Mixdown blues...

[AHornsby]

I was working on a wav file last night because it was way too bassy. I got it to where it was sounding fine in MC but when rendered as a mixdown it automatically opened up in Windows Media and sounded much like the original. I checked to make sure i was playing the mixed down version. I don't understand how Windows Media player (using the same sound card, speakers, etc.,) changes the version that plays fine in MC, so much.

The noise reduction worked fine from the get go.

I had to experiment to get a "good" take.

Now, if i could only LIFT my fingers off the fretboard...

https://soundcloud.com/quiet-painter/fo ... hris-isaak

[fredfish]

Just listened to your "good" take - I would certainly rate it much higher than good! I love the laid back groove that you have on this - you appear to have balanced out the bass that you mention and it has a great mellow feel. If I was to change anything the guitar is perhaps slightly (but only slightly) too much in the background for my taste. Looking forward to hearing more.

Cheers

John

[gypsy101]

I'm not sure if I understand you correctly but the latest project I'm messing around with in Mixcraft 7,when you click & drag across the top to highlight a section for mixdown the mixed down section sounds dull & bassy.not @ all like the original but more like someone put a towel over the speakers.

[outteh]

Nicely done! Vocals are great, good tone and clarity! . Another possibility on your sound issue could be that some effects don't play well at frequencies above 48000. They will in effect not apply on mixdown. Something to consider!

[gypsy101]

Nicely done! Vocals are great, good tone and clarity! . Another possibility on your sound issue could be that some effects don't play well at frequencies above 48000. They will in effect not apply on mixdown. Something to consider!

true dat. I failed to mention that.
for me everything is @ standard 44.1/16

[AHornsby]

Just listened to your "good" take - I would certainly rate it much higher than good! I love the laid back groove that you have on this - you appear to have balanced out the bass that you mention and it has a great mellow feel. If I was to change anything the guitar is perhaps slightly (but only slightly) too much in the background for my taste. Looking forward to hearing more.

Cheers

John

Thanks John, I appreciate it.

[AHornsby]

I'm not sure if I understand you correctly but the latest project I'm messing around with in Mixcraft 7,when you click & drag across the top to highlight a section for mixdown the mixed down section sounds dull & bassy.not @ all like the original but more like someone put a towel over the speakers.

I'm not very familiar with MC yet. The original take was a bit bassy and although it sounded fine in MC, it rendered into something that sounded different when played with the Windows media player.I approached the problem as a theoretical experiment rather than one I could hone in on with any confidence.

[AHornsby]

Nicely done! Vocals are great, good tone and clarity! . Another possibility on your sound issue could be that some effects don't play well at frequencies above 48000. They will in effect not apply on mixdown. Something to consider!

Thank you. I am beginning to learn that even though some outsider effect add-ons are "free" they will mix down to a blank track so, it is indeed something to consider.

I certainly can't hear frequencies above 48000 (Hz?) but on the low side, there's not a whole lot of room. I was probably having to deal with 480 Hz and below.

[shakin_fingers]

What is your target mixdown format? If it's MP3, what bitrate are you using and what happens if you change it? What happens to the sound if you mix down to a lossless format?

I'm wondering if you might be falling foul of some psychoacoustic encoding issue in the MP3 encoder...

Mike

[gypsy101]

Nicely done! Vocals are great, good tone and clarity! . Another possibility on your sound issue could be that some effects don't play well at frequencies above 48000. They will in effect not apply on mixdown. Something to consider!

Thank you. I am beginning to learn that even though some outsider effect add-ons are "free" they will mix down to a blank track so, it is indeed something to consider.

I certainly can't hear frequencies above 48000 (Hz?) but on the low side, there's not a whole lot of room. I was probably having to deal with 480 Hz and below.

no human can hear 48,000kHz but that's a whole other topic.lol
here are a couple of articles to help understand it better-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_( ... rocessing)

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr02/a ... ixdown.asp

http://homerecording.com/bbs/general-di ... wn-353747/

[AHornsby]

What is your target mixdown format? If it's MP3, what bitrate are you using and what happens if you change it? What happens to the sound if you mix down to a lossless format?

I'm wondering if you might be falling foul of some psychoacoustic encoding issue in the MP3 encoder...

Mike

Thank you. The mixdown was from a wav to a wav. I'm not sure of the bitrates on either side of the issue as I am still a nube with MC. What you question is interesting though and I look forward to finding the answers, all in good time.

My fear is that it is all more psycho than acoustic.

[AHornsby]

no human can hear 48,000kHz but that's a whole other topic.lol
here are a couple of articles to help understand it better-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_( ... rocessing)

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr02/a ... ixdown.asp

http://homerecording.com/bbs/general-di ... wn-353747/

I wasn't sure you meant it that way. 44.1 is a common sample rate for me so I presume it was recorded using that. I also presume that if MC didn't load (or render) at the same rate I would have experienced some sort of nag screen before rendering? I don't know... again, nube. I appreciate your thoughts and time (and links).

[outteh]

In Mixcraft, you can check your sample rates under preferences for your audio interface. Setting it here will keep it set for future use. 44100' 16 bit is the norm.

[Acoustica Dan]

Windows Media Player has a built-in EQ and other effects that are sometimes installed with your sound device. You can read more about these settings here:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... =windows-7

The best thing to do is to load the WAV file back into a new instance of Mixcraft and hit play. If it sounds the way you expect it to sound, then everything is working fine, and you know that the issue is with Media Player's EQ and effects settings.

Dan

[Acoustica Dan]

By the way, your track is excellent -- well done!

Dan