Going crazy over sound-quality in PT vs Logic
 

Okey, so i just bought Logic Pro, and i am truly truly sorry to say that i like it better then Pro Tools (i hate the fact that i like it better).

The reason being very simple as to why i like it better; EVERYTHING sounds louder and more in your face, and almost "pre-mixed" inside Logic Pro.
Now just to be clear i am using exactly the same plugins inside of Pro Tools as i am in Logic Pro, but for some reason everything sounds louder and better inside of Logic instead of Pro Tools LE 8.0.5.
It just sounds like your putting all of your sounds through a "process-factory" or something and it just sounds commercial right away.
It feels like i am making music inside of a cheap toy, and that´s why i just can´t stand that everything sounds better, because it´s not supposed to (according to the price-tag) :p
I hate the fact that it´s better because the feeling of Pro Tools is much more "open" and has a better layout of all the functions i need (for my taste).
And i use Xpand 2 alot.

But even recording vocals and acoustic/electric guitars sounds better, it just sits better, and faster inside Logic and the mix. In Pro Tools i feel like i am using a big shell with plenty of opportunities, but only if you know how to mix properly, set levels and route busses correctly. In Logic it seems like all of this is pre-done for you and all you have to do is play. Then throw on a few EQ´s and compressors and your done. I´ve been scratching my head going crazy over how to get that commercial loud, "in-the-box" sound, and along comes Logic Pro and i finally see instantly why people have better mixes then me.
It´s frustrating because i feel like Logic Pro is so much cheating! And as much as i wanna learn how to mix and use Pro Tools properly, i also want to have great sounding music right away :p

I have no idea why this is, but could it be that Logic Pro has a 32-bit floating point and can support 64-Bit plugins?
I wanted to get PT 10, but i am really on the fence about it now because of this late discovery.

Also i would like to add that bouncing a track in Pro Tools 8 makes it sound worse (lifeless) and reduces the volume drastically, but when bouncing in Logic Pro the track actually sounds louder, better mixed and with more life to it, then inside the DAW. And that´s with nothing on the master buss!

PS!
This is not a Logic Pro vs. Pro Tools thread, it´s only about the sound quality of the two!

Re: Going crazy over sound-quality in PT vs Logic
 

Dude

Re: Going crazy over sound-quality in PT vs Logic
 

:DI guess that explains why all the pros are switching to Logic.
Especially the "bounces in Logic sound better mixed, with more life" part:D

Re: Going crazy over sound-quality in PT vs Logic
 

i get the sarcasm here, i do, especially since this is an Avid-forum :D

But i´m not just making this up. I´ve been using Pro Tools for 2,5 years, and always struggled to get my music sounding loud enough. Never managed to do it until i tried Logic. That´s all i´m saying. And it was effortless..

This is not a thread where i am throwing PT under the bus, i am just stating my experiences and wondering WHY :-)
I would really like to continue the use of Pro Tools, but it just seems completely backwards when i get more quality inside of Logic.

Re: Going crazy over sound-quality in PT vs Logic
 

I just tried Cubase. My mixes sound like they were done by Rick Rubin, and I haven't even added plug-ins yet!

Re: Going crazy over sound-quality in PT vs Logic
 

Okey forget about the "mixing" part of it, i didn´t mean it like THAT :-)
But focusing on the loudness part of it, there is a noticeable difference.
To say that it sounds better mixed was a misstatement, i´ll give you that.
And obviously you ran with that misstatement as far as you could, fair enough :p

But now back to the original question (before you say your mixes sound like Dave Pensado inside of Reason), could it have something to do with Logic being 32-bit floating point and it can take 64-bit plugins?

Re: Going crazy over sound-quality in PT vs Logic
 

Heck, I don't know.
My daughter uses Logic Pro, and I guess it sounds OK to me.
Generally she has me import her tracks to Pro Tools for mixing, but I do have an HD rig.
I don't quite understand how one program can be "louder" than another.

Re: Going crazy over sound-quality in PT vs Logic
 

Me neither, that´s why it´s frustrating.
To illustrate it i´ll have to give a better example i guess:

In PT 8 LE i can have a mix where the levels are peaking around -6, -5 Db when i bounce (and this is without a limiter on the Mix-buss),
and when i play it back via Itunes the volume is greatly reduced. I bounce it out via the Mp3 Option in PT8 with settings at 128 Kbps. The Mbox 2 volume knob is set to twelve o´clock.

In Logic Pro 9 i can have a mix where the levels are also peaking around -6, -5 Db when i bounce (also without a limiter on the Mix-buss), and when i play it back via Itunes the volume is louder then inside of Logic itself. I also here bounce it out via Logic´s Mp3 option and at 128 Kbps. The Mbox 2 volume knob is also set to twelve o´clock.

All in all it sounds like there´s a volume difference of about 4-5 Db, when i compare the PT track to the Logic track.

But why am i getting these results? The routing inside of Pro Tools and Logic are EXACTLY the same, the bounce-settings are EXACTLY the same, the plugins (Virtual instruments) used are EXACTLY the same.

To sum it all up:

Bouncing in Logic -> what you hear inside your DAW is what you get + a little more

Bouncing in Pro Tools -> What you hear inside your DAW is NEVER what you get, it´s usually worse in the sense of volume loss OR (and this is important) the mix is extremely unbalanced as opposed to the mix inside the DAW.

I am not a man of believing blindly in marketing-statements from a company, but when apple say´s "Logic Pro: Be a musician. Sound like an engineer" - i can´t help feeling that there is something to that.

Re: Going crazy over sound-quality in PT vs Logic
 

In fairness, you're using PTLE8.
No delay compensation.
Logic has delay compensation, so, you're probably right.
Logic most likely does sound better than PT8LE.
PT9 and 10 are different animals.

Re: Going crazy over sound-quality in PT vs Logic
 

That might have something to do with it - yes.
If i only i could try PT 10 out before i bought it :p