Bouncing Down in ableton!

[legskeattch]

This is really starting to grate on me....

I finished a mix, got it sounding just Exactly how i want it, theres no clipping... i bounce it down with a sample rate of 48000 and bit rate of 32.... it sound awful when played as a WAV.

There must be something im doing wrong, but for the life of me i can figure..

[moki]

I had the same problem before. Nothing was clipping but I had the bas boosted lots. when it was bounced out it distorted my whole mix. maybe try reducing it?

[legskeattch]

But everything was where i wanted it, everything was in context with everything else.

[contakt321]

What does "awful" sound like? (so we can help diagnose the problem)

My first thoughts:

Check each of your tracks, make sure none of the instruments, or the effects are clipping (check out the level meter on the right side of each effect).

[macc]

Did you make the track at 48kHz?

If you are converting the sample rate on export then you can run into all manner of nastiness. Sample rate conversion from most standard DAWs is evil

Besides which any sample rate conversion can - no, will - change your peak levels. This can lead to clipping that wasn't in the original file if you are running pretty close to 0dBFS.

There's no need to export to 32-bit either, by the way. 24 will do ye if you aren't hitting 0dBFS. Which you shouldn't be, or I'll send the boys round

[legskeattch]

awful = the bass just muffles everything...the crashes and hi hats sound like the resonance is turned up to the max!

Na not hitting 0db.. i promise! lol

just about to try exporting in 44100. I think i might have this wrong when trying 48000 becuase in the audio section under preferences it says in/out sample rate = 44100

[EDN]

No point in bouncing to 32bit, unless you have a stupidly expensive experimental monitoring system then 32bit is pointless.

I would recommend bouncing to 24bit 48khz or trying out stuff til it sounds how you wanted it to.
Because at the end of the day people only render to a certain bit and sample rate so that their stuff sounds better. If it sounds better in 16 bit do it in that, if its better in 192 try that.
The difference is so negligible for people without high end monitoring systems I wouldn't worry about it too much.

OH! And make sure you DAW sample rate and your soundcard sample rate match.

[legskeattch]

Not working... everything is matched and perfect in ableton until the boucning down!

[moki]

But everything was where i wanted it, everything was in context with everything else.

Everything was where I wanted it too, but the bass was still too much. just give it a try and see what happens. your problem might be different.

[legskeattch]

if it was the bass... why would it sound great in ableton, but not as a wav? it would be clipping and/or distorting, surely?

[contakt321]

Did you make the track at 48kHz?

Hey Macc, sorry, you may have discussed this before:

Should we be bouncing at 44100 or 48000?

Also, am I correct we should leave dithering OFF if being sent to a Mastering Engineer (like you or Benny)?

Thanks!

[macc]

No point in bouncing to 32bit, unless you have a stupidly expensive experimental monitoring system then 32bit is pointless.

32bit floating point format - which is what practically all DAWs offer - is the same as 24-bit with the added 8bits effectively allowing information above 0dBFS. To put it another way, unless you are clipping then 24 bit and 32 bit float are, to all intents and purposes, the same.

I would recommend bouncing to 24bit 48khz or trying out stuff til it sounds how you wanted it to.

Terrible advice. Bounce to 24 bit at whatever sample rate your tune was mixed at. You just spent ages in the mix making it sound how you want it to - why go changing that by exporting to something totally different?

Because at the end of the day people only render to a certain bit and sample rate so that their stuff sounds better.

It doesn't. You just fill in the 'missing' samples with zeros. Make a tune at a sample rate of 8kHz. Export it at 192kHz. It won't sound better.

If it sounds better in 16 bit do it in that, if its better in 192 try that. The difference is so negligible for people without high end monitoring systems I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Again, really terrible advice.

OH! And make sure you DAW sample rate and your soundcard sample rate match.

Some good advice! Most DAWs don't allow them to be different these days, but they may allow you to mix audio file sample rates in the same project. Anyway it pays to be mindful.


Sorry... not meaning to be an arsehole, but I am nothing if not punctilious.



@ the OP - You must be doing something wrong man... If I knew ableton better I could help more, but I do know it exports correctly!

[legskeattch]

yeah i no its my fault haha

trial and error and lots of reading atm... ill get there!

[karmacazee]

Have you got an eq on the master or anything like that?

[macc]

Should we be bouncing at 44100 or 48000?

Export at whatever sample rate the tune was made at. If you made it at 96kHz, export at 96kHz. 44.1k? Export at 44.1k, 48k, 48k, etc etc

Sample rate conversion does funny things to audio. Avoid doing it to your final mixdown unless you have very good reason. Leave it to your ME, who will either have *excellent* SRC software or will send it to analogue at the higher sample rate and capture it at the destination rate (usually 44.1kHz).

Also, am I correct we should leave dithering OFF if being sent to a Mastering Engineer (like you or Benny)?

Only dither when you are going from a higher bit depth to a lower one - it should be the very very last step of processing.

So yes, normally it will be done by your ME as the last thing they do... before sending you the bill

[Sharmaji]

bounce at what you work at; don't dither before getting something mastered.

edit: Macc you beat me to it!

[karmacazee]

You know, I've never actually checked whether all the samples I've used in a project are all the same bit depth and sample rate, but I've never really had any problems.

It's probably because I bounce everything down internally in Ableton before mixing (apart from MIDI, unless I'm resampling that shizzle!).

[legskeattch]

i have nothing on the master... it just sounds compressed to shit... but i dont have one single compressing VST in any channel....

[macc]

You know, I've never actually checked whether all the samples I've used in a project are all the same bit depth and sample rate, but I've never really had any problems.

It's probably because I bounce everything down internally in Ableton before mixing (apart from MIDI, unless I'm resampling that shizzle!).

Either it will convert them on import, or play them back at the 'wrong' sample rate, which essentially just changes the pitch. Most DAWs have an option, depending on what you want to do.

Changing the sample rate of some crusty old sample you're going to mangle, process to bits and then use once in your track is one thing, potentially causing problems with the precious mix you spent 2 months doing is something else

[legskeattch]

I FOUND THE PROBLEM!!!

it had nothing to do with me in the first place....

im playing the audio back in itunes!

i then tried through quicktime and its sounds awesome!

up your itunes.