Mastering for bad systems?

[RoscoHead]

This is probably a general mastering question, but I'm using 12.7.1 so...

I know I have to listen to my mixes in as many different environments as possible, and I do, but I've found this issue with one particular mix and I'm not sure the best way to fix it.

The song is basically a ballad with vocals & a couple of acoustic guitars. It sounds perfect when mixing through my RME UFX with HS7 monitors. And when I play the resulting WAV through the same hardware using media player it sounds exactly the same. But when I play it through my PC's built in sound card (Realtek), it sounds all washed out, almost like it's been run through a M/S processor and the MID level turned down. I've been through all the settings I could find in Control Panel and I', pretty sure I've got all the "enhancement" options for the Realtek switched off, but it still sounds like crap. And other people I've sent it to have a similar experience.

So does this mean I just have to suck it up and mix it with hardly any side ambience, just to get it to sound good on crappy systems?

ROSCO

[Drew Mazurek]

Easy to figure out.

Play your favorite record (similar vibe/genre/effects etc) through the studio system and then through the sound card.

Does it suffer the same degradation/issue? If so, something's up, if not, it's your mix.

[RoscoHead]

Originally Posted by Drew Mazurek

Does it suffer the same degradation/issue? If so, something's up, if not, it's your mix.

Oh, I know it's my mix, I'm just wondering the best way to change my mix so that it sounds good on both

[amagras]

That's a long road, every song is different and there's not much we can do without listening to what you have in front of you, only way I know is practice and learning. There are great online courses now for cheap that will get you quickly on the ballpark of a better mix, you can even find them tailored for your specific music genres.

[EGS]

As I mix, I switch between 4 listening setups: big/medium/small speakers plus headphones. Check mix in mono, too.

[RoscoHead]

Originally Posted by amagras

That's a long road, every song is different and there's not much we can do without listening to what you have in front of you, only way I know is practice and learning. There are great online courses now for cheap that will get you quickly on the ballpark of a better mix, you can even find them tailored for your specific music genres.

Thanks, I have rendered out a snippet that demonstrates the problem, played through the RME the lead vocal is nicely out front, but played through my soundcard, it's not.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1PY...ZvcAISUl9Yaxcp

[RoscoHead]

Originally Posted by EGS

As I mix, I switch between 4 listening setups: big/medium/small speakers plus headphones. Check mix in mono, too.

Thanks, yeah I don't usually do that till later on in the mix, and this is the first time I've experienced such a huge difference, and I'm not sure
a) what exactly the problem is, and
b) how to fix it

Just a beginner here.

[RoscoHead]

OK, I just listened to it through headphones out of my soundcard (only checked headphones out of RME up to now), and I notice that the L-R balance is way off (R channel way louder than L channel). This is not an issue with the rendered file, so it appears my soundcard is doing something weird to it. Or could it be something weird in my mix that causes the soundcard to do this? Some weird phasing issue? And it doesn't explain why at least one other person that played it on their computer experienced a similar problem?

ROSCO

[crizdee]

Originally Posted by RoscoHead

OK, I just listened to it through headphones out of my soundcard (only checked headphones out of RME up to now), and I notice that the L-R balance is way off (R channel way louder than L channel). This is not an issue with the rendered file, so it appears my soundcard is doing something weird to it. Or could it be something weird in my mix that causes the soundcard to do this? Some weird phasing issue? And it doesn't explain why at least one other person that played it on their computer experienced a similar problem?

ROSCO

Hi,


As Drew said, have you tried other tracks the same way through the same soundcard? you need to establish if your soundcard is doing something funky or your mix has some bad psycho acoustic or phasing issue going on.



Is the soundcard definitely set to a flat playback setting? as its possible to have it set to surround sound or have some sonic emulation on it that could cause weird stuff to happen.


How about other playback systems? have you tried burning a CD and playing or upload it to soundcloud and let others have a listen.




Chris

[RoscoHead]

Originally Posted by crizdee

Hi,


As Drew said, have you tried other tracks the same way through the same soundcard? you need to establish if your soundcard is doing something funky or your mix has some bad psycho acoustic or phasing issue going on.



Is the soundcard definitely set to a flat playback setting? as its possible to have it set to surround sound or have some sonic emulation on it that could cause weird stuff to happen.


How about other playback systems? have you tried burning a CD and playing or upload it to soundcloud and let others have a listen.




Chris

Thanks Chris, I have looked through all the soundcard settings and made sure everything that looked like processing the sound was switched off, but can't guarantee there isn't some setting hidden away that I missed.

I uploaded a short excerpt earlier in the thread, would appreciate if you have any feedback on it:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1PY...ZvcAISUl9Yaxcp

ROSCO