Songs Sound Different When Exported
 

I can get my mix sounding fantastic when playing it in pro tools, however whenever i export it, it sounds nothing close to what was just coming through the SAME speakers when i play the song through iTunes or Wmp.

I've exported the song in just about everyother way possible but still to no luck. Whether it be bouncing to disk, or rerouting and capturing the Wave file for export. No difference..As for now, I've rerouted the signal coming from Pro Tools back into my computer and I'm recording the now, 'analog signal' with Audacity.

Surely I'm Missing Something. There must be something you can do in Pro tools to either export the song 'As Is'..or to either not boost the quality of sound so its the exact same to what it is exporting.

..and how could it sound different anyways? Whats the point of making it sound good when it sounds nothing like it when exported?

Re: Songs Sound Different When Exported
 

Well, if they are the same speakers, and your speakers are great, than it may be an acoustical problem in your room.

If your equalizer is turned on i Itunes, that will definitely effect playback.

Re: Songs Sound Different When Exported
 

lol I'm not changing rooms. I'm playing the song through the exact same equipment and in the exact same spot. Its the exporting it through Pro Tools that changes the sound.

I did check the eq's in both iTunes and Wmp and they were fine. Good idea though.

Re: Songs Sound Different When Exported
 

farrantch,

Just a couple of questions. First, are you using a master fader with the fader left at 0 DBFS on your sessions, and second, what exactly is different? Is it the volume, eq, etc.? Are you doing any mastering, and if so, what plug-ins are you using?

Let us know a little more and maybe we can help.

Greg

Re: Songs Sound Different When Exported
 

First, what sample rate and bit depth is your session at and what sample rate and bit depth are you bouncing out as?
one idea would be that your going from 24bit session to 16 bit file.

Another is that the summing of bounce to disk out of Pro Tools someone colors the sound. Again, if you're changing bit depths here then the file would be dithered and you're hearing that change as well.

If you reimport that track into the same session and play it back and compare it to your session does it sound different?

What if you flip the phase? If it was bounced correctly with no changes it should cancel. Trim plug-in can flip phase for testing

Re: Songs Sound Different When Exported
 

Im not positive when you say master fader, cause I do have everything routed to a Master Output/Fader via Bussing..and yes the level is exactly flat at 0 decibels so i think were good there. But ya, its not really a volume problem but its just the overall quality.

It sounds as if my middle frequencies are a little soft cause the outer frequencies are fairly prominent and its overall pretty muddy. It's just lost the clarity that it had when in Pro Tools. Also i think the panning of sound isnt the same and the reverb is more obvious than I had originally put on there.

Premo let me go through and double check all my settings and see what how it turns out.

Re: Songs Sound Different When Exported
 

farrantch,

I'm gonna get pretty basic here because it is hard for me to tell how much you know about PT. If it's too basic, just ignore this post.

In PT, you can select a number of track types (Audio, Aux, MIDI, Instrument, Master) by going to Track>New and selecting them. I know you know some of this because you have tracks in a session that you are bouncing (in some format or another). Make sure you add a Master Track to each of your sessions and leave the Fader at 0 DBFS. All of your other tracks should default their output to Output 1-2. This is not bussing them, this is routing their output. The Master Track should route these to physical outputs 1-2 (the main outputs where you should have your monitors hooked up).

Make sure the output meter on the Master Track never goes above 0 DBFS as your seession plays.

When you bounce your session to disk, select WAV, 16 bit, 44,100 Hz. Don't bounce as an mp3.

This problem you are having is not typical. When we see these kinds of problems expressed on the DUC, there is usually a problem with the way the session was set up (no Master Track), the session is bounced to an inferior format (like mp3), or mastering was attempted without understanding how to master.

The other thing we usually suggest if all of the above is OK is to bounce your session then import the bounced file back into a new PT session and listen to it. If the bounced/imported file sounds fine in PT, then it really means something is very different (not right) with the application you are using to listen to the bounced file.

Hope this helps,
Greg

Re: Songs Sound Different When Exported
 

By far the best test! This will be the best way to compare your session vs. the bounced file. Even if you have to convert sample rates, it shouldn't alter the sound drastically enough to make much of a difference.

Re: Songs Sound Different When Exported
 

I had the same problem. It originated from the fact that I was using a stereo Y cord so that I my speakers could be connected to the computer's sound card and the Mbox 2 interface (sound card) at the same time. It degraded the sound. Try making sure your speakers are plugged into one or the other of the sound cards, but not both at the same time.

Re: Songs Sound Different When Exported
 

ITunes has a "sound enhancer" that kills the center etc. In preferences. Along with the equalizer. And even beyond those settings, ITunes and Quicktime player can still sound different. Quicktime player is usually accurate.

The rumors about bounce to disk sounding any different from record to disk are 100% false on their face. You can be certain that even if someone claims they are "famous" :rolleyes: that their opinions can be discounted if they claim this. Nulling tests have demonstrated there is no difference.

Another lingering issue was automation sounding different and this too has never been demonstrated.

Anyway most likely your files are fine and your systems and apps are screwed up.