I eq and master my songs in Sonar and the levels check out. The songs sound good played from my computer through a nice set of monitor speakers. Then I burn a disc. When I play it in my computer's CDROM, it still sounds good. But when I play it on my stereo, I get these wierd buzzing sounds. It almost sounds like buzzing speaker cones, but I don't get those sounds on store bought CDs. So what am I dealing with here and how can I fix this?
Burning CDs
- Thread starter Yasoo
- Start date
You may be distorting your speakers. Its quite possible that your studio monitors will handle an excess of certain frequencies, but other systems can't. Thats what we call translating a mix. I would imagine that it's not a CD Burner problem since the same CD plays just fine in your computer. you will probably need to find out which combination of tracks in your mix is peaking things out and start with some channel EQ'ing, and then maybe a little more overall EQ on the final master.
xstatic said:
What do you mean by "peaking things out"? Like I said, the levels are fine.
I guess my test for this would be to rip a song off a CD that plays fine and then burn it. Then if I get this noise I can elimiminate this theory and if I don't, then you are right. However, if you are right about this, this would make mixing a ridiculously hard task. And then I would be eq'ing for what? A couple different set of speakers and then it won't work on others?
Frequency peaks really don't have a lot to do with overall levels. Maybe you have a spike in one of your tracks at 200 hz and your monitors don't distort, but other playback systems do. You can have these spikes without actually pushing your levels over digital zero. The CD Rip test would be a good way to find out if there really is something wrong with your burner, but i doubt that is the problem. Until you learn your system really well, and your room, and your monitors, frequency problems like I described are a fact of life and a problem for many home engineers. If mixing was ridiculously easy, then I would be out of a job. It can certainly be learned, but it sounds like you may be caught right on the middle of the learning curve.
On small moniotrs especially, it is really easy to make your mix sound great, but then find out that you have way too much low frequency energy in your mix that distorts badly in your car, home etc.... Run your mix through a spectrum analyzer and then look at a couple of commercial releases as well. It may help you to find some of the inconsistencies. When you get a really good mix it will translate nicely between most other systems.
Earlier you said it sounded good through a nice set of monitors? What are those monitors? If they really are nice monitors, you may need to look into acoustic treatment of your room. You may be surprised at how different they sound once they finally are running in a proper environment. I know it's frustrating, but keep on truckin
As you improve, the satisfaction you get will be well worth the frustration and energy spent
On small moniotrs especially, it is really easy to make your mix sound great, but then find out that you have way too much low frequency energy in your mix that distorts badly in your car, home etc.... Run your mix through a spectrum analyzer and then look at a couple of commercial releases as well. It may help you to find some of the inconsistencies. When you get a really good mix it will translate nicely between most other systems.
Earlier you said it sounded good through a nice set of monitors? What are those monitors? If they really are nice monitors, you may need to look into acoustic treatment of your room. You may be surprised at how different they sound once they finally are running in a proper environment. I know it's frustrating, but keep on truckin
As you improve, the satisfaction you get will be well worth the frustration and energy spentxstatic -
Thanks a bunch for your time! I wasn't implying mixing would be ridiculously easy except for this point, just not ridiculously hard. As it is, I know I have a LOT to learn. I must admit, I don't understand the concept of a spike at 200Hz that is below 0dB would cause a distoring sound - more stuff I have to still learn... I did noticed the concept you mentioned of hearing the low frequencies too much on a stereo with large speakers vs. my little monitors (by the way, they are "decent", maybe not "nice", but not just junk - Event Tuned Reference 5). That was the first thing I noticed, it was REALLY obvious.
I first noticed the buzz in a situation a few months ago where I had a live recording I was trying to mix. The guitar sounded O.K. in my monitors, maybe a little buzz, but had that distorting buzz in the home stereo speakers. I think the guy's guitar was distoring in his stack and I tried to remix it and pull those frequencies out, but it didn't work. The only way I figured out how to get rid of that was to turn it way down and then it was too quiet in the mix. Argh!
What is a spectrum analyzer. Is there a software spectrum analyzer?
Thanks a bunch for your time! I wasn't implying mixing would be ridiculously easy except for this point, just not ridiculously hard. As it is, I know I have a LOT to learn. I must admit, I don't understand the concept of a spike at 200Hz that is below 0dB would cause a distoring sound - more stuff I have to still learn... I did noticed the concept you mentioned of hearing the low frequencies too much on a stereo with large speakers vs. my little monitors (by the way, they are "decent", maybe not "nice", but not just junk - Event Tuned Reference 5). That was the first thing I noticed, it was REALLY obvious.
I first noticed the buzz in a situation a few months ago where I had a live recording I was trying to mix. The guitar sounded O.K. in my monitors, maybe a little buzz, but had that distorting buzz in the home stereo speakers. I think the guy's guitar was distoring in his stack and I tried to remix it and pull those frequencies out, but it didn't work. The only way I figured out how to get rid of that was to turn it way down and then it was too quiet in the mix. Argh!
What is a spectrum analyzer. Is there a software spectrum analyzer?
xstatic -
I ran a line level from the computer to the aux on the stereo and it distorts. So it seems that your analysis is right. If you get a chance, could you please tell me what I need to look for in the spectum analyzer? A certain shape? A certain pattern? I'd really appreciate a bit more info. I did some research and found a bunch of them. I am going to try the free VST one from Voxego. Thanks again.
Yasoo.
I ran a line level from the computer to the aux on the stereo and it distorts. So it seems that your analysis is right. If you get a chance, could you please tell me what I need to look for in the spectum analyzer? A certain shape? A certain pattern? I'd really appreciate a bit more info. I did some research and found a bunch of them. I am going to try the free VST one from Voxego. Thanks again.
Yasoo.
Start by analyzing a commercial CD. Then see how far off your levels are. More than likely there will be a group of levels that are consistently higher. Especially pay attention to the 60 - 250 hz range. Every song is very differetn as is every engineer so I can't really give you specifics until I hear your monitors, in your room, with your material. 
Yeah, I did that. I looked at a few commercial songs. The levels weren't that much higher anywhere, but I noticed a slight lack of consistency of the wave pattern the analyzer showed vs. the commercial ones. What I did was note what I saw when I hear the speaker buzz on my song and I saw the 600 frequency pop up. I put an eq on the entire mix and did about -18db at 600 with a pretty small Q so it dropped a bunch of the surrounding frequencies too. I also noticed a couple jagged edges at 2.5 kHz and 5 kHz so I did about -14 with a much larger Q for a narrower band. Buzz went away. But now I don't see the point in using my monitors. Seems like a waste to spend hours mixing to find out it won't sound good on a stereo. Unless I figure out how to make it sound a little "bad" so then I know it will sound good on the stereo? Wierd stuff. Anyway, thanks again, I really appreciate it.
But now I don't see the point in using my monitors. Seems like a waste to spend hours mixing to find out it won't sound good on a stereo. Unless I figure out how to make it sound a little "bad" so then I know it will sound good on the stereo? Wierd stuff. Anyway, thanks again, I really appreciate it.You might check your room treatments and monitor placement. Eventually you will learn your speakers through repeated listening (Just put on a bunch of your favorite songs through them while your working on something else). You could also apply a slight boost in EQ at the monitors, of the frequencies that are offending, which might prevent from over-boosting those frequencies in the mix (I don't recommend that approach, but if all else fails, it might be the trick).