Ableton Forum

Hi there, I'm having some quality problems after exporting my project. I hope you may help!

I've finished my project today. I'm happy with the volume and how it sounds, but once exported
to WAV it sounds low and flat when played in regular media players (VLC, wmp, groove, etc...)
even played in the same monitors and headphones I used while producing, but when I import
the WAV audio file back to ableton it sounds nice again.

Does it mean it's all about my mix and master skills? why it sounds great only in ableton?

thank you!

--------------------------------------------------------
export info:
- Render track: Master
- Normalizer: Off
- frequency rate: 44100
- Bit rate: 16
- Dither: Triangular
---------------------------------------------------------
daw settings:
- In/out sample rate : 44100
- Buffer size: 256 samples
- general latency: 25 ms
- Controler: ASIO
- Ableton Input device: Focusrite USB ASIO
---------------------------------------------------------
Audio interface info:
- Focusrite scarlett 6i6
- Sample rate: 44100
- Buffer size: 256 samples
- Clock source: Internal
- Firmware: 1076

UPDATE: From what I've been testing today
it seems the DAW playback is always lowder
than the real audio signal so I guess that's
the main problem.
Both, DAW playback and directly from the audio interface signals
are set to 0db so why is one lowder than the other?
Is there any way to fix it?

libelios wrote:Hi there, I'm having some quality problems after exporting my project. I hope you may help!

I've finished my project today. I'm happy with the volume and how it sounds, but once exported
to WAV it sounds low and flat when played in regular media players (VLC, wmp, groove, etc...)
even played in the same monitors and headphones I used while producing, but when I import
the WAV audio file back to ableton it sounds nice again.

Does it mean it's all about my mix and master skills? why it sounds great only in ableton?

thank you!

--------------------------------------------------------
export info:
- Render track: Master
- Normalizer: Off
- frequency rate: 44100
- Bit rate: 16
- Dither: Triangular
---------------------------------------------------------
daw settings:
- In/out sample rate : 44100
- Buffer size: 256 samples
- general latency: 25 ms
- Controler: ASIO
- Ableton Input device: Focusrite USB ASIO
---------------------------------------------------------
Audio interface info:
- Focusrite scarlett 6i6
- Sample rate: 44100
- Buffer size: 256 samples
- Clock source: Internal
- Firmware: 1076

Most mixed stuff will sound weak compared to mastered songs.

Most people will limit the master bus to get a loud track. It’s an art and takes awhile to get right and depends on a lot of factors.

libelios wrote:it sounds low and flat when played in regular media players (VLC, wmp, groove, etc...)

Is any of those players capable of playing back through ASIO? If not, try foobar2000 with the ASIO support component.

The WDM/DirectX driver model plays through Windows' volume control. That may be one factor for the playback sounding "low and flat".

The other thing I have experienced with Windows 7' DirectX, there is some built in limiting, you can't switch off, with the effect that extremely hot material may be pumping unpleasantly.

Hey I know this is six years later but shut DITHER OFF! Will sound much closer to how it sounds in ableton. Also redlining the main is the same as hardcliping with the saturator set to digital clip. Redlining sounds better than limiting because hardcliping chops the top off the peaks while limiting uses a more complicated process. Hardclipping is great for micro peaks shorter than 15 ms and limiters are good for longer sustained peaks. Anyways always keep dither off! It triangulates the sine waves it makes everything sound fucked