Why does my export sound so different that what I'm hearing

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mbira
Posts: 159
Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2009 5:58 pm

Why does my export sound so different that what I'm hearing

Post by mbira » Sun Jan 22, 2012 11:24 pm

During playback, everything sounds fine. When I export the master track, some instruments are very loud while others are quiet. What should I be looking for? I have every track routed to master, and I have some automation in the Arrangement view.

Thanks for any help...so frustrated...

Samaritan Sound
Posts: 93
Joined: Fri Nov 18, 2011 5:41 pm

Re: Why does my export sound so different that what I'm hearing

Post by Samaritan Sound » Mon Jan 23, 2012 1:04 am

Post a screencap of your export settings.

mbira
Posts: 159
Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2009 5:58 pm

Re: Why does my export sound so different that what I'm hearing

Post by mbira » Mon Jan 23, 2012 5:09 am

I'm not at my comp now, but I'm not doing anything unusual there-44.1/16 wav file from the master bus. Not dithering and not normalizing.

It has something to do with automation being read or not being read on a couple of the instruments.... The instruments are all rewired from reason.

Samaritan Sound
Posts: 93
Joined: Fri Nov 18, 2011 5:41 pm

Re: Why does my export sound so different that what I'm hearing

Post by Samaritan Sound » Mon Jan 23, 2012 5:20 am

In the past I've had issues with using lots of automation with rewired Reason racks, where it seemed to have a limit of how much it could handle at once. Since then, I've gotten into the habit of bouncing my reason tracks to audio clips for mixing. You said that you're bouncing to 44/16 with no dithering. Are you dithering at the end of your master bus, or are you working in 44/16?

tinselworm
Posts: 26
Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 12:06 pm

Re: Why does my export sound so different that what I'm hearing

Post by tinselworm » Mon Jan 23, 2012 9:24 am

As the previous poster said, bounce your Reason tracks (record to track in Ableton, or import the bounced audio — however you want to do it) before trying to bounce your final mix in Ableton.

Trying to bounce a mix in Ableton with elements which are being pulled on the fly from another application (Reason in your case) really is asking for trouble.

Hopefully that will solve your problem. If not, it's good practice anyway.

mbira
Posts: 159
Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2009 5:58 pm

Re: Why does my export sound so different that what I'm hearing

Post by mbira » Tue Jan 24, 2012 11:41 pm

Shame that is considered "good practice" I never have to do that in Cubase. I use many many rewire tracks on some songs and want the freedom to make small changes as Itest mixes (hence the bouncing down). I bounce down to test some things, and to have to bounce every rewired track is a real drag.

jestermgee
Posts: 4500
Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 6:38 am

Re: Why does my export sound so different that what I'm hearing

Post by jestermgee » Thu Jan 26, 2012 10:43 pm

Have you tried rendering the project to 96k, 24bit?

Just an idea but the mixing within your typical DAW and the instruments themselves are mixed at high bitrates and in some cases without proper dithering on the mixdown it can cause it to sound different.

Just as a test, if that addresses your issue at least that will help you to sort it.

I always render at high frequency and bitrate then either when I am mastering in Cubase or just wanting a simple mixdown, I use dither and render again town to 44.1/16 (or 48/16 when doing stuff film/dvd stuff). If you don't know what "Dither" is then do some research.

Additionally, as has been mentioned, sometimes with Live you just have to lock a track town to a WAV to get it to output. Not a big deal. the thing with Cubase over Ableton is that Steinberg basically pioneered much of the VST and Rewire stuff so most of these work much better in Cubase than other DAWS. Cubase (at least SX and 5 from what I have used) is no where near easy enough to get simple ideas to music AND it costs twice what Ableton does. I used Cubase for years before Ableton but only really to mix and render from other DAWs because that is something it does well.

mbira
Posts: 159
Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2009 5:58 pm

Re: Why does my export sound so different that what I'm hearing

Post by mbira » Fri Jan 27, 2012 6:34 am

Yes, I use both Cubase 5 and Ableton. Until Ableton lets me comp tracks, it will remain that way. I know about dithering, etc, but when testing a mix I like to bounce to 44.1 to put it on a CD or even to an MP3 just to check the mix. I often have 20+ rewired tracks and to have to commit every one of them to their own track (or even stems) just to have to go in and tweak one little thing on one track is a drag. I have taken to using jackrouter and recording (in realtime) into cubase just to do a basic bounce down to test the mix. Kind of a PITA if you ask me...

I was thinking there was some thing I must have been doing wrong, only to hear that others are obviously not able to do this without mixing to stems or audio either...

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