Bounces with buzz after print

[drakner]

Hi guys.

I am recording audiobooks, doing punch recording with a single track. This publisher wants chapters individually bounced. Strangely when I bounce the files, the wave form is spiky sausage with a buzz. I am home now so I can't show an example, but I noticed right away when the bounce imported into PT for my QC.

I am guessing a routing issue.

Strangely this happened to me the other night and I restarted PT and bounces were good. I use a template that has been working fine for a while.

I exported the track into a brand new session and the bounces were printing normal.

I have tried bringing the audio clips into a new track in session with no routing and soloed it and bounced it, still getting the buzz.

I have seen another thread suggesting export the files, but I want to know the problem and fix it.

Any insight into what could be causing this, I appreciate a lot, thank you

ps: publisher requests 16/44.1

Screenshots included of session and bounce options:

[Darryl Ramm]

Spiky sausage, that's a new one

Are you bouncing in real time?

Any hardware inserts being used?

What exact sources are you bouncing? (never mind I see Output 1-2 in the screenshot)

Can you share an audio clip of the buzz... look at it with a spectrum analyzer plugin... what frequency(ies) is it?

Beyond that it's hard to guess what might be the issue.

Maybe you have a buzz noise accidentally recorded onto another track and that was combined with your intended output when bouncing?

I'd go looking and listening to every track, including any hidden ones.

Hard to imagine you would have a synth or similar plug-in that can produce a buzz sound in use in an audio book... but that's another possibility. Certainly possible to accidentally end up with he wrong plugin inserted somewhere.

Not sure I follow the routing (curious why you commit plugin effects in an audio book session vs. just run plugins on the take (is that the voice talent's control to make sure stuff does not get done to your performance?)). Because the signal flows might be significantly different is somebody monitoring Output 1&2 and not just the headphone mix?

[drakner]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Spiky sausage, that's a new one

Are you bouncing in real time?

Any hardware inserts being used?

What exact sources are you bouncing? (never mind I see Output 1-2 in the screenshot)

Can you share an audio clip of the buzz... look at it with a spectrum analyzer plugin... what frequency(ies) is it?

Beyond that it's hard to guess what might be the issue.

Maybe you have a buzz noise accidentally recorded onto another track and that was combined with your intended output when bouncing?

I'd go looking and listening to every track, including any hidden ones.

Hard to imagine you would have a synth or similar plug-in that can produce a buzz sound in use in an audio book... but that's another possibility. Certainly possible to accidentally end up with he wrong plugin inserted somewhere.

Thanks for your reply. I will upload the buzzy bounce after tomorrow's session. We only record 1 track, so there is no audio anywhere else aside from pulling out clips, I record punch over any mistakes.

I feel like it is unlikely a synth, more likely a feedback loop, but nothing looks obvious.

I wonder if it could be the playback engine, It's likely set to Zoom... Because we use Zoom within Pro Tools for directors or authors. Hmmm I wonder if that is it. I bet if I switch back to the interface playback engine, the bounces will be good... I hope I am right. I will report my findings tomorrow.

[albee1952]

It looks to me like all your plugins are being recorded, so why not skip the bounce and consolidate and export?

[its2loud]

Originally Posted by albee1952

It looks to me like all your plugins are being recorded, so why not skip the bounce and consolidate and export?

I agree with Albee unless you have volume automation on the track. Also Bounce Source Out 1-2. File formate Mono Summed? What?

If you want to bounce a mix I suggest you create a dedicated Print Track Bus and use that Bus as your bounce source. Selecting your output 1-2 as the bounce source can cause issues. Particularly is the audio engine is not reliable. Like Zoom.

Also, you have your mic input feeding Bus 1 which is feeding the track

[The Weed]

It looks like the Zoom track is included in the Bounce as its output is also 1/2. And I believe it's mono summed because it's a mono track going out a stereo Master. Check the bounced file's peaks versus the recorded audio's peaks. There are times when mono summing will add 3.0 dB of gain to the Bounced file.

Like albee, I'm curious why you don't export since you're already recording the plug-ins into the audio file - unless you have automation on that audio track. Personally I wouldn't do it that way as the effects are then "baked" into the audio and can't be changed. I put the plug-ins on an Aux Track and bus my voice track to them. That way I can change the plug-in parameters or plug-ins themselves, but the voice itself remains as recorded/dry.

[drakner]

Thanks for all the advice, turns out the interface was the playback engine, I will look into all your suggestions. I really appreciate it! Thanks.