Exported song sounds different from playback in Cakewalk

[Lummy Keen]

Goodday,

My exported song in WAV format sounds different from playback in Cakewalk. During playback, it sounds awesome. But the exported song in WAV sounds muddy, the bass are heavy,...everything is horrible. How to fix this?

Thank you

 

[scook]

If the bad playback is on the same machine as the DAW, often this is due to settings in the software used to play the wav file.

Some audio players have options to boost bass.

One way to test if the problem is the exported wav or the playback software is load the exported wav back into Cakewalk and play it.

If it sounds OK, the file is OK.

 

[Jon White]

C'mon, man, check all of your settings.  

What software is playing it as a wav file?  

People come here asking the most unresearched questions.

[John Vere]

Windows Media player doesn't normally enhance playback but other players might. Also if your using your on board sound card for none DAW playback those often use enhancment to make up for cheap systems that are the norm for computers. I only use my audio interface for all sound playback just to avoid things like this. I disable my on board and HDMI audio in device manager. 

If you want bullet proof playback then use one of the many free Wave editing programs. Gold Wave, Audacity, Sound Forge, Acoustica Basic are just a few. 

[Kalle Rantaaho]

How do you export? Are all tracks and buses routed to Master Bus, and Master Bus selected as export source?
Also, when you are playing back the project, are you hearing only the tracks you need to hear. It easily happens,  for example,  that you bounce a track for some reason,  but leave also the original track active, thus hearing the track doubled.

I've used SONAR/Cakewalk over twenty years and have never had any problems with export quality.  Using external audio editors is more like a workflow-preference. It does not affect the sound quality.

[Lummy Keen]

Dear All,

Goodday.

Many thanks for your reply.

I realized i used the wrong bit depth for exporting initially, i chose higher than 16 bit. My initial thoughts were higher bit depth means higher quality.
Using 16 bit to export it as WAV and playback in windows media player (version 12.0.7601.24460) and now it sounds similar to playback. 

Thank you.

Edited May 26, 2020 by Lum Tham

[John Vere]

That sould not have made a difference that any normal person would hear. I only export 16 bits if I'm making CD's and ya they sound great. But the same file exported at 24 bit will sound a tiny bit better, not worse. Something in your playback must have changed. 

[Marcos Gouvea]

Does it make any difference when you select tracks or time?  Try exporting Bus > Master.

[Thierry DACLIN]

Hello,

 

I have exactly the same issue and I don't know how to solve it.

I tried to export: the file, whatever parameters or conversion, doesn't sound like in cakewalk. it's as if it was high pass filtered.

I tried to convert all tracks in a new single track in cakewalk. When I play this new track in cakewalk (in solo mode), it sounds exactly like the final mix of the tracks played in cakewalk so it's OK.

But as soon as I play the file of this track out of cakewalk (for example in windows media player), the sound is not as good ans is exactly the same as the export.

All the effects where applied during export so really, I don't undestand what's wrong. It's just as if Cakewalk doesn't replay wav file like others players.

Any idea please ?

 

[Kevin Walsh]

On 5/21/2020 at 5:23 PM, Jon White said:

C'mon, man, check all of your settings.  

What software is playing it as a wav file?  

People come here asking the most unresearched questions.

New users are often unaware of the things we expect them to have done or what questions we want answered before they post a question.

Edited July 4, 2021 by Kevin Walsh

[John]

Those of us that are here to be of help know that it may require some questions from us to fully help a new user. It takes patience and some times a little hand holding to answer. By being on here one is either looking for answers or is willing to give answers. It isn't helpful to belittle anyone. If you don't feel like answering don't make it a problem for an OP and  simply don't post. 

We forget how complicated Cakewalk is. We've been using it or its older brother for a very long time.  For a new user it will be a very long learning curve. We can be of help in making that long curve a little shorter and more pleasant or we can make it harder and longer.  

 

  

[Terry Kelley]

I admit that there are times where the mixdown to stereo *appears* to sound different than listening to the Cakewalk playback. But I also think it's a bit of psychology. I had a friend play both Cakewalk and a stereo mixdown and I couldn't identify which one was which.

But there are days ...

Edited July 4, 2021 by Terry Kelley

[msmcleod]

Two things:

1. Within Cakewalk, make sure your tracks are being sent to a Master Bus, and your audio interface output is set at unity volume.

2. Within Windows, make sure any sound enhancement is turned off by clicking on the speaker icon in the taskbar:

 

[Noel Borthwick]

If the project sounds OK in cakewalk but the exported file sounds different there are only a few things that can go wrong.

1. The progran you are using to playback the file is not playing it back flat without processing. (This can happen if you are playing it through a different device than what cakewalk is using, such as your onboard soundcard)
2. You are exporting the master bus but the project has tracks or other buses that are outputting directly to hardware outs.

 To troubleshoot 1:
Load the exported file back into cakewalk as a new track. Solo it and check if it sounds the same. You can also phase invert the track and play it back from the start of the project. If the file is identical it should phase cancel and you will hear silence.

To solve the problem in 2:
Export with the source category set to entire mix or pick the "What you hear" export preset. This will guarantee that you are exporting the summed mix of all outputs.
Generally you should always ensure that all tracks and buses feed a single master bus (that outputs to your main hardware stereo outputs) and export that bus only.

[Craig Anderton]

I've been sandbagged a few times by media players for Windows that add "enhancements." Sometimes you need to dig deep into the sound settings, and go down the "properties" road until you find something like a check box for  "SuperDuper XYZ Surround 3D Sound" or whatever. The resulting processing can be truly horrific. Laptops seem particularly prone to this.  A lot of them boost bass, which may be why your file sounds muddy.

 

[Byron Dickens]

What I don't understand is why people automatically assume the issue resides in a pro-level DAW that used to cost upwards of $500 and easily rivals anything else on the market and not in whatever crappy bargain-basement system they're using for playback elsewhere.

[bitflipper]

^^^Your point is well-taken: when there is a discrepancy, trust the DAW over the playback device/software. Rather than asking "what's wrong with my DAW?" instead ask "what's wrong with my player?".

But to their credit neither the original poster nor the user who revived the thread reflexively blamed the DAW. In fact, Thierry's (correct) instinct was to verify the file's integrity. He just went about it wrong, making a reference mix within the project rather than exporting it and then importing it back into the DAW, as suggested by Noel.

Craig's suggestion is probably the most likely explanation. 

 

Note to other folks experiencing this problem - if you think this is bad, wait until you play your masterpiece back in your car. Or on earbuds, or on your friend's hi-fi, or over a PA system. It'll sound different every stinkin' time.

 

 

[Music Meister]

Hi. I am having some issues with my exported song. 

So during playback in the DAW, my leads in my song have some parts where they're audio just cuts out for a split second and then comes back. So when I exported my song, the leads sound the exact same way. I've looked on forums, YouTube, Google, but no one is talking about this and I really need help to fix my problem. 

I'll include my song so whoever knows how to fix this problem, knows what I'm talking about. 

I hope someone can help. 

(It's called "Take 5" just so I can find the file easier)

Take 5.mp3

[bitflipper]

My first guess would be that you have a plugin running in demo mode.

Nice production, btw.

[Music Meister]

On 7/14/2021 at 5:38 PM, bitflipper said:

My first guess would be that you have a plugin running in demo mode.

Nice production, btw.

Thanks first of all. And second, I don't think I have a demo plugin. I have free plugins but none that are a limited time use.

I have these specific plugins in these categories:

Leads: 6 leads total coming from a free plugin called Vital. 7 plugins are being used to enhance the sound of these leads and those are 3x LP EQ's, TAL-Filter 2 (free sidechain plugin), OTT, Sonitus Delay, and BREVERB 2 Cakewalk. 

Chords: 6 chords total all coming from Vital and a few from a free version of a plugin called Alpha. 6 plugins total. TAL-Filter 2, LP EQ, BREVERB 2 Cakewalk, OTT, Sonitus Delay, and Wider (free plugin that makes sounds feel...wider).

Sub bass: Only 1 being custom from Vital. 3 plugins total. LP EQ, OTT, TAL-Filter 2.

Growl bass: Only 1 coming from Vital. Same plugins as the sub bass. LP EQ, OTT, TAL-Filter 2.

Basses: 2 basses being a mid and a saw bass both from Vital. Same plugins as the other two. LP EQ, OTT, TAL-Filter 2.

Pads: 4 total coming from Alpha. 6 plugins total. TAL-Filter 2, LP EQ, BREVERB 2 Cakewalk, Sonitus Delay, Wider, and sTilt V2.

Sidechain: Just a bus that I made to make everything duck as the kick hits. Only 1 plugin is in here and that is the Sonitus Compressor.

Kicks: 5 kicks total all coming from Bandlab's sample library. 2 plugins total. LP EQ and OTT.

Snares: 5 snares total all coming from Bandlab's sample library. 4 plugins total. OTT, Wider, LP EQ, and BREVERB 2 Cakewalk. 

FX: Just an empty bus that helps to control the volume of all the FX that I have. About 50 in total, not including my white noise effect I made in Vital. 

Master: The master bus...duh.

 

So with all that, none of my plugins are demos and I'm pretty sure I went a bit overboard with the FX and plugins but this is my first song that I will complete in Cakewalk. If you have any idea what could be causing the problem with my leads, please help me. Or if you any tips for plugins and how to apply them properly like, "Don't put all your plugins in 1 bus. Instead put them on the sounds and some in the bus". Just an example and I'm pretty sure a really useless one. But I do hope that with this, you can help me or someone else can read this and help me out. Thank you.