Audio export frustration, is it just me? - SOLVED

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Arrant
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14 Sep 2015

I'm having real issues with getting good sound quality when exporting from Reason.

After working tirelessly on my track and getting it to sound good to my ears when played back from within Reason, I want to share it with the world and that's when the problems begin. I export song to audio, usually at 16-bit or 24-bit 44.1k (which is the rate I have chosen in audio preferences). I've come to the point where I've tried almost every setting in the export dialog box, and some of them are worse but none of them good.

I load the wav-file up for playback in winamp or audacity or whatever and WHOA what is that junk!?

I'm exaggerating, but there is a marked difference when the song is played back outside of Reason. Treble seems less trebl-y, bass is usually too loud, and the worst part is that different instruments are suddenly louder or quieter in the mix, so I have to go back into reason and make corrections, export again and listen if it's become any better and so on. A real nightmare mixing workflow as I can't hear my changes until after another export.

This happens on every single track, has anyone else experienced problems like this and knows how to correct them?
I really don't get how anyone can mix anything within the Reason environment if everyone has problems like this, so I'm assuming something is wrong on mye end.
Last edited by Arrant on 14 Sep 2015, edited 1 time in total.

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RealmUK
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14 Sep 2015

Hi Arrant,

I haven't encountered this problem personally. My mix in Reason sounds the same as the exported song when I play it back (usually in WMP).

I can only imagine there is another setting somewhere outside the export dialogue that is impacting this for you. Have you double-checked the wiring configuration of the Reason hardware interface and audio I/O. I'm not sure anything here could cause a problem but just scratching my head trying to think where a problem such as this could occur.

Might also be worth doing some tests using just a single sequencer lane with one instrument to see whether that is affected in the same way and then follow the complete signal path from start to finish to see where the problem is.

Gavin

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riemac
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14 Sep 2015

Most of the time the problem is, that when you play the exported audiofile it is played with another audio driver then in reason.
For example, in Reason you normaly use agio and when you play it back it is the standard audiodriver.

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Exowildebeest
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14 Sep 2015

It is indeed likely to be a problem with the playback of the audio file, not with the export itself.

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normen
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14 Sep 2015

Do you export at another sampling rate than you work in? Did you connect your main mixer output to any other audio output than 1/2 in the hardware interface? Also as others have said, make sure your playback software doesn't have any "effects" or "make better" thingies selected.

How does it sound if you import it back into an empty Reason project?

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Dante
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14 Sep 2015

The way I do it is to route SSL main out to my DSP farm for mastering. the output from that goes to monitor then back into Reason via ASIO where I record it as a mixdown stereo track, muted in the SSL so it doesn't cause feedback.

After that process I simply right click on the track and select 'normalise' then 'bounce clip to disk'.

I get a fully mastered track that way which then uploads to SoundCloud without any further ado and sounds exactly the same as what I worked with in Reason.

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Arrant
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14 Sep 2015

Thanks ever so much guys, you gave me the faith and method to solve this issue :thumbs_up:
It was indeed an external issue, I had somehow changed the ASIO settings to play everything in mono. That explains the loud bass, the lack of treble and the fact that panned sounds became quieter than tracks down the middle.

Sooo happy now, time to post some new tracks :D

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normen
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14 Sep 2015

On that note, checking your tracks in mono while mixing is always a good idea ;)

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pjeudy
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17 Sep 2015

normen wrote:On that note, checking your tracks in mono while mixing is always a good idea ;)
Hehehe.....nice :-)
My opinion is that Propellerhead REASON needs a complete rewrite!
P.S: people should stop saying "No it won't happen" when referring to a complete rewrite of REASON. I have 3 letters for ya....VST
Mon Dec 11, 2017 1:53 pm

Dance FX 21
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17 Sep 2015

When I had a recent listen to my latest track "Where did it come from?", it had quite a squawking character in the overall mix as a wave file - played through reason last night and it sounded a lot better. I would usually export in .wav format @ 16 bit / 44.1 KHz - same as what is used for CD recordings AFAIK. My understanding is that Reason 8 operates @ 64 bit and in AIFF format. Must look at changing my export settings.


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ScuzzyEye
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17 Sep 2015

Dance FX 21 wrote:My understanding is that Reason 8 operates @ 64 bit and in AIFF format. Must look at changing my export settings.
Audio is passed from device to device as 32-bit floating point. Summing in the mixer is done with 64-bits (I've never seen specified if it is floating or fixed point, shouldn't matter either way). Wave and AIFF are on-disk formats with headers to identify what's inside the file. Reason works with raw audio samples, and only wraps things up with a header on export. There's no difference in the audio between wave and AIFF, the only difference is the header.

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normen
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17 Sep 2015

ScuzzyEye wrote:I've never seen specified if it is floating or fixed point, shouldn't matter either way
Its floating point

Dance FX 21
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17 Sep 2015

Thanks for that - must learn more on audio formats...

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gak
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18 Sep 2015

Eh, once you upload it to discover or soundcloud it will sound like ass anyways :lol:

(dancing troll)

sorry.

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