ok guys, easy question

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consciouspilate

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why is it when I get a good sounding mix and then export audio the file i export sounds all muddy and boxy, nothing like what the tracks sounded like in cubase. am i missing a step.? why does it sound so much different? seems like a lot of low mids being added....
 
I have no idea... I use Cubase for digital editing/track scrubbing -- I would never mix with it..........!
 
ok Blue Bear, 'please' tell us why you would never mix with cubase.
 
I simply don't find it sounds as good as when I mix via analog........ while Mackie's summing busses don't win awards, they seem to be a step up from the digital summing algorithms that occur within Cubase....... (probably other s/w as well)

This is a subjective opinion mind you, but I've A/B'd both and prefer mixing analog......!

As always, YMMV.............!
 
I'm with Bruce on this one. But back to your problem. It shouldn't change the sound dramaticly when you render your project down to a two track. What's the bit depth and sampling rate of the multi track and the two track?
 
44.1 and 16bit ...and I export at the same. I can listen to the tracks in cubase and they sound great. export the audio tracks to .wav then open it in media player or burn it to cd or open it in cool edit and it sounds totally muddy and boxy. I'm listening through the same monitors. What the f#ck!
 
Get TexRoadKill in here... IIRC he recommends mixing "live" from DAWs -- e.g. down to DAT or something, and NOT using the "Export Audio" functions.
 
but i have no dat.... i want to burn baby burn, straight to my cd-rw... i want the cd to sound as good if not better than my cubase mix... this is killing me. I was just at mars buying some cables and thought i'd ask some of the guys in pro audio, jesus christ you would have thoght i'd asked them about fractal geometry or something. I'm about to have a nervous breakdown...
 
dude you got several smart replys, all of which indicate that using "Export Audio" is not the way to go. PM "TexRoadKill" and ask him why using "Export Audio" from Cubase isn't going to sound good. He's replied several times to questions like this... if anything, route your stereo mix in Cubase to a sub-group and record that as a separate stereo track. Do that live. I haven't tried that; again, someone like Tex could help you set that up.


Chad
 
cool, thanks for the help.... I will try a workaround. just wanted to make sure that it is the function of exporting audio that degrades the mix and not something i'm doing or not doing.... i'm kinda new with cubase if you can't tell so sorry if I come off like a nag...
Ben
 
That is really wierd....when I use "export audio" the tracks sound exactly the same. I guess I'll consider myself lucky...
 
Bass Master "K", I know what you mean. While there are subtle tonal differences in all the various mix down approaches, it shouldn't sound like poop.
 
Could it be that while exporting you are excluding the effects and eq's? I know that there are check boxes that allow you to include them or not when you do the audio mixdown export thingy. Hehe... I love my terminology. :D
 
Smart thinking soundprizm! That would be a logical answer. The boxes are easy to miss...one time I exported a tune and I go into soundforge to work with it and there was like 5 seconds of music. I'm all "what the....?"

Then I go back and look and I had it set for exporting "between the markers" and the R marker was just a few bars in :p

It just doesn't make sense that it sounds muddy and boxy for no reason.
 
I don't think I can really add anything here that hasn't already been mentioned. If the sound is vastly different than I would guess you are doing something wrong. Are you sure you are setting your levels properly? What is your final mixdown procedure? Can you post an example?

What is your soundcard? Do you have a mixer? There are some things you can try to see if it helps but if you dont have any other gear than there isn't much else you can try other than a different program.

I agree with Bruce that mixing externally is preferable and while DAW render mixes can be thin, stale, and flat they usually aren't vastly different than the raw tracks. 'Muddy and Boxy' would lead me to believe there is some type of loop going on and you might be layering your whole mix on top of itself.
 
sound card: delta 66 with omni i/o
cubase 5 vst/32...no external gear
I mix using vst channel mixer one, adding effects, eq etc...
when I am happy with the levels and it sounds good, I then mute the unused audio tracks and export audio to .wav (pcm coding) leaving all boxes checked for automation, effects, etc.
Thanks for all the suggestions.
Ben
 
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