Sonar Quextion

[stevegardner]

HI Gys- I should probably take this to the Sonar forum, but I know there are a alot of users here, soI thought I would start here. this is something that has bugged me since I startec collabing a few years ago.
First, I will tell you that I know just about enough to be dangerous. I really do not know S*** about recording. Here is my issue...
When I get done recording  a drum track and am happy with the way it sounds, I then do an export and it NEVER sounds as good. This is the case id I export as .wma or .wav file. I am recording as 16 bit, 44,100 k. That may be the problem, but what I am after is a way to get my recordings to sound the same after export as they do in Sonar....
This probably is not enough info to troubleshoot, but if you have any pointers...please advise.
Thanks All!

[NickT]

Steve -

I am not sure but I think you may be referring to a perceived volume thing more than quality? Is your mix file as loud as your project? Also, what are you listening to your mix file in? In theory, you should be able to import your mix file into sonar, then A-B the two. Your mix against your tracks. Other than maybe volume, you shouldn't hear any difference.

Nick

[stevegardner]

Thanks Nick---I just did this exercise and its a good one...
Okay, I import the .wma file into Sonar. It sounds richer, kick and snare are punchier, than they are outside of Sonar...it is not just a volume thing.
Than again, it might just be a drummer thing. One that is "hallucinating inthe ears again"...but, I do not think so.
It just never sounds as good outside of Sonar as in....

[NickT]

What are you playing them in? Media PLayer, iTunes player?

Do you have any settings like surround or room or any other FX in media player? Is the EQ flat?

Nick

[sergio]

Steve,

sorry if this question is totally lame - but you do have the external player going through the same souncard as Sonar?

sergio

[stevegardner]

HI Sergio---There ARE no lame questions! Yes, it is going through the same player....I am having a hard time wiguring out how to change Window Media player settings....

[Sharpola]

Another lame one: are you exporting as a stereo file as well?

[Letizia]

first, the obvious - either...

a - sonar has some enhancement (fx) making the file sound better
or...
2 (hehe) window media player (wmp) has some setting making the file sound worse than it actually is.

you can check wmp by going to the 'view' menu, highlighting 'enhancements', then checking 'show enhancements'... from there, make sure everything is off and eq is flat or turned off.

my first guess is sonar has some compression or fx turned on and when you export... (there should be a choice to export with or without fx) you're exporting without fx.

[stevegardner]

Thanks All- The problem may have been with the mixer settings in Media Player. I am messing with that.  I am fairly saavy, but had no idea where to find that after all this time..it is down near the bottom left corner. Anyway, I sure appreciate all of the input you guys....Thanks

[dino]

Isn't this just the way it is with in the box mixing, and why many people like to buss the tracks out to an analogue mixer instead of using the software mix buss?  I sometimes mix through a cheap mixer from Sonar to a slightly over biased Tascam 234.  I then re-digitize the mixed track back into Sonar for final adjustments before burning to disk. For my low-fi, lunatic fringe, folk rock, it works. ymmv

dino

[Letizia]

Isn't this just the way it is with in the box mixing

absolutely not. in cases like above, it's either a bug in the software or user error.

like everything, there are benefits and drawbacks to both methods.   

[Cary]

Yes.  I suspect Media Player is set to something ugly, like the EQ is enabled or their audio 'enhancement' stuff is active.  I dont remember what they call it, but it's ugly for sure.

maybe WOW or something...

[CosmicDolphin]

A few months late to the party, but here's my 2cents - The same audio file will sound different depending on which program you play it back through - no doubt.

Windows media player generally sounds poor , because it's a consumer oriented piece of software, and has not been designed from the ground up to process audio at the highest possible quality.  The designers probably didn't even code their own codecs, they just licensed 'em from somebody else, and have other things that take priorty over pure audio quality such as low processor overheads - file compatabilty - DRM encryption -skinabilty etc.

Sonar has a much more sophisticated audio engine designed purely for high quality playback and manipulation of your music, and therfore sounds much better, because it's algorythms are much more accurate and make better use of your Pc's processor.  If you get chance listen to the same file in Wavelab, to my ears the best audio playback I've heard on my PC.

A good analogy is HiFi systems...same Cd ( audio file ) will sound much worse on cheap crappy system ( Media Player ) than if you slot it into a proper audiophile high end system ( Sonar )

CosmicDolphin

[Kev]

(hehe) window media player (wmp) has some setting making the file sound worse than it actually is.

It's not only WMPlayer, but also QuickTime, RealPlayer and all of the other players sound poor compared to Sonar. Perhaps they are optimised for streaming and omit some of the data.