Whenever I export my final master it sounds completely different to how it does in the DAW

[Stewart Cormack]

For whatever reason, when I export my song from cakewalk the audio sounds terrible. Not sure what the point was in me spending hours mixing and mastering just for it to sound completely different when I export it. Cakewalk seems to have a mind of it's own half the time ahaha, can anyone solve my problem? Just want to finish my song and finally get it released, but I can't because this is delaying the whole process. Frustrating would be an understatement...

Edited March 4, 2021 by Stewart Cormack

[Stewart Cormack]

49 minutes ago, John Vere said:

@Stewart Cormack

Did your watch the video? I posted it because I explain how to set up on board sound properly. I think you have enhancements on. I also explain how each on board system will be different. Groove Music is the very worst player on the planet.   Use Windows Media player or VLC. Better yet do like I do and use a Wave editor to proof mixes. 

http://www.goldwave.ca/

https://www.audacityteam.org/download/

https://www.magix.com/ca/free-download/sound-forge-pro/

 

And You can most certainly change driver modes with a project open.  You just cannot change sample rate.

I would like a screen shot of that dialog you just posted.   “(Close all projects to edit)”  

 

[Stewart Cormack]

_

Edited March 6, 2021 by Stewart Cormack

[John Vere]

That's not your audio settings thats midi! 

[Nigel Mackay]

Close all projects is NOT the same as close Cakewalk.

[Stewart Cormack]

12 hours ago, John Vere said:

That's not your audio settings thats midi! 

Oh! My bad haha

I watched the video and followed all the steps, it still doesn’t sound right when I export it as a WAV file. So I need to do further editing in Audacity to correct it?

Edited March 6, 2021 by Stewart Cormack

[Nigel Mackay]

If you don't have VLC, get it. Use it to play the WAV file. If it sounds ok, great, if it doesn't:

Make sure Cakewalk is open.
Play the wave file with VLC.
Right-click on the speaker in the system tray and select Open Volume Mixer. See if there is any difference between what it says for Cakewalk and what it does for VLC.

 

[John Vere]

1 hour ago, Stewart Cormack said:

Oh! My bad haha

I watched the video and followed all the steps, it still doesn’t sound right when I export it as a WAV file. So I need to do further editing in Audacity to correct it?

Install Audacity and play the file there. If your export settings are correct it will be identical. If it doesn’t then you not exporting correctly and we’ll fix that for you 

Other issues could be your not monitoring the same output buss your using for the export source. Example monitoring 3/4 output and export 1/2 

Edited March 6, 2021 by John Vere

[Nigel Mackay]

19 minutes ago, John Vere said:

Install Audacity and play the file there. If your export settings are correct it will be identical. If it doesn’t then you not exporting correctly and we’ll fix that for you 

Other issues could be your not monitoring the same output buss your using for the export source. Example monitoring 3/4 output and export 1/2 

When the OP imports the WAV file back into Cakewalk it sounds correct. So it has to be the playback system. Unless there is something really weird and wonderful going on.

[Stewart Cormack]

@Nigel Mackay @John Vere I played it through VLC and unfortunately it still didn't sound right. So I clicked on Open Volume Mixer to make sure it was the same as cakewalk, and it was. I then played it on Audacity and that also didn't sound right. So I must be exporting it incorrectly?

[Glenn Stanton]

did you import it into a blank CbB project and listen? if it sounds different then the export process(ing) you're doing is the cause. if it's the same, then i'd look into making sure all playback apps and systems are calibrated to the same levels as CbB, no extra effects (EQ, reverb, loudness, spatial, etc etc).

[John Vere]

A question not asked yet is are you using on board audio?   It would seem you are. If you are using an ASIO interface troubleshooting would be different. 

 The Volume mixer really doesn't tell you anything other than the fact the application is outputting correctly to Windows sound. 

I posted screenshots of the output settings you should see Device properties/ additional device properties I explain this in the video but just in case you missed it. 

Notice the sample rate setting. Make sure this is all the same in all settings. Otherwise songs can play back slow. 

 

[Nigel Mackay]

11 hours ago, Stewart Cormack said:

@Nigel Mackay @John Vere I played it through VLC and unfortunately it still didn't sound right. So I clicked on Open Volume Mixer to make sure it was the same as cakewalk, and it was. I then played it on Audacity and that also didn't sound right. So I must be exporting it incorrectly?

Export a short bit of the project and post it here so we can check it.

Select a few seconds on the timeline.

[Will.]

On 3/4/2021 at 10:23 PM, Stewart Cormack said:

For whatever reason, when I export my song from cakewalk the audio sounds terrible. Not sure what the point was in me spending hours mixing and mastering just for it to sound completely different when I export it. Cakewalk seems to have a mind of it's own half the time ahaha, can anyone solve my problem? Just want to finish my song and finally get it released, but I can't because this is delaying the whole process. Frustrating would be an understatement...

I'm gona say this again. When things sounds "clustered" and messy - that means there no sense of balance in your track and compression on the master track is too heavy - but most importantly probably NO HEADROOM. Forget about the Media Players for now. No seriously! throw that out of the discussion. 

Another mistake new users do in the console, because everyone wants to jump straight to it - is to crank the "Console Emulator Module" way up. The TRIM knob there is to trim the increase in dial effect. So if you set the drive to 2db or 3db, you have to turn the Trim knob to the left side and match the drive volume in (-) negative value.

With this comes compression and limiting mistakes. So now do yourself a favour quick, by doing another test. Turn down all the gain/volume to their default position of 0 = Unity, on your compressors. SET your limiters ceiling to -0.3db and the threshold down on 0db.

Watch your meter peaks on the limiter and console strips! and on your MASTER Track.

This is hardly mixing tips I'm giving / and only for testing what's in discussion here. If your meters are barely reaching that -0.3db reading, export the track and have a listen. Give feedback on this. 

I will reply back. 

Edited March 9, 2021 by Will_Kaydo
Typing errors.

[Stewart Cormack]

On 3/6/2021 at 6:13 PM, John Vere said:

A question not asked yet is are you using on board audio?   It would seem you are. If you are using an ASIO interface troubleshooting would be different. 

 The Volume mixer really doesn't tell you anything other than the fact the application is outputting correctly to Windows sound. 

I posted screenshots of the output settings you should see Device properties/ additional device properties I explain this in the video but just in case you missed it. 

Notice the sample rate setting. Make sure this is all the same in all settings. Otherwise songs can play back slow. 

 

In audio playback and recording my driver mode was ASIO, but I changed it to WASAPI Shared following your video.

I'm still not 100% certain what on board audio is exactly, however I went through all of my settings and made sure they were the same as your screenshots.

[Stewart Cormack]

On 3/7/2021 at 5:23 AM, Nigel Mackay said:

Export a short bit of the project and post it here so we can check it.

Select a few seconds on the timeline.

 

Song Sample.wav

[Nigel Mackay]

Sounds like normal piano chords to me.

Something you haven't said - do other wave files you have sound ok?

[Stewart Cormack]

3 minutes ago, Nigel Mackay said:

Sounds like normal piano chords to me.

Something you haven't said - do other wave files you have sound ok?

For me the chords sound more aggressive than they do in cakewalk, the keys sound like they're being pressed a lot harder. Which was a problem I had before before so I drastically lowered the velocity, however that didn't make much of a difference.

This is the first wave file I've exported from cakewalk, so I don't have any others.

[Stewart Cormack]

On 3/8/2021 at 6:42 PM, John Vere said:

On Board sound is what we call the computers audio system. WASAPI shared or Exclusive are the driver modes you use with On Board audio. 

If you have an Audio interface then you defiantly want to use the ASIO driver that comes with it. 

Your sample sound terrible mostly due to as far as I can tell a either cheesy VST piano or the fact it has way to much reverb on it. This whole thread most of what has been said was irrelevant.  What @Will_Kaydo  said was closest to the correct answer in the end. This is nothing to do with Export settings or Sound cards.

If you don't already have it  think about purchasing an audio interface and some good studio monitors. Or some good headphones. 

I have a Soundcraft Notepad 8FX audio interface, so what driver mode settings would be best? Following your video I changed it to WASAPI shared, which sounded better but when I record audio tracks there's a delay. How do I fix the delay?

[Stewart Cormack]

On 3/9/2021 at 2:04 PM, Will_Kaydo said:

LOL! No he is not. ? 

@Stewart Cormack I finally had a listen to the sample and there's definitely too much going on the upper high mid region. There's also a lot of ringing cutting through. When this is compressed it starts to spread over the frequency area it occupies. There's a touch of reverb too much on it. Combine this with fast attack and release and a bit of heavy compression - it becomes messy.

 

Ah okay interesting, thank you very much. So I should lower the reverb and compression, and change the EQ?

[John Vere]

My video was about on board computer audio. It was not about using an interface. If you had told us what you were using I would not have waisted time explaining about that. But I had to assume on board otherwise. I have stated the correct driver mode twice already. 

Edited March 11, 2021 by John Vere