How 'bout UNintentional Distortion

[chrisharris]

Okay...looks like the INTENTIONAL distortion question is not a hot topic...so I'll switch.

Who can answer this question for +50 pts. and a chance for a trip to Hawaii.

In multitrack mode, when I've got, say...15 tracks running...I can have the Master volume on like, say -10db, and it won't be clipping according to the meter...but it distorts like a mother...but when mixed down...the distortion disappears. Makes it very difficult to monitor, b/c I keep pulling back on the low frequencies to kill the distortion...but then when it's mixed down, (of course), there's no low end...so I have to start all over.

Thanks
-chris

[dobro]

If Cool's meter isn't clipping, but you're hearing distortion, then you've got your mixer level set too loud for playback. The meter in Cool tells you what's going on with the levels through your soundcard and on the computer hard disk. But it doesn't determine what you hear through your monitors. The volume control knob for your monitors determines that.

[chrisharris]

Thanks for replying, man. But here's the thing. It distorts no matter how low the volume on my monitor is set. Case in point, I'm mixing last night, and the level meter showed everything to be okay. I actually had the main volume cut back to about -9 in mix mode, and the average output was about -3db. (ie, I wasn't clipping IN the computer). I heard the distortion, I turned my monitors way down...I turned the MAIN level even lower (-15) and it still sounded like garbage.

However, I went for it an mixed down the tracks. The final stereo wav sounded fine on playback, no matter how much I turn my monitors up (and it was louder than the playback in track mode).

I mean, the final product is all that matters, but it makes it REALLY tough to mix decently when I'm hearing this garbage in Track mode. Note, it usually only starts this when I've gone over 8 tracks.

Don't worry, dobro...I'm pretty sure that it's MY fault somewhere, but it ain't the monitor levels, because, again...they distort at whisper volume.