Here is the thing Funkystrings. When you export in Cubase the sound is not going through the converters unless you have some analogue gear connected. It’s all digital, reading tracks from the drive, process them and writing them to a new file. All without the sound will go through your converters or audio interface.
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Yah, that always made sense to me. Someone else said; “yes I’d use the Fireface rather than the on-board sound card”, but that would be just for the sake of playback and shouldn’t affect an export at all because exports remain in the digital domain while writing the file.
It just doesn’t make any sense to me as to why my exports sound different than what I hear from Cubase stereo outs, using only this Laptop and some headphones and when I play the same file on other devices, it sounds degraded as well. I guess it’s hard for me to believe I’m the only one saying this.
As others have suggested, it can really only be one of 2 things…
- You playback software has some effects applied.
- You are monitoring through some effects/EQ in Cubase that are not part of the mix. Are you using any speaker/headphones correction software?
When you say, “playback software”, I take that as something in either my macs System Preferences or iTunes Settings. I’ve been all through those menus and can’t find anything weird but as I mentioned, the same file also sounds the same on my phone and in my car as well.
As for Cubase, I guess I could be monitoring through something that is not part of the mix but right now I can’t find it. Isn’t the “mix” found at the stereo outs? if so, could you give me a scenario as to how I might have something set wrong, sending something else to the stereo outs?
No, I don’t have any correction software on the 2bus and the very last plugin is an L2 maximizer type plug on the post-fader side.
Are you using Crontrol Room in Cubase? What about your audio interface software, any effects applied there?
I concluded these converters must be the culprit
and now I believe maybe it’s because of the lack of definition they impart, giving a perception of "lacking fidelity”
because of upper mid harshness. I don’t presume to know and simply ask, on a forum I’ve always known to be friendly,
“How do most of you deal with this?” If you are reading this, and you are someone who presumes to speak for everyone,I may not have any use for that kind of response.
You already said that the mix sounds much better played back in Cubase or Wavelab even on these consumer converters.
So, no I’m not presuming to speak for everyone. I’m just stating the obvious conclusion to be drawn from your own testing.
If the mixed file is OK played in Cubase/Wavelab but not outside of them then converters can not be the problem.
Someone else asked me that so I clicked on it and originally it said something like "Control Room is not active, would you like to activate?
I hit yes. I can’t see any plugins active. Control Room is something I’ve never use! I’m not sure how to completely disable either. I have the button that says “Main” greyed to the off position, (it would be blue if engaged). Would that completely disengage Control Room? I don’t see any other relevant Control Room setting menus that would indicate it’s still on?
No, most of the time, it’s just me with the laptop and headphones. None of the soundcard software is even running right now.
I was wrong about converters Grim, thanks for pointing out the deviations I make out of pure frustration. You don’t miss a thing.
I apologize damn it! and congrats to the 5000 post you’ll most likely reach by the end of the night. After initially starting this post
from a hotel room with just a laptop and headphones, I noticed the major sound difference between Cubase outs and exports on
my machine (and elsewhere). This is all I really know for sure right now. So anyway, I return home on the weekend, configure
to my soundcard and things naturally, start sounding better. I start suspecting converter differences. After all, someone did
ask me to try exporting while configured to my soundcard. If there were differences, I couldn’t tell. Besides, exports remain
in the digital domain. Now I"m downstairs with just my laptop and headphones again. I’m switched back to built-in Audio and
the first thing I’m sadly reminded of, is the Cubase sound engine sounds so damn good on my laptop with shitty DAs, it’s almost
impossible to tell the difference between it and the HD DAs of my soundcard upstairs, but my exports only sound slightly
improved when I do this same comparison connected to my soundcard. My exports sound different no matter what they’re played on!
If exports are supposed to sound like my Cubase outs, and I believe they are, then I need someone mac savvy to tell me why.
Mac savvy is definitely not me I’m afraid.
Re: disabling control room, the switch is in vst connections, studio tab. Don’t think this is your problem though but worth checking with it disabled.
Have you tried re-importing the exported file back into a new blank project in Cubase?
If so how does it sound (like it did in Cubase before export or like it does in the other software)?
…and further on KHS’s point a couple of posts up, are you sure there’s no headphone calibration/correction software, I got caught out by that once.
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Doesn’t iTunes default to some sound enhancements, I remember I had to change that.
If you listen in the car, the export should really be 16bit. No way of knowing how 24bit are handled on consumer grade equipment.
My thought also: Some Dolby enhancement or something. Which btw keeps on turning on after updates, especially on laptops…
I’ve always thought this but. been rebuked by the crowd in the past.
I’ve learned to live with it.
Then the crowd is wrong, or you did misunderstand them.
I’m not mad it’s everyone else.
I was beginning to think I was all alone in this. Even after being quite sure I saw older posts from others, suggesting the same thing in which, the consensus was just to “think different while mixing” in order to counteract these hearable differences.
Are they hearable? Well after trying every greatly appreciated suggestion posted above, apparently I, and others can’t resolve this.
It occurred to me that all I have to do, is try an export on my old laptop, so I pulled it out of the closet and fired it up after two years, launched its old version of 8.5, did an export and it reveals the same problem using a different machine, Mac OS and Cubase version.
The next test I’ll be doing won’t even involve Cubase, as I’ll be reluctantly installing my old DAW, (that rhymes with Tacos Cheaper)
creating a temporary groove with multiple tracks using all the plugs and virtual instruments I currently use, (what a pain in the ass),
…and see if it renders the same results.
This is verging on ridiculous now. It’s like the emperor’s new clothes. Noone dares to say the truth, that the emperor is naked. Is that what you believe?
/Magnus
How loud is the track you’ve recorded? Do the same test with plenty of headroom and report back.
For others to consider… The room itself does more damage to the sound you’re hearing but you’re using headphones, presumably closed back so this shouldn’t be an issue here. It will be for others making this claim!!!
And, never compare your mix you left last night after 10 hour session to hearing it fresh the next day. It’s always different and no where near as good. It’s purely psychology, do the test instantly, side by side.
I’ve been having issues lately with 9.5.3 and unprocessed audio tracks on export. Even a one track project I export the audio at the same bit depth and sample rate, then reimport it into the project and flip the phase on the new track I don’t get nulling.
Sorry to say it but this kind of thing is always human error.
Is the level of the master stereo output fader set at 0dB unity gain at the time of the export?