does sound card matter?

Roy_Oliver_Music wrote on 9/16/2009, 12:31 AM

Hi, noob here.
Evrytime I'm on the final phases of my song project using the Music Maker, the sound on my speakers seem to hurt my ears a bit, meaning the output seems a little bit too crowded. So I have to move the mixer sliders down, undo the effects. But in the end my song seems to lack depth, or texture and bass.
If I can find parts to upgrade my ram, i will. But is it enough? 
Will an upgrade on the sound card too help the processing speed of my pc? Will my sound output and recording get better or a tad more cleaner? 
I have a Dell 8200 512mb ram. XP.
My recorded wave files also has 16bit on their descriptions. Does it tell me my sound processor is a 16bit?   

Comments

Clevo wrote on 9/16/2009, 1:57 AM
You could be stacking too much different sounds and simply need to mix it better...not all tracks need to be very loud...some instruments can be completely on the right side...other tracks mixed to the left... some tracks can be mixed to the centre and if you have more than one track centred try adjusting volumes.

512mb ram is considered tiny these days..it will help generally to increase performance but will not help with improving sound..

A dedicated Sound card will improve sound...as will better speakers. The Auzentech Forte I installed recently is amazing compared tot he Realtek HD onboard sound. and yes it will relieve the CPU from some work too.

BUT! as with anything, what sounds grerat on your PC will sound different on someone elses PC. But if you follow basic mixing techniques and not too many FX it should sound good no matter what your system specs are
NoTurning wrote on 9/16/2009, 8:06 AM
Hi,
Let me add some detail to this discussion. If you're recording your own music then your sound card is critical! I can't stress enough how important it is for recording. A PC sound card is NOT adequate for recording. Your 16 bit resolution is a problem. You need capability of 24 bit and you need to set Magix to record/playback in 24 bit. This does take more memory but it's well worth it.

The lack of depth is two-fold - the 16 bit PC sound card and the mixing/mastering stage. I've written an article here that will help you tremendously: http://www.magix.info/us/mixing-mastering-and-eq.online-training.19742.html 

You need a good audio interface, a PC sound card DOES NOT follow pro audio standards. Get and external interface (USB or Firewire) capable of 24 bit and at least 48k. Also get a good mic (SM58 or AT2020) and good monitors (speakers) either near field monitors or closed back studio quality headphones.

If you mix your music in good monitors with good equipment it will sound great on all other devices you play it on. Just like a studio master.

We are just scratching the surface of an in-depth topic here, I hope this much helps,
Justin