Subject:Why do the songs i make sound ok, till I put them in Winamp, or Cool Edit

Posted by: Dewey

Date:6/14/2002 1:35:39 AM

I've just got the program not to long ago. I've made some cool songs, that sound of good quality. When I save them though and play them in Winamp, or to edit in Cool Edit the sound quality sucks and I can barely hear it even when the sound is all thw way up. Is there something that I'm not doing. I'm hoping this is a problem that can be solved.

Thanks For Any Help I Get

Subject:RE: Why do the songs i make sound ok, till I put them in Winamp, or Cool Edit

Reply by: groovewerx

Date:6/14/2002 4:37:27 AM

i would try:

1. always setting the record/playback levels so they maintain consistant 0db. in acid that would be constant green/yellow with alot of orange, and red peaks with limited clipping.

2. apply that idea to all other audio software and devices especially the incoming signal (mic, mixer, rebirth, reason, triton, mpc, etc.)

3. when mixing tracks be sure to keep the master set to 0db and the meters as in 1. you'll use the individual track volumes to get there and when rendering tracks/songs be sure to set the preview level to 0db.

4. now with all the levels dialed in, adjust the amplifier volume instead of the others.

i strongly suggest you use a wave editor like wavelab to master your mixdowns becuase you'll have more control over the final touches.

if i've missed something i'm sure one of the others will add to this.

Subject:RE: Why do the songs i make sound ok, till I put them in Winamp, or Cool Edit

Reply by: inspector

Date:6/14/2002 10:20:38 AM

"1. always setting the record/playback levels so they maintain consistant 0db. in acid that would be constant green/yellow with alot of orange, and red peaks with limited clipping."

I am curious as to why you would allow clipping? I allways assumed that red is a bad thing.

Respectfully,

Steve

Subject:RE: Why do the songs i make sound ok, till I put them in Winamp, or Cool Edit

Reply by: SPP

Date:6/14/2002 1:30:31 PM

Another thing to make sure of is how you are rendering the file. Go to File/Render As and make sure the template is 128 Kbps to get CD quality rendering on an MP3 file. That of course is dependant on what file format you're "saving as". It's possible you've saved it at an inferior sample rate. Just one more thing to check.

HTH!

Subject:RE: Why do the songs i make sound ok, till I put them in Winamp, or Cool Edit

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:6/14/2002 1:59:17 PM

I remember there being a niggling bug in an earlier build of ACID Pro, where rendered projects would end up quieter than the original project. Did you pick up the latest build of ACID to see if that helps?

Iacobus

Subject:RE: Why do the songs i make sound ok, till I put them in Winamp, or Cool Edit

Reply by: groovewerx

Date:6/14/2002 3:47:45 PM

inspector,

acid seems to have more headroom than other software. in fact if you set your levels as i said and then export a 0db acid track into wavelab, it will register as -6db to -4db. which is why i recommend mastering your songs outside of acid.

Subject:RE: Why do the songs i make sound ok, till I put them in Winamp, or Cool Edit

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:6/16/2002 12:24:48 PM

I dunno. I have a project that is -1.1 and -1.0 dB max in ACID Pro (with the master fader set at 0.0 dB). If I render it and check it out in Sound Forge, it shows up exactly the way it did in ACID Pro, -1.1 and -1.0 dB peak. I've tried this with several projects. I get the same results.

Could it be because of the kmixer issue? Or maybe a bug in WaveLab?

Iacobus

Subject:RE: Why do the songs i make sound ok, till I put them in Winamp, or Cool Edit

Reply by: Dewey

Date:6/16/2002 12:42:57 PM

Thanks SPP, that's what I did wrong. I din't think to render it s it would get saved under some weird acd thing. I checked it today. And the sound quality was great...Thanks for all of the hlep guys

Subject:RE: Why do the songs i make sound ok, till I put them in Winamp, or Cool Edit

Reply by: groovewerx

Date:6/16/2002 6:55:48 PM

md: perhaps you don't see that because sf products share similar if not the same audio engine. i know wavelab and cubase do and i'm sure you'll get the same results using wavelab instead of soundforge.
if you still don't believe me, post a 128k or 192k mp3 track on ap that you've mastered in soundforge, and with that file i'll show you the difference between soundforge and wavelab fidelity.

Subject:RE: Why do the songs i make sound ok, till I put them in Winamp, or Cool Edit

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:6/17/2002 12:25:51 PM

Have a go at it.

Iacobus

Subject:RE: Why do the songs i make sound ok, till I put them in Winamp, or Cool Edit

Reply by: SHTUNOT

Date:6/18/2002 1:44:12 AM

"The Pill of Cain" was my favorite track out of the three. Was the guitar tracks off of a sample disk or did you track them yourself? Cool stuff. Though I wish you had brought out the rythmic chunking stuff out in the mix a bit more with some more fullness[a little less technoyyyy mixed guitar tone,more chest suppressing force]...Definitely liking it dude. Later.

Subject:RE: Why do the songs i make sound ok, till I put them in Winamp, or Cool Edit

Reply by: groovewerx

Date:6/18/2002 7:50:22 AM

ok mD, http://www.sonicfoundry.com/Forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=108332&Replies=0&Page=1

Subject:RE: Why do the songs i make sound ok, till I put them in Winamp, or Cool Edit

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:6/18/2002 11:58:04 AM

Since TPOC was my first project ever (and seems to be everyone's favorite too), it suffers from lack of digital audio knowledge. (I didn't even know the difference between 16-bit and 24-bit then.) I'm no producer/engineer, but I'd like to think I'm at least getting there ever so slowly.

I did it (in what seems) ages ago with a lowly Soundblaster card and ACID Pro 2.0 and Sound Forge XP 4.5. The guitar tracks were from the Methods of Mayhem loop library (as well as everything else). Now that I can record my own material (sample is not mastered), I'm interested to see what I can come up with.

Thanks for the comments!

Iacobus

Subject:RE: Why do the songs i make sound ok, till I put them in Winamp, or Cool Edit

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:6/18/2002 12:09:28 PM

Hmmm. Fair enough. Bass is nice and punchy. (May I ask how you got it that way? Settings? As I've said before, I'm not exactly an expert on compression/mastering.)

My aim in the project, however, was not to have everything cranked. I was looking a little more for quieter dynamics (especially at the beginning and end). Still liked the bass though.

Iacobus