Please help - Ive just completed my first full track in Cubase SX, and want to put it on CD. I export it as .wav with audio mixdown, but when I listen to it back I lose all the 'power' from the main synths, they seem to sink into the background and lose their edge, and other instruments come to the fore. Ive tried increasing the sample rate but all that does is increase the file size with the same results. Surely this cant be right?? Is it something to do with the way ive mastered it?


MP

Hard to say, but your monitoring/playback setup is obviously not set up right.

First fact: If you master it, it's obviously going to sound different, so we'll exclude THAT.

The most detrimental thing I can say that could have caused this is the way certain mp3/wav players play back the file you've exported, and windows sound setting issues.

1. What program are you using to listen to your track? Are you using an EQ on this player? Make sure it's turned off. Winamp for example applies EQ settings differently between a WAV file and an MP3 file. ie. take the same song, one in MP3 format and the other in WAV format. Both tracks will sound COMPLETELY DIFFERENT, even tho they have the same eq settings applied through Winamp.

2. Make sure windows isn't applying any weird settings to your soundcard via the sound control panel. Prime examples of this would be something like:
-3d depth: which is a reverb/3d effect. It totally washes out a sound.
Different sound cards have different names for this, but generally they all give the same washed out reverby effect.

Thanks for your quick response Rob, but I ive found the problem - and its a lot simpler than I thought!! I was saving it MONO, so lost all the depth to the track. So ive now changed it to stereo and hey presto!! Good as new!!
Its all a learning curve for me.......!

MP

That's not a simple problem

quote:

Technical tip if radio play is important to your release... be sure to check your mixes in mono as well as stereo. If there are mono compatibility problems, large listening areas may receive a signal that is radically different from the sound you hear in stereo. I pick these problems up quickly when I analyze your tape, but by then its too late. See the section on Creating Tighter Mixes for more info.

Rob, where did you find that? Sounds interesting to me, I would like to read more about that.

Thanx,
nytrox

___________________
www.myspace.com/mentris

Just google something like "mono/ radio/ mixdown/ mastering/ compatiblity" or something along those lines. You'll get heaps of results.

http://www.masterdigital.com/24bit/radioprocess.html

The quote I had was off:
http://www.drtmastering.com/faq2.htm

Thanx alot!

___________________
www.myspace.com/mentris