Pulsing audio on export from master bus

[Nurotek]

So I have had this issue for a little bit, after mixing a song, re-record it within ableton (so that I can demo it on other systems for a cross reference and get all the effects, eq, etc) then export audio via the master then mix down to mp3 through ableton 10. For one song I thought it was the multiband compressor, but my
Most recent song I have done doesn’t have any compression on the main bus out. Yet the pulsing is still prevelent. The output audio from the main bus sits around -3db average, which should allow headroom for peaks. Has anyone else experienced this?

[Tarekith]

Is the pulsing happening with your mixdown, or with the exported mixdown when you drag it back into Live?

[Nurotek]

Is the pulsing happening with your mixdown, or with the exported mixdown when you drag it back into Live?

This happens after ive mixed it down via resampling, then exported audio (adjusting the mix bus accordingly so it comes out -3db). while in ableton it sounds fine, after exporting and listening on other reference speakers is when i notice the pulsing.

[yur2die4]

What are the reference speakers powered by? What media player?

[Nurotek]

various speakers. i mix on yamaha HS8's, use the house speakers (which are just some computer logitech speakers 5.1 speakers), sennheiser HD 280 headphones, my car stereo to reference real world speaker systems.

i just went over them all again with the mix, it only seems to be happening within my car, so i dont think its a ableton issue. it has happened before (which is what prompted me to post on here), but its very possible it was in the car also and i just thought it was happening elsewhere. im going to check with VW and see if they have some sort of limiter within the stock audio system.

[yur2die4]

Usually it is processing that loudens music they is the issue. During quieter parts, ‘loudness’ feature just boost the signal and quickly bring it back to norm when more sound kicks back in. I guess that’s essentially similar to a limiter, but different intention