Mixdown/Bouncing Problems

tterral wrote on 10/18/2002, 3:06 PM
When I mix down several tracks (lead vocals, rythmn guitar, etc.) to a single stereo "comped" track, the mixed down track does not have the same volume as the tracks do when played together before mixdown. I am doing this to save precessor power, since I am using an antique P II 400. I have done this before and do not recall this volume discrepancy problem between the new mixed down/bounced tract and the original tracks. You can hear the mixed down track, but the waveform is sometimes very small (not always) and definitely not as loud as the originals. I realize the wave form may be different from one mixed down track to the next, based on the levels of the tracks being mixed down.

Any ideas?

Thanks.
Tim T

Comments

bgc wrote on 10/18/2002, 4:04 PM
Hmmm. That's strange. The playback levels of your comped track should be exactly the same as your playback track (I check these to make sure I've comped a track correctly - the peaks of the single tracks played together should be the same as the comped track played back alone). Are you rendering to the same format that your project is set to? (i.e. 48kHz, 16-bit, stereo).
tterral wrote on 10/18/2002, 4:59 PM
Yes, everything is the same, as far as I know. I have not changed anything. I render down using the default 24 bit/44.1 kHz stereo format, which is how I record everything. I have done it before without a problem, though it has been a little while. Any settings I should double check?

Thanks.
Tim T
tterral1 wrote on 10/19/2002, 2:51 PM
I have re-checked everything. When I have tried to bounce down (even tried it without any FX sends) just using the straight track, I still get a stereo track that is considerably less volume than the originals. Any suggestions on what I should try?

Tim T
Arnar wrote on 10/19/2002, 3:47 PM
If you are bouncing several tracks then you might have the master fader set to let´s say -10 and then you would be playing your bounced tracks through the master fader again at -10 ....see...?

What i do is Solo the track´s i want to bounce and set the master fader accordingly to get a good level and then mix them back into the track.
Sari wrote on 10/19/2002, 4:38 PM
Whenever you bounce make sure that the main volume of the new composite track is set to 0.
tterral1 wrote on 10/20/2002, 10:28 PM
I believe in the few times I have mixed down tracks, the comped track has the same volume as the tracks being bounced. In other words, I could play the comped track without any adjustment to the master fader or the track volume itself and it would sound the same as if I was playing the uncomped tracks. The new comped track is set at 0 as well. This would seem logical to have this be the case. If the uncomped tracks were soft, so would the comped track, ie. smaller wave form, etc.

If I wanted to have a hotter track I would adjust the master fader, but of course there would be some amount of re-mixing involved in that case, which is not what ideally would like to happen. If that is the only way to do it, then I guess I will have to adjust, but I know that has not been the case in the few times I have tried it before. It seems to me that the comped track should be identical to the uncomped tracks in terms of volume, effects (if there are any), panning, etc.

Thanks for the responses so far.
Tim T