Panning and bouncing

[illuxn s.c.]

I feel like an idiot and there must be some simple explanation but why is that when I'm bouncing my songs, all panning is completely gone? It goes from sounding pretty mixed to just flat after I bounce, regardless of it being wav, aif, or mp3. Someone please slap me and explain this.

[Barriott]

I go to export song as audio file up in the file menu.. make a couple of selections and it works fine for me.

Can't fathom why it's not recognising your planning?

[illuxn s.c.]

Yeah I have some tracks that are hard panned left and right and after bouncing its all seems summed up in mono. Absolutely no panning at all. It's driving me nuts.

[Benedict]

Let's be clear, are you talking about after Bouncing Tracks or after Rendering the Final Master to a file for play in a media player (or Spotifry)?

These can be very different functions.



If you Export the Song (or a Loop from it) it should be exactly what you hear (assuming that you have the standard Masters (or Control Room) Outs sent to the main Reason Outputs where the render taps its audio from.

If you Bounce (either using this wizard or the right-click thing), it can vary a lot depending on what choices you make as you are not exporting "What You Hear" but bits of it. Often that is set up so you can export clean or raw track for someone like me to make a Mix from your Multitracks - which generally should have none of your mix decisions embedded or it can make my decisions limited-impossible.

Can you show us what you are doing and what is happening? A screen recording using OBS posted to Youtube (can be Unlisted) - not phone camera to screen.

[jam-s]

Make sure you're not missing some cable connection on the back of the Rack which might turn your output signal chain into mono, as this happens when only the left cable is connected.

[groggy1]

I think Benedict may be right, if you're using "bounce the mixer channels"

I used that for quite a while, because I had my main speakers hooked up to the "control room" outputs in Reason. This let me control the volume using the control-volume knob

But then, when I wanted to export, I didn't want to have to move the cables back to the "main outs", since I was worried about it blasting my speakers. So instead, I did "bounce the mixer channels". It took me months to figure out, but I finally realized that one of the options was disabling the faders and panning, and made my output songs sound not so great. I wonder if you're hitting similar issue

[Benedict]

I have my Control Room outs sent to the masters as this lets me use the Listen To: Returns option to set up or otherwise audition Reverbs.

So long as the Ctrl Room Volume Knob is not used (or set at anything other than 0dB) and the Masters are equally at 0dB (where they belong), this is perfectly fine for Rendering.

Doing internal bounces is not so great a plan. But, that said there is no reason that you cannot use the Bounce Dialog and choose only the Masters in a way that Returns and the like are all active. That will give you "What you hear".

Better however to use the Volume Knob on your Audio Out Device (USB etc) to handle how the speakers are driven. You generally want the computer to be running at 0dB for full bittifcation lest it starts to sound a bit less full. I have my PC at 100% and then the knob on my device at 50% for general listening. 3/4 for composing/mixing and back to that 50% for Mastering. This lets me have a good sense of where "normal" is. And in reality, I am never working much louder than my normal listening level.

[illuxn s.c.]

Sorry for the late reply guys but I appreciate all the responses so far! I haven't been able to take a video recording but I've attached a screen shot that I think might be interesting? Not sure why the Big Meter is only metering on the L channel...https://ibb.co/QXq3DGS

https://ibb.co/Sw52hJd

https://ibb.co/rk2TYvY

EDIT: Ok I think that actually has nothing to do with whats going on. smh.

[Benedict]

This is probably a case of assuming and therefore not seeing what is really there.

Sadly these images don't help a lot as they really don't show what you are actually doing.

One does wonder why one meter shows a signal only on one side when the corresponding meters show full stereo. That is kooky.

One also wonders at the wisdom is using Audiomatic as a send effect but even there if it were giving audio cancellation, it would probably show on both channels. Is something muted (I can see something is) that is creating this outcome - but you are assuming that it is not so not looking at it critically?

[illuxn s.c.]

I started a whole new project where I put Thor in and just played single notes then hard panned each note from left to right. Bounced Loop and it all came out as a mono file. Plays in the project from left to right, just not after bouncing. I really don't understand this. On the verge of uninstalling and reinstalling again.

[Benedict]

Can you please make a screen recording showing what you are doing both from & back of Reason so we can see:

a) what you are trying to do?
b) how it is configured and what happens?

Assuming doesn't work in these situations as I am trying to say here. You have a broken assumption. If you can't see with fresh eyes - which is hard to learn to do - maybe I (or one of us) can but we need to see the whole thing or it doesn't work.

Giving up is just um, giving up. I doubt it is a reinstall situation. If I am right, you reinstall, do the same thing again, and the same result. More frustration, and maybe even moving to a whole other DAW for no good reason.

[sdst]

Not sure why the Big Meter is only metering on the L channel...https://ibb.co/QXq3DGS

the output must be where the arrow indicates

[selig]

Just on a lark, what is in the master insert? many folks use REs to add a “make mono” function, and I always warn folks not to export with the mono button accidentally engaged - and why I use my monitor controller for mono checks, as would be done on a studio console…

[illuxn s.c.]

In my effort to get you guys a screen recording I figured out the issue. I'm using a UA Apollo 8 and finally realized that the L and R virtual outputs were both set to center instead of their respective channel sides. I think that in the Reason space, it overrides it somehow so my mixing was coming out how it was supposed to in the box but when I was going to play back after bouncing through preview or itunes it was going through the virtual outputs which were essentially in mono.
These bastards were the culprit (pictured how they are supposed to be panned).
https://ibb.co/S6Ybg2D


Thank you everyone for chiming in. It actually helped because I was looking at stuff I hadn't considered so thanks for that. Y'all are the best. Crisis averted.

[Benedict]

Ok great. It is always in the assuming and then learning to look at what is instead of what is assumed. A great lesson to learn - altho never a fun one.