kar")
4. ren the files by typing "ren *.kar *.mid"
5. you will got all .kar files changed to .mid files.

Reverb Tips And Tricks

By Looperman

Diversify

Rather than trying to make everything in the mix in the same acoustic environment, why not use a couple of really diverse reverbs to add some strange depth to your tunes? A really dry, upfront vocal works nicely alongside a really 'drowned' string section or a small bright room setting on the drums.

Automate

Try automating return levels if you have a digital mixer so that the reverb comes and goes in different sections of the song. By tweaking the aux send levels, manually, during the mix you can add splashes of reverb on the fly to add interest to snares or vocal parts.

Take your time

Spend some time choosing or trying out different 'verbs. Different songs lend themselves towards different types and sounds. Don't just settle with what sounds good in solo...

Send that EQ

Remember you can always EQ the send. Most large consoles offer you a choice of high and low EQ on the aux sends. On small desks, route the instrument/voice to another channel via a group or aux send, float this from the mix and send this to the reverb effect. Now you can add EQ to the send and even automate it as it's now on a fader. This is commonly used for those delays and reverbs that you want to move easily during the mix, such as wetter vocal in the chorus.

Old tricks

Reverse reverb is an old trick, where you can hear a vocal before a singer comes in, or a snare before it plays, easily using tape as you simply turn the tape over and record it backwards. You can do it using a computer, but you will have to move the audio to the right place after recording it.

Use combinations

A combination of reverbs on things can be good. A short setting for the snap sound with a longer bright plate can turn a biscuit-sounding snare into a more live sound.

Old school plate

In the old days it used to be called delay to plate. You sent the signal to a loop of tape then sent that to the reverb. The speed of the tape would adjust the delay as the time it took to get from the record head to the playback head. This gives, say, a voice a dry sound before the reverb comes in, giving a more upfront sound while keeping the wetness, which would usually take it to the back of a hall somewhere! Some people still use the tape method today for that old school sound.

Simple drum one

Early reflections on drums can also give more of a tail or decay.

Experiment

A nice gated verb on guitars to old spring verbs on snares or even the mighty space echo can sound unique when balanced in the mix. That will give you more distance and room for placing things in a mix, while adding that extra sparkle to the sound.

More reverse

Reverse your sample, add reverb, then reverse your sample complete with reverb back around the right way again. This way, the reverb trail leads up into the sample, instead of trailing away from it.

And again!

For a different angle on the same reversed reverb theme, have the reverb trail panned left on a separate track, then the original sample centre-stage (ie. mono), followed by a regular reverb trail on another track panned right. The result is a reverb that leads up into the sample and trails away afterwards, while panning across the stage, left to right.

Reverb over your mix

Pick out key instruments or sounds and highlight them with reverb while using reverb sparingly, if not at all, on the remaining mix. You may have to adjust reverb send levels as the track progresses so you're not left with the track sounding dry where the reverbed sounds are no longer playing.

Reverb and bass

Usually, bass and reverb don't mix too well, unless you're specifically after a warehouse sound. Unfortunately, this effect results in a loss of definition among the bass regions. Run your reverb returns into a couple of spare channels in your mixer and back off the bass EQ, or add a high-pass plug-in EQ.

Go mono!

Don't forget using mono reverbs at times as well. These won't conflict with your rich stereo reverbs.

Pre delay

This determines time taken for the initial reflections to return back from room walls. Use a calculator from www.hitsquad.com/smm to get a pre delay value matched to your tempo.

A common technique is to set the predelay to eighth-notes and add the reverb to a straight quarter note kick drum pattern to create an off-beat bouncy feel.