MuFever

I will try this, thanks. But why is it not clipping inside the DAW?

now I am more confused ? Maybe I did not write in the right away my issue ( I am not a native English speaker) Well, I master in the DAW in -3dB pan law option and finally testing my master in mono inside my DAW and everything sounds good to me. I export the stereo track using -3dB pan law option with no change. When listening the exported track with any media player and set to stereo then everything is the same as inside the DAW, but when press mono in my audio interface then it is clipping. The same mono audio is not clipping inside the DAW. I hope I wrote it in the right way....

So is there a solution that I mix in -3dB and Master at 0Db so it is calibrated with various audio mono devices out there? If I understand correctly you say that I mix in -3dB but my audio interface (and propably all the mono devices out there) is 0dB? Sorry for the questions but as a newbie I am in the beginning of my learning curve. And thank you for your time , really

Yes I did not write it correctly. I am used to -3dB pan leveling that when I turn to 0dB it is like I need to do extra work with track faders. But what about the other thing? Why are there different approaches (another in DAW another in exported file outside the DAW) of the final track metering when in mono? This is what I cannot understand. I test mono compatibility in DAW to ensure I am ok but why the mono reacts different outside of the DAW?

I totally agree with you about the personnel preference. In my ear the -3dB compensation is "sweeter" . Also I always make decision according to my ears for a track. But in this case I am very confused about when and why clipping occurs. Why when monoing in Cakewalk it is not clipping but the same export clips when monoing my audio interface. I have also noticed that many commercial songs I listen to clipping in my system when enabling the mono button on audio interface. But the most confusing thing for me is for the mastered tracks as I use limiters. In mastering I aim to -0.1 - -0.3 dBfs and this is working good inside the DAW (stereo and mono) But it is different when I export the very same track. In stereo mode it behaves the same but when monoing audio interface it adds more loudness.

Here again lol. So when I export a mastered track from Cakewalk (I use -3dB pan law) and see that my track is clipping when monoing my interface but it is not clipping when monoing in cakewalk then what decision should I take? Leave it trusting DAW or begin the mastering again?

Hello to everyone, I'd kindly like to ask some questions about pan laws. I have made a research through the web but I'd like to open this topic to discuss about pan law in Cakewalk and its effects to the final mix or mastering. I use the -3 db center option and always check my mixes in mono for phasing issues and also to hear how would my mix sound in a mono device. When I "monoing" into Cakewalk I could hear a small attenuation of the overall signal comparing to the stereo. On the other hand when I export the same mixdown and listening to it through the pc (outside the DAW) and monoing my audio interface then I see that the audio is louder and sometimes clipping. Why is this happening? Let's assume that my audio interface do not compensate level when monoing, then what about an external mono audio device let's say in a car or a phone etc. How will the mono device "translate" the stereo input? Will it add loudness as my audio interface or the pan law will "follow" the audio clip always? I have also noticed that when i use the built in mono-interleave button in a track it is ok but when I monoing the Master Bus and my individual tracks remain in stereo then the meters of the individual tracks exceed the 0 dBfs reference point but I can't hear any noticeable clipping distortion.