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Anyone here into FOREX?

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Nathan, when digi mentions high definition audio.. its not really their HD range of units.. it just means.. er.. high definition.. as in.. sample rates more than 48.1 khz (upto 96 khz i believe)

Their HD models go upto 192 khz.. and ProTools HD has more than 32 tracks of audio.. they go up to 256 tracks depending on what configuration you buy. With pro tools le.. you're stuck with 32 tracks (which is not bad.. but for my kind of music its hopeless.. my sound effects alone take up 32 tracks!)

Apogee has the best convertors in the industry. When you record any sound into pro tools.. you're basically converting that analog sound into digital.. so the computer can 'read' that. The quality of that sound depends on the quality of the A/D (analog to digital) convertors

So I connect the apogee to the 002 rack via optical cable.. no analog connections. Basically, the apogee handles all the a/d conversion.. and then that digital stream passes from the apogee to the 002 rack, to the computer. This is only when I'm using pro tools (hence i *have* to use a digidesign interface like the 002 rack)

If I'm not using pro tools.. i bypass the 002 rack.. I just use the apogee.

And don't worry about the quality of your recordings.. you'll get better with time. When I started.. there was no internet! I didn't even have any books.. nothing. I just used to compare my mixes to professional ones and figure out what I needed to do.

You should not let your levels on all tracks jump to peak (not all the time) Use a compressor plug-in.. to maximize the sound without making it go over the peak. That's the beauty of analog tape.. is that you can make levels go higher and analog has a lot of headroom.. so it sounds 'fatter' With digital the minute you go over the '0' level.. it sounds harsh.. like static.

Always play your mixes through your car stereo.. if it sounds good in there, it will mostly sound good everywhere else. I used to find myself adding a lot of bass to every song.. would sound good on the headphones.. but when I'd play them in the car.. my speakers would fart with all that bass.. lol.
 
nhallmark said:
Ive got a lot to learn. On my last song, every track is peaking the whole time and I know thats bad but I cant find anywhere online that will teach me what to do about it.
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Pull your faders down if the levels are jumping like crazy.. and look at your master fader's levels.. are they pushing past peak? A common mentality when recording is 'Oooh i like that kick drum, let me push it up higher.. so it stands out'

The minute you do that, you think 'oh wait ..now the bass doesnt stand out much.. let me make that higher.. ahhh.. those vocals are cool.. let me push them a bit'.. and before you know it.. you've basically pushed up all the levels of every track. Instead of doing that, just push the master faders up! And tweak every track a *little* to satisfy yourself. I always add a compressor plugin on the master track to get it LOUD.. without distorting.

Play with the settings.. half the time I don't know what I'm doing but if I can hear a change.. then i keep those settings.
 
OK, I'll try messing around with it. I use compressors on everything and generally the track isnt peaking until after I put a compressor on it.

Im thinking thats because I like to put the attack all the up, the release all the way down, and play with the ratio until it sounds good. That makes it stick out more, but it peaks every time I do that.

My other problem is that I can drag a fader down to -inf and even though its silent the meter in pro tools still peaks so Im not sure how to fix that. I tried unchecking the "link record and play faders" but that didn't seem to do anything.

Its funny how we start talking about all this stuff and I get all excited.

I try to learn pin bars, fib lines, etc and its like "who cares"...until you tell me that Ill get to buy more gear and then all of a sudden I love fib lines :p

Anyway, this is embarrasing but this what Im talking about with my mixing skills(or lack thereof)...

www.myspace.com/getposh

One of my friends knows a DJ at the rock station here in dallas and he said he would play my song if I could get him a clean recording, so I guess it sounds worse than I thought.

Anyway, thats my first song that Ive ever fully completed so dont laugh. I could go on and on about whats wrong with it, but I'll stop distracting from the thread topic before Mr. Bastard comes after me :p
 
That's a great track.. catchy riffs, smart stuff.. but you totally messed up the mix :p Too many delays.. vocals not punchy enough.. washed in reverb etc. Haha, you should have heard my first few songs.. they were totally whacked.

Always start with the source of the recording i.e your instruments. Make sure you're recording at a good level.. play the instrument where you think you have to play it the hardest (so the sound is the loudest) and see those levels. Once you adjust the gain, etc.. then it becomes relatively easier to manage. It's always easier to reduce a good strength signal than try to pump up a weak signal.

Use effects sparingly.. just enough to get your desired sound but not so much that it overpowers the mix. For vocals.. I could go on to make it punchier.. try using distortion effects.
 
wow...Im an idiot :eek:

I went and played with one of my other songs...I turned down the gain on the compressor and brought down the attack and release so theyre not completely maxed out. Then I turned down the gain on some of the effects and, as if by magic...no more peaking but its still punchy.

I feel so retarded right now. I spent an entire year on that song you heard from start to finish and I never figured it out.

Thanks man. Ive still got some other stuff to figure out re effects, but damn, that cleaned it up so much.

On that song, though, it sounds so thrown together because I had a goal to have 1 song completely done by 1/1/07 so I just threw up what I had.

The vocals in the first verse have that effect on them(izotope trash) and the second verse sounds dry because Ive never had vocal lessons and those were the best takes I had and the effect on the first verse sounded stupid on the second verse so I left it dry.

I could go on and on...but yeah, thanks, Im making progress at least.
 
Glad to see this thread can serve other needs as well - I'm glad we all share such common interests! As I mentioned earlier in the thread my friend and I used to create tracks all the time, mostly electronica using tracking programs and the like. We haven't done anything for a out a year since he moved a way a while ago (that makes it harder ;)) but he's planning on moving back here next year so hopefully we're be able to get back into it. In the meantime, my buddy has been commissioned to do a movie score for a local independent film and also did all the mastering and mixing on a CD for a local group made up of a few of our friends. Most recently he was approached by EastWest after they heard some of our tracks and wanted him to be a beta tester for their next software releases. :cool:

Now that I think of it, our/his mixes aren't posted anywhere on the Net that I know of, otherwise I'd send you guys links. If either of you have FTP servers I could upload some tracks to you if you're interested, or perhaps use one of those free storage sites to post some tracks.

As for myself, I don't do any composing anymore (no time) but I still perform with the Symphony Orchestra here (I play clarinet) which is fun. We actually have a performance tonight which I'm quite looking forward to - nothing beats some good Shostakovich... :cool:
 
Who do have for your email, Shard? Im using gmail and they have enough storage to let me upload and attach tracks in an email, so check whoever you use and see if they have enough storage...then email them.

Or, you could make a myspace music account and upload the songs, then well download them and you can delete the account after that.

...just some ideas.
 
damn it...I just realized that daylight savings time is tomorrow. I just got on my new sleep schedule of waking up at 1am and going to sleep at 3pm and now Ive got to do it 1 hour earlier.

...hopefully it wont affect my trading.
 
OK, another question, and Ive traded this before but I dont remember...is the GBP Claimant Count Change on wednesday the # of new jobs or the # of people filing for unemployment?

...or something else?

Edit: I forgot to add that I emailed PiP Dictator the other day and he said he got in a car wreck, but he'll be back soon.
 
nhallmark said:
OK, another question, and Ive traded this before but I dont remember...is the GBP Claimant Count Change on wednesday the # of new jobs or the # of people filing for unemployment?

...or something else?

Edit: I forgot to add that I emailed PiP Dictator the other day and he said he got in a car wreck, but he'll be back soon.
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Sorry to hear about PIP Dictator, I wish him a speedy recovery... :cool:

As for the UK Claimant Count Charge, it measures the change in the number of people claiming unemployment related benefits over the previous month. A falling trend has a positive effect on the nation's currency because working people tend to spend more (and consumer spending is obviously a major driver of the economy.)
 
OK, guys what time do you have? I am so confused. I thought UK PPI was at 3:30am(central)?

I read about DST the other day and it said macs will automatically update if youve installed the latest software through software update...and cell phones will update because they check the time from the nearest tower.

So right now my phone, mac, and pc say its 3:37am. I went to trade and the TTN guy was announcing swiss CPI.

So I googled "what time is it" and this site said its 1:28 in LA and 2:28 in houston...but were 2 hours ahead of LA.

This is so frustrating. The only thing I can think of is that, since congress passed this law, its only an american thing...which would mean UK PPI is coming out at the same time, but its at 4:30am...or its already happened and I missed it.

any thoughts?
 
nhallmark said:
damn it...I just realized that daylight savings time is tomorrow. I just got on my new sleep schedule of waking up at 1am and going to sleep at 3pm and now Ive got to do it 1 hour earlier.

...hopefully it wont affect my trading.
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I switched my clocks to the correct time today.. and here I am.. waiting for the gbp ppi news .. nothing happened at 1.30 am pst.. lol.. it's at 2.30 am pst. I hate all these time changes :p

Glad nothing happened to pip dictator (sounds strange addressing someone by their nick.. 'pip dictator got in a crash') Hope he's back soon!

Shard always likes to give textbook definitions :p :D
 
Lol nathan, you're confused too!

The ppi report is an hour from now (well 45 mins from now)

Check out the forexfactory.com website and make sure the time they display is synchronized to your local time. Click on the time link at forexfactory.com.
 
made 6 pips on UK PPI...should have waited, it went up more. I traded with a small lot because Ive seen PPI deviate a lot but not move before so I wasnt sure...oh well, its still 6 pips
 
9 pips on the gbp/usd trade.. got out early though, spiked up higher as soon as I exited. Also up today is nzd retail sales (later during the day)
 
nhallmark said:
made 6 pips on UK PPI...should have waited, it went up more. I traded with a small lot because Ive seen PPI deviate a lot but not move before so I wasnt sure...oh well, its still 6 pips
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Yeah, cpi makes the currency deviate more than ppi.. but nevertheless.. ppi will get you some pips :)
 
What is the response time in your platform nathan, shard?

I get it ranging from 320ms to 4560 ms at times.. which is why I could be getting so many re-quotes. Do you use a direct ethernet connection or wireless? I'm wondering if I should plug in the cable directly into my pc.. theoretically that should make the response times faster..
 
Music_Producer said:
What is the response time in your platform nathan, shard?

I get it ranging from 320ms to 4560 ms at times.. which is why I could be getting so many re-quotes. Do you use a direct ethernet connection or wireless? I'm wondering if I should plug in the cable directly into my pc.. theoretically that should make the response times faster..
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My PC is going through a router acting in bridge mode and then through a gateway (all wired) and whenever there is normal activity is always have a response time of 100ms. When news comes out, like during this morning's announcement, it usually jumps to about 250-300ms. I have only seen it higher when I have other activity on my network. I never thought of connecting it directly, but I don't seem to suffer having it hooked up the way it is. That being said, every millisecond counts of course! ;)
 
15 pips on the nzd/usd trade.. although the deviation was quite small.. a good move considering there wasn't much action going on with the other currencies at this time of day.
 
yes!...for once I made more than you..lol I got 24 pips on nzd retail sales...of course you were probably trading a bigger lot, so you still made more :rolleyes:

Edit: If I can keep this up, I'll buy you and Shard an iphone for teaching me how to trade :D
 
nhallmark said:
yes!...for once I made more than you..lol I got 24 pips on nzd retail sales...of course you were probably trading a bigger lot, so you still made more :rolleyes:

Edit: If I can keep this up, I'll buy you and Shard an iphone for teaching me how to trade :D
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Haha, that's because I get out way too fast.. which is bad.. but good at the same time. With my lots.. yeah, I'm happy with 5 pips a day :p

An iphone.. hmm.. no actually, make that the new 8 core mac pro :eek: :D

Edit : 3 trades tomorrow.. uk trade balance, german zew sentiment and us retail sales
 
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