Audio interface sounds different to computer: Help please

[dilshan89]

Hi guys,

I finished my track listening to it through my M-audio fast track pro. I used Ozone to get it sounding clearer, louder, and it was sounding great. But now I'm listening to it through my normal computer sound card, and it sounds quieter, less clear, just worse in general. I don't know what to do or how to judge the sound. What should I do?

[vitalispopoff]

Compare the tech specs of both cards, and their presets, and rather focus on auditioning on different soundsystems rather, than different soundcards.

[dilshan89]

If by tech specs you mean buffer size/sample rate, then they are different. My buffer size for the Fast Track Pro is 1024, and the buffer size for my computer sound card is 4096 (if I bring it down to 1024 I get crackles). However the sample rate for both is 44.1. So should I match my audio interface specs to my computer sound card specs or vice versa? I'm worried because people aren't going to be listening to the music through an audio interface, it will most likely be through computer sound cards hooked up to different sound systems. So should I concentrate on getting the best sound through my computer sound card or my audio interface when putting the finishing touches?

[dilshan89]

Any ideas guys?

[LeifonMars]

So should I concentrate on getting the best sound through my computer sound card or my audio interface when putting the finishing touches?

You should concentrate on listening through a lot of different systems (laptop speakers, iPhone earphones, car speakers etc.) and try to achieve best possible compromises, because in case you're lucky, it will be listened through a lot of different systems.

[fishmonkey]

So should I concentrate on getting the best sound through my computer sound card or my audio interface when putting the finishing touches?

a really good mix will sound good ('translate' well) on a range of different playback systems, and it's not easy to achieve.

making really good mixes takes lots of skill and practice, and ideally a mixing environment that enables you to hear what the mix really sounds like (i.e. decent soundcard, decent speakers, and a reasonable-sized room with acoustic treatment). it is possible to make good mixes without those things, but only once you have really learnt how the sound of your audio system compares with a whole lot of other systems (although occasionally you might get lucky!).

[vitalispopoff]

the sound differences experienced with different soundcards may be caused by their tech specs:
Signal/noise ratio, dynamics, and so on.
I don't mean buffer size, which is by the way only a parameter set in order to have it working right.

The most important - as said above - is to check the sound quality w/ different soundsystems - i.e. speakers.

If You're not sure - upload the track, and leave us an url - You'll get infos from different people working w/ different sound setups and of course speakers.

You may also burn the track to a CDR and play it on Your DVD/CD player, or upload it to Your mp3 player.

Another way to check the problem is to anylize the file itself in a wav editor, like Wavelab or Audacity. If the problem is with Live, than the file will probably infected with peaks, cracks and other dirt.
If it's clear, then definitely there's something wrong with the soundcard - maybe the setting parameters, like bitrate or sampling freq - that may be the problem specially if those differ between the file and soundcard setup.