Going crazy over sound-quality in PT vs Logic

[ejwells]

Originally Posted by timeey

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

Ummm...you can. There's a 30 day trial.

[sunburst79]

IIRC Logic uses a different pan law so depending where your tracks are in the mix it might seem louder.

I've heard enough comparisons between Logic and Pro Tools or whatever. They tend to fall into statements like this "Logic is so much easier to compose in. MIDI editing in Logic is intuitive and Pro Tools is still way behind." On the other side I tend to hear things like Pro Tools is better to edit audio in, Mix in and normally people say it sounds better. If you think it sounds better, like the workflow and you get better results than use whatever gives you the better finished product.

[Marsdy]

In the Logic "bounce" dialog box there's an option to "auto normalize" the bounce.

I think it defaults to on. I'd bet on this being why the Logic mixes sound louder. If your mixes are peaking at -5/-6dB, (they shouldn't be, they should be peaking at a fraction below 0dB,) then the Logic bounce will peak at 0dB. That's a LOT louder!!!!

[crizdee]

Hi,

The pan law difference would be only 0.5db max and thats if things were panned hard left and right.


Chris

[elicious]

the Logic stock pan law setting is -3db COMPENSATED...which means it boosts the mix by 3 db...so most likely that is where you are seeing the volume difference.

ALso your pan law is LE 8 is probably -2.5...which sounds a lot different than - 3...you may just prefer a wider stereo image.

fyi, the pan law setting will not boost your mix by 3db,
or anything, for that matter.

it merely cuts the volume of the trax panned center by that amount.

also, if you're mixing from scratch on each daw,
one pan law vs another will not change the stereo image at all.

just wanted to clear that up.

e

[elicious]

i was making the distinction between levels within the mix vs. the entire mix.

from his post:

In PT 8 LE i can have a mix where the levels are peaking around -6, -5 Db
In Logic Pro 9 i can have a mix where the levels are also peaking around -6, -5 Db when i bounce

so, in mixing his trax he's compensated for the diff pan laws by adjusting the levels to suit his ears,
and ends up with similar master levels.

i.o.w., he's uncompensated for the compensation.

i also believe what is happening to him is the auto normalizing.

e

[stratquebec]

Normalisation is activated by default when logic bounces.

The OP should try to bounce once with normalization activated and another time with normalization deactivated and then compare both results.

That should clear things up.

[powerjoe]

I've thought for years that Logic sounded better ITB than PT, but Logic is SO much quieter when monitoring (even when the 2buss is being slammed (in the red) and editing and tracking in Logic is not logical.

I like both, but in my experience Logic is much quieter whilst tracking.

[timeey]

Normalisation is activated by default when logic bounces.

The OP should try to bounce once with normalization activated and another time with normalization deactivated and then compare both results.

That should clear things up.

Tried it in logic, not much difference, still sounds better then PT.
Sounds a tiny bit less loud then when normalize is engaged, but still sounds better then any mix i´ve ever done inside of PT 8. Which might be because of the lack of automatic delay compensation in 8.

That being said, if there is no "engage normalize" button in Pro Tools 8 when you bounce, i am definitely sticking with Logic for now. I might try out PT 10 if i ever decide to get an iLok :)

[ejwells]

There's no "engage normalize" function while bouncing in Pro Tools because no serious engineer would normalize while bouncing.