Exporting Audio doesnt sound right

[SmurfGGM]

Howdy,

I have made a track in Ableton and Exporting the Audio to a .wav

Normalize: Off
Sample Rate: 44100
Bit Depth: 16
Dither Options: Triangular

When Iplayt the .wav back, it doesn't sound like it does in Ableton.
Ive checked all the clips and non of them are in the red.

Am I doing something wrong ??

Cheers

[cenik11]

I'm not sure if this will affect the way the tune sounds to your ears, but judging from many threads I've read on the topic you should probably start by turning dithering off. Also (this may be rather obvious but) be sure that you select 'Master' in the rendering window to ensure that the rendered WAV contains everything being processed by the master channel. Finally, if the problem is that the tune isn't loud enough, you'll want to consider putting some compression (e.g. PSP VW) as well a a limiter on the master.

[michaellpenman]

Yeah never dither when just bouncing the track out you only want to normalize once and you only want to dither once.
And if it doesnt sound write maybe its due to a poor mix. You mix on set of speaker then move to a new pair it will sound different. Due to the different frequency responses of different speaker.

[PHY6]

Maybe you are listening in Ableton @ 24 bits ,and rendering @ 16 bits ?

[dinaiz]

Actually he's right ! I noticed this too : when you render, the .wav sounds really different than what you can ear in live. You have to disable dithering, and export in WAV, 32bit (or 24 I don't remember), then use another application to convert. It's even written somewhere in the manual I think

[DrXparaMental]

Actually he's right ! I noticed this too : when you render, the .wav sounds really different than what you can ear in live. You have to disable dithering, and export in WAV, 32bit (or 24 I don't remember), then use another application to convert. It's even written somewhere in the manual I think

Precisely. That's why it's best to use an editing program that processes all changes to your Ableton tracks in 32bit. Ableton is designed to be used with an editor. As has been stated, you only want to use the normalize function once, if at all. Good compression and a hard limiter seem to get the best dynamic results with respect to the final optimal process used on rendered set master tracks. I have also found that it's best to leave as much "breathing" room at the top of your set tracks as you can. A little saturation more so for tone than limiting is ok but I have found it's not desirable to bang the ceiling of your mix prior to the initial final process.

[dinaiz]

Actually he's right ! I noticed this too : when you render, the .wav sounds really different than what you can ear in live. You have to disable dithering, and export in WAV, 32bit (or 24 I don't remember), then use another application to convert. It's even written somewhere in the manual I think

Precisely. That's why it's best to use an editing program that processes all changes to your Ableton tracks in 32bit. Ableton is designed to be used with an editor. As has been stated, you only want to use the normalize function once, if at all. Good compression and a hard limiter seem to get the best dynamic results with respect to the final optimal process used on rendered set master tracks. I have also found that it's best to leave as much "breathing" room at the top of your set tracks as you can. A little saturation more so for tone than limiting is ok but I have found it's not desirable to bang the ceiling of your mix prior to the initial final process.

But you can do the masteringin Ableton, then export as a WAV and convert to mp3 in another program right ? Or does mastering has to be done in another app for better results ?

[DrXparaMental]

But you can do the masteringin Ableton, then export as a WAV and convert to mp3 in another program right ? Or does mastering has to be done in another app for better results ?

It's a preference thing really. Live 8 will be a heckofalot better at mastering than 6 was which was my last version before upgrading. The bottom line is that you will tend to get the best results from what an application (software) is primarily intended for. I have made many a pleasing recording in and of Live itself, it's just that as a whole, I have been far and away happier with Audition 3.0 via it's editing and mastering rack. The preview capability is really useful. But you know what? There are software apps out there that blow adobe away. It's all relevant. Just make the best with what you have.

Now that Live has a multi band compressor and a limiter along with it's new audio engine which does sound better IMO, they've come a long way. Live is an intensely powerful program no matter how you slice it.

[SmurfGGM]

I eventually got around to looking at this and it was the most obvious - the master channel was clipping !



Thanks for everyone's input.

[dinaiz]

But you can do the masteringin Ableton, then export as a WAV and convert to mp3 in another program right ? Or does mastering has to be done in another app for better results ?

It's a preference thing really. Live 8 will be a heckofalot better at mastering than 6 was which was my last version before upgrading. The bottom line is that you will tend to get the best results from what an application (software) is primarily intended for. I have made many a pleasing recording in and of Live itself, it's just that as a whole, I have been far and away happier with Audition 3.0 via it's editing and mastering rack. The preview capability is really useful. But you know what? There are software apps out there that blow adobe away. It's all relevant. Just make the best with what you have.

Now that Live has a multi band compressor and a limiter along with it's new audio engine which does sound better IMO, they've come a long way. Live is an intensely powerful program no matter how you slice it.

Thanks for your input

[db2]

Are people suggesting that you render your wave at 32bits rather than 24, and use an audio editor to do the dithering, even though ableton supports pow-r II dithering?

[tlennon]

Are people suggesting that you render your wave at 32bits rather than 24, and use an audio editor to do the dithering, even though ableton supports pow-r II dithering?

I should hope not. Dithering is needed anytime you are reducing bit rez from 24 to say.... 16 bits.

[Kristijonas]

Render at 32 bit, 88200 or 96000 Hz, (or even 192000 Hz, if all you are shure all your plugins supports such a resolution), because all plugins will be processing in resolution you set here. On the rendered file apply dither, only than convert it to 16 bits 44100, if needed.

[Squashua]

Actually he's right ! I noticed this too : when you render, the .wav sounds really different than what you can ear in live. You have to disable dithering, and export in WAV, 32bit (or 24 I don't remember), then use another application to convert. It's even written somewhere in the manual I think

That sounds good: So what application/s would you suggest?

[QuantumKid]

I'm getting the same thing too, tried just about every bit depth, compression/ no comp., normalized and not. The funny thing is, the audio sounds fine, i.e. just like in Ableton, in Audacity but sounds like flattened crap when played via VLC or Windows media players. What is up with this?