Mixdown bad quality?

Support and feedback for Acoustica's Mixcraft audio mixing software.

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ejabno
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Mixdown bad quality?

Post by ejabno »

Hello guys. New to this forum.

Anyway, the sound quality of the mix down does not match what I hear in the program itself; it's way too muddy. Furthermore, I made the song fade out at the end but the mix down does the complete opposite and raises the volume up.

What could I do to fix this?
aj113
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Re: Mixdown bad quality?

Post by aj113 »

Are you mixing down to wav? Are the mixdown export settings correct?
Assuming yes to both of those questions, it could be your playback software. Open up a new Mixcraft project and import the mixdown file into it. Play it back in MC and see if the problems still exist.
ejabno
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Re: Mixdown bad quality?

Post by ejabno »

That is strange, because importing it back to Mixcraft (the wav file I mixed down to) sounded correct and crisper.

So it seems that my playback software (or drivers, that problem extended to uploading and playing back the track in Soundcloud) is the problem here. It sounded crap on Soundcloud on my PC, but fine on my mobile. Does this mean it needs updating/reinstalling?
aj113
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Re: Mixdown bad quality?

Post by aj113 »

More likely the settings IMO. Difficult to say without knowing your setup but have a poke about under the hood and see what you can find. Also try downloading and installing Videolan media player, there should be no issues with that software, so if the problem occurs again then it is most likely in your playback sound device settings.
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chibear
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Re: Mixdown bad quality?

Post by chibear »

If it sounds fine when you import it back into Mixcraft, but not on your media player, check to make sure all the 'enhancements' are off on the media player

For Soundcloud, be aware that they add their own 'processing' which reduces dynamic range and audio quality, so for high quality sound there you should not upload a MP3 for instance as Soundcloud reduces the quality. I upload 24 bit 48khz wave files so that by the time SC gets through with them they stll resemble my original concept.
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fredfish
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Re: Mixdown bad quality?

Post by fredfish »

Completly agree with aj.

He is also right that it can be differen on different systems - but try this.

Right Click on your speaker icon in your taskbar (next to the time)
Then select "Playback Devices" - if it is there.
You should get something like this
Untitled-1.jpg
Untitled-1.jpg (200.74 KiB) Viewed 8773 times
Click on "Properties" and the box on the right should come up then click the box to disable all the enhancements.

As aj rightly pointed out it might be different on your system - but worth a look.

Good luck

Cheers

John

**EDIT - crossed with chibear
Ryan168m
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Re: Mixdown bad quality?

Post by Ryan168m »

Hello all, I've been having the same problem as OP here for a good while now, and I was reading through all the advice everybody had here and while nothing anyone had suggested had worked I tried looking into my mixdown settings and when I selected customized mixdown and set it to 44,100 hz and 24 bit rate .wav and I'd sworn it'd worked...

However, 5 minutes went by and now my mixcraft .wavs are sounding bad again. The issue I'm having with playback is that everything is wayyy too loud and it almost sounds like the entire track had a blanket compression put over everything.

Same thing with whenever I import the file back into mixcraft, it sounds just fine. I'd tried mixing down as 44100 hz w 16 bit rate as well and still no dice. In my preferences I'm using waveRT rate is set to 44100 hz with 16 bit rate. I've tried changing it to 44100 with 24 bit rate and then mixing down to both 44100 hz with 24 bit rate and then with 16 bit rate (just for good measure) and none of those 4 combinations worked.
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MergingWorlds
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Re: Mixdown bad quality?

Post by MergingWorlds »

Ryan168m wrote: The issue I'm having with playback is that everything is wayyy too loud and it almost sounds like the entire track had a blanket compression put over everything.

Same thing with whenever I import the file back into mixcraft, it sounds just fine. I'd tried mixing down as 44100 hz w 16 bit rate as well and still no dice. In my preferences I'm using waveRT rate is set to 44100 hz with 16 bit rate. I've tried changing it to 44100 with 24 bit rate and then mixing down to both 44100 hz with 24 bit rate and then with 16 bit rate (just for good measure) and none of those 4 combinations worked.
As much as I love Mixcraft (extremely satisfied veteran user from MC4 thru 7), I too am hearing the same strange compression oddities upon final mixdown with MC7.

Been using Creative's Media Source 5 mp3 player without issue since 2011 to enjoy my Mixcraft masters...
Same BMC and CML final effects settings for years..
All mp3's mixdown to 320kbps, for 5 years..
Also, same soundcard and Sennhesiser cans..

Has Acoustica perhaps changed any compression parameters now with MC7?

PS: I use NO soundcard enhancements..

Stumped..
- mikey
aj113
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Re: Mixdown bad quality?

Post by aj113 »

Firstly you should turn your attention away from MC as the source of the problem. MC does not add anything to or do anything extra at mixdown. If it did, all users would be complaining about it.

Ryan168, the fact that you can import your mixed file back into MC and play it with no issue proves that MC is not your problem.

MW, you don't say whether the mixed track plays ok in MC or not, so I suggest you try that. If it does, then as much as you insist that your playback settings are ok, I can tell you that they are not.

You both need to play your mixed files in different playback environments - different computers if necessary, or perhaps try mp3 players or mobile phones.

Track down the offending area through a process of elimination.
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msnickybee
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Re: Mixdown bad quality?

Post by msnickybee »

Try FLAC mixdown. Despite using mixcraft for lots of years, I've never got on well with WAV. And on my upgraded new Win10 PC it doesn't behave (and I really can't be bothered finding out why).
But FLAC (relatively new MC feature) works fab.
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aj113
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Re: Mixdown bad quality?

Post by aj113 »

That's not going to solve the problem. Even if there is an improvement when using FLAC it is just a workaround, not a solution.
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msnickybee
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Re: Mixdown bad quality?

Post by msnickybee »

aj113 wrote:That's not going to solve the problem. Even if there is an improvement when using FLAC it is just a workaround, not a solution.
Quite right too! (although working in IT, I love workarounds)
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Acoustica Greg
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Re: Mixdown bad quality?

Post by Acoustica Greg »

Hi,

What aj113 wrote, plus...

If you bring the mixed down audio back into Mixcraft and it still sounds bad, then the problem is related to plugins you are using in your project and you need to mix it down to a wav file that has the sample rate you're using in Mixcraft's sound device preferences. For example, if you're using a sample rate of 48,000 Hz in Mixcraft's sound device preferences, mix down to a wav file with a sample rate of 48,000 Hz.

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JonInc
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Re: Mixdown bad quality?

Post by JonInc »

Just to add my 2 cents...

Mixdown to wav really should be part of any mixdown process. That wav file becomes your master, which you can convert, copy, or send off to the mastering house.

I recommend having a second MP3 player on hand (in addition to the one you normally use). It will come in handy if you should have playback issues like the ones in this thread. If the mp3 plays fine on the alternate player, then there's a problem with the first one somewhere (and now you don't have to spend any time digging around Mixcraft looking for a wrong setting).

There are plenty of free Mp3 players out there: iTunes, Winamp and VLC Media player, just to name a few.
Ryan168m
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Re: Mixdown bad quality?

Post by Ryan168m »

To be clear, when I place the audio files back into mixcraft it all sounds just fine, and I have already matched the sample rate with my sound device preferences. As for using different "environments" like different speakers and comps, sure I've already done that: friends computers, studio headphones w/ accurate playback, speakers in my car. Also, I haven't used any plugins that haven't come standard with software, and as a side note, all of my audio drivers are up to date. I've definitely done a lot of different trial and error type things with the sample and bit rates however, this same sound is still occuring. I definitely appreciate everyone who's taken the time to respond to his however, it seems that I can't find a solution quite yet.
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