Render/Stem Louder Than in Mix

I am trying to create a vocal stem to mix with. It consists of six vocal tracks output only to a group track (called “Vox” on the right in the attached picture). The group track is automated and has 3 FX sends. The group track and fx sends then all output to the stereo buss.

When playing the above soloed, it peaks at -22.8 RMS. When I render the above, it is about 6dB louder, peaking at -16.3 RMS.

When playing back to check levels and when rendering, all fx on the stereo buss are bypassed. Not sure if it will help, but here is a pic of the mix.

Any ideas what is going on? It is driving me nuts!

Thanks,


p

Pan law

What do you render ?
The group or the buss ?

The 6db difference suggests Pan Law as peakae says.

Pan law is set to Equal Power. I am rendering the Stereo Buss.

If the pan law is the culprit, I still don’t understand why it renders louder than the playback (prior to rendering)?

Thanks again,


p

Well , i don’t know how your render will be useed , reimported or not in the current project or how you monitor it , it’s just an idea , but…
if you monitor the render thru the master buss , and for example , the fx chain (on the buss) isn’t unity gain then you can have level discrepancy.
Also , so your render will be reprocessed thru the master buss chain fx , that is not a normal procedure (normally).

Pan Law doesn’ t apply to stereo tracks, as long as you are not using dual stereo panner.