Issues with my sound(card) [SOLVED]

Want to talk about music hardware or software that doesn't include Reason?
Post Reply
User avatar
Daniel36
Posts: 84
Joined: 02 Feb 2017

09 Jun 2017

Hey guys,

Two days ago I ran into a strange issue, that hopefully some of you can tell me more about, hopefully how to fix it.

I make my music on my laptop. It's a cheap one, the kind you buy ready-made. It has a Conexant Smartaudio HD sound card that I can't really change anything on. I do not have monitors, so I have to rely on my Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro headphones. I know it's not the perfect solution, especially when getting ready to finalize the mixing and mastering, so I decided to do that part at a friend's house, who has proper monitors.

Note: It's purely electronic music, no live recorded audio involved

We jacked up his monitors to my laptop, and my track sounded really good! Loud, crisp, and when listening to some reference tracks, I was very pleased with the way it sounded.

Then, we put his monitors back on his PC. Suddenly, the sound was a LOT softer. This was odd. I decided to listen to my track through his PC. Suddenly, my track sounded absolutely horrible. The entire track was muddled way more than when we listened to it on my laptop, and some elements were far too loud, while others were barely audible. Basically, a terrible mix. And as I checked the reference track again, my track was also a lot softer in comparison. However, the reference tracks still sounded great. I gave it a quick new mixdown to make the elements work the way they were supposed to and bounced back to my laptop.

Back to my laptop, I could definitely hear a difference between the newly mixed edit and the previous one, but the differences weren't as profound. This obviously makes proper mixing and mastering pretty much impossible.

That last part made me sure that it's not his PC that is the problem, but my laptop. Apparently the sound card compresses, limits and EQs the crap out of everything, which is my very uneducated guess. I looked up some things online on how to enable or disable options, but my options are severely limited (probably due to the fact that it is a standard, ready-made laptop (OEM I think they are called?)).

I don't think I can fix this problem internally, software wise. There is nothing there to change the way the audio comes out. Otherwise I would have found out about it. No producer in their right mind works on a laptop like this, so I couldn't find other posts online with the same problem, so I turn to you.

I guess I have a really simple question. Will an external sound card / audio interface be an answer to my problem?

I don't have the money to buy a fancy new DAW-ready laptop, nor do I have room for fancy monitors, but I do want to be able to at least get close to a proper mix before I head over to my friend's place for some final mixing (and mastering). So will an external audio interface help me get a better, more leveled sound?

Thank you for your time!

Best wishes,
Daniel
Last edited by Daniel36 on 15 Jun 2017, edited 2 times in total.

User avatar
Carly(Poohbear)
Competition Winner
Posts: 2871
Joined: 25 Jan 2015
Location: UK

09 Jun 2017

I don't know you sound card but I did a quick google and the top lot of results I got back was on how to enable stereo mix!!!!! (I take it you are running in Stereo?)

If you go into the sound properties check the Enhancements tab and make sure everything is turned off. (Right click the speaker icon, select playback devices, properties, enhancement tab), I would also check your mates PC sound settings.. On my old x-fi card it had a built in EQ and all sorts of wonderful things games mode, entertainment mode, audio mode etc....

Also double check you do have the latest drivers, might be worth googling a few sites just in case an older version might work better for your version of Windows..

An external card could sort out your issue however I would take your laptop down to PC world/maplins or another big store and try them out (you don't have to buy from them)..

User avatar
Daniel36
Posts: 84
Joined: 02 Feb 2017

09 Jun 2017

Thanks for the tips Poohbear. I decided to check the driver updates, and turned out it was indeed long overdue.

I can't double check on my friend's PC soon, but I feel inclined to believe the audio is now a lot softer than it was before on my headphones, which would also mean that my audio is more honest than it was before. I am checking out a track I did where I had two versions up, and I could've sworn that I didn't hear a big difference before, but now I do, as I A/B them, so...

The mind can play tricks on my ears of course, so I am not holding my breath on it just yet, but updating the drivers may actually have solved the problem.

Who would've thought...

I will let you know whether it worked, when I've had the chance to visit my friend so I can make sure that it's not just me but actually fixed it!

User avatar
Carly(Poohbear)
Competition Winner
Posts: 2871
Joined: 25 Jan 2015
Location: UK

09 Jun 2017

Lets hope it was as simple as that :)

Once at your friends it's worth double checking that there are no enhancement on..

I was having issues with a video so I turned some of my enhancements on which sorted the sound issues I was having but forgot to turn them off and the next day I was scratching my head to my track sound so different, then the penny dropped, DOH!!!



PoohBear
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recent Music
(Electronic) Into The Night - added 2nd May
(Upbeat) The Players Took Me There Made in Reason 9 with heavy use of the players
(Electronic) 5 Steps (Video added) Updated

My Soundcloud Page

User avatar
SteveDiverse
Posts: 108
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

09 Jun 2017

Daniel36 wrote:Will an [...] audio interface be an answer to my problem?
An audio interface should give you significantly better sound.

An interface will use up one of your ports and it's probably not a good idea to connect it through a hub, as everything on that hub will share in interrupt and that can cause audio issues (stutter, crackling, static...).

I have seen audio interfaces that are just usb headphone output in the range of $40, and there are some for guitar that have headphone out and guitar in also in the $40 range - these are both extremely portable.

The low end Focusrite (Scarlett Solo) is $99 but is probably more than you need, although you never know when you want to add a mic.
:reason: :reload: :record: :ignition: :refill: :re: | :rt: FTW

User avatar
Daniel36
Posts: 84
Joined: 02 Feb 2017

09 Jun 2017

SteveDiverse wrote: An audio interface should give you significantly better sound.

An interface will use up one of your ports and it's probably not a good idea to connect it through a hub, as everything on that hub will share in interrupt and that can cause audio issues (stutter, crackling, static...).

I have seen audio interfaces that are just usb headphone output in the range of $40, and there are some for guitar that have headphone out and guitar in also in the $40 range - these are both extremely portable.

The low end Focusrite (Scarlett Solo) is $99 but is probably more than you need, although you never know when you want to add a mic.
Thanks for the additional info!

We thought about adding a mic to our repertoire, since we have an almost infinite supply of extremely talented singers that we can call on, but at the moment we are leaning heavily towards making deep and dark techno and tech house music, so the need for a mic has become less and less.

I love those house hits that are playing on the radio, but we probably won't ever live up to those tracks. Or maybe we will, but techno is way more fun to make.

I actually think that the driver update worked though, so I am probably good for now! But you mention pretty affordable gear, so I could at least give it a try. Some food for thought, that's for sure!

Oh, and I feel like I forgot to mention that I only make music from within Reason, with synths, so no external audio is being recorded! - That might make the answer to my question a slightly different one. [Adding it to my original question right now]

User avatar
gak
Posts: 2840
Joined: 05 Feb 2015

10 Jun 2017

I dunno about the "significantly better sound" aspect. Case in point: I bought a lappy a few months ago and use "wasapi" and it sounds divine. Now, the latency could be better, but the quality just with the 1/4 inch is more than acceptable. I have to admit, I was surprised.

But, usually with an external soundcard you get the advantage of the ASIO drivers working for lower latency and total control over the volume conditions. ASIO4ALL does NOT have this option and generally leaves many scrambling for volume control.

I have no idea if this helps the OP at all, but I wanted to clear that up.

User avatar
Daniel36
Posts: 84
Joined: 02 Feb 2017

10 Jun 2017

gak wrote:I dunno about the "significantly better sound" aspect. Case in point: I bought a lappy a few months ago and use "wasapi" and it sounds divine. Now, the latency could be better, but the quality just with the 1/4 inch is more than acceptable. I have to admit, I was surprised.

But, usually with an external soundcard you get the advantage of the ASIO drivers working for lower latency and total control over the volume conditions. ASIO4ALL does NOT have this option and generally leaves many scrambling for volume control.

I have no idea if this helps the OP at all, but I wanted to clear that up.
It does. But do enlighten me, what exactly do you mean by total control over volume conditions?

I am actually not using ASIO4ALL as my exported files sounded completely different from what was going on inside of Reason. I accidentally found out after downloading the FL Studio demo that I could use FL's ASIO inside of Reason and does the trick well!

User avatar
SteveDiverse
Posts: 108
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

10 Jun 2017

gak wrote:I dunno about the "significantly better sound" aspect.
Yeah, I should qualify that...

Built-in sound cards differ in quality and so do (external) audio interfaces.

If you have a decent built-in sound card you might get better sound out of it than a cheap external interface.

I do suggest that OP, especially being on a limited budget, explore and exhaust software/driver options before spending money on an interface.
:reason: :reload: :record: :ignition: :refill: :re: | :rt: FTW

User avatar
gak
Posts: 2840
Joined: 05 Feb 2015

12 Jun 2017

Daniel36 wrote:
gak wrote:I dunno about the "significantly better sound" aspect. Case in point: I bought a lappy a few months ago and use "wasapi" and it sounds divine. Now, the latency could be better, but the quality just with the 1/4 inch is more than acceptable. I have to admit, I was surprised.

But, usually with an external soundcard you get the advantage of the ASIO drivers working for lower latency and total control over the volume conditions. ASIO4ALL does NOT have this option and generally leaves many scrambling for volume control.

I have no idea if this helps the OP at all, but I wanted to clear that up.
It does. But do enlighten me, what exactly do you mean by total control over volume conditions?

I am actually not using ASIO4ALL as my exported files sounded completely different from what was going on inside of Reason. I accidentally found out after downloading the FL Studio demo that I could use FL's ASIO inside of Reason and does the trick well!

Ah, fl's is better. The problem with ASIO4ALL is that you can only control the volume from the host output (or so I gather) as it will tear your head off if not careful

User avatar
gak
Posts: 2840
Joined: 05 Feb 2015

12 Jun 2017

Here's the bottom-line from my personal use regardless of soundcard or anything else:

It should be slightly less quality but nothing major. I can only go by my experiences.

User avatar
Daniel36
Posts: 84
Joined: 02 Feb 2017

15 Jun 2017

So, updating the driver fixed my problems!

Weird how simple it can be sometimes. I still don't understand why. Perhaps I installed a wrong driver or something, because I did do a mass update a while ago where I updated everything I could think of.

Thanks Carly, Steve and Gak for your help!

Post Reply
  • Information
  • Who is online

    Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 15 guests