What happened to my mix?

Ok.....

I know this has been covered a million times.

You have a perfect can mix and then you burn with all the effects etc...

Pop in CD Player --> Wrrrong... Doesn't sound the same..

I know I am not the only one, the thing is most of the time my takes are perfect (close) and I don't have to alter much...

Can you guys offer some tips on what you do when this happens to you.

details homie.....

define burn....you mean bounce???

bounce settings
can mix???? you mean mix with headphones.......then cd player with stereo speakers????

whats different, eq, phasing, etc?

jaem wrote:details homie.....

define burn....you mean bounce???

bounce settings
can mix???? you mean mix with headphones.......then cd player with stereo speakers????

whats different, eq, phasing, etc?

Complete project layed out in Vegas, all efx are added etc to all tracks. Then I render the mix to a WAV or MP3, but the mix that is rendered sounds fine in my headphones (cans yes) but when I burn the same mix to a CD it doesn't sound the same playing thru my theather or in my car.


I go back and pull up the project in Vegas and it sounds GREAT..... I have had this issue in the past, but I might be over-compensating during the mix somewhere. I usually don't do monitor mixes.

define 'sounds different'

bboutit wrote:

jaem wrote:details homie.....

define burn....you mean bounce???

bounce settings
can mix???? you mean mix with headphones.......then cd player with stereo speakers????

whats different, eq, phasing, etc?

Complete project layed out in Vegas, all efx are added etc to all tracks. Then I render the mix to a WAV or MP3, but the mix that is rendered sounds fine in my headphones (cans yes) but when I burn the same mix to a CD it doesn't sound the same playing thru my theather or in my car.


I go back and pull up the project in Vegas and it sounds GREAT..... I have had this issue in the past, but I might be over-compensating during the mix somewhere. I usually don't do monitor mixes.

All your VEGAS listening is through the headphones?

For the most part yes, I do some referencing with my monitors against music that I am familiar with..

@ Jaem, different I mean like.... example: I have a ghosting track laying under a main vocal, in the cans it sounds perfect, but once out in the "open" or should I say on CD whatever==it sounds very faint.

I am about to DL Cd Arch... to try the Redbook settings on master.. Maybe I didn't master enough etc etc. I am new to daw.

my mixes always satisfy me

cd architect will not give u anything that vegas can't.
vegas is many things AND it IS a bigger and better CD architect also.
waste of time, don't do it.

instead, pre-master and mix tracks flat response.

i use ONLY sony mdvr700 when I mix/premast and master.
everything really, I don't have monitors. I've emailed you a few of my songs and they sound exctly the same everywhere I play them.

faint sounding ghost layer on vocals will sound closer and a little louder
on headphones, maybe turn it up a bit and listen through the monitors.

I would NEVER render to mp3. always uncompressed wav.
all formats of mp3 are compressed so I wouldn't do it. I want the render
uncompressed and natural. instead make a copy and convert that copy to mp3.

"my mixes always satisfy me"
now, see if you can help someone elses mixes satisfy them big man..
c'mon now cap, we go way back, I know you better than that..

question of the day:


what headphones are ya using???

your mix isnt translating....

cd architect is not gonna help this as Lamp stated...

really the only thing you can do is buy a lot of cdr's and burn and learn, lotta of a/b/c/d'n on different systems. It seems to me that you havent become familiar enough with your "cans" to be able to mix on them efficiently(although I dont recommend mixing on them in the first place)

just outa curiousity, what headphones are you using?

also,you might wanna post up the beat or send it to a few cats so they can listen to it and maybe give you a better idea of what the problem is

Try listening to stuff that sounds good on your home theater but use your headphones instead of your speakers.
After you get a feel for how that sounds take the same thing and listen to it in your studio setup with the headphones and with your monitors.
That in itself should help you start to hear what's not right about your studio setup, your headphones or your ability to mix.
Until you learn the sound of your monitoring setup (speakers or headphones) your mixes will be suspect.
In other words you need an acurate reference to what you are hearing so you will know what your mix will sound like.
If the bass sounds like this then it will really sound like ...........

I just don't agree with the burn and learn technique.
It can be helpful but can also become monotonous and slow the learning process.

Even if your headphones or monitors are not the best but still decent, you can survive them if you know what something that is recorded well sounds like when played back through them.

nothing happened to the mix it just was never mixed well to begin with.

i dont use the headshells to mix , but if you dont have monitors then you have no choice, i feel that when you mix everthig down to as tight as you can get it then , do a monitor check of your recording if it dont sound the way you heard it ,then you need to impove the mix,

i think this is where the dj part poeple talk about helpin out in producing comes in, if you can hear you mix tight wihtout headshells and it comes put the same in your monitor recording then you did it right,
then just record your session, that elimates all the test cdr burns .

but you say you listen to it on your theater system and your car stereo,
i dont have faith in theater system's cuz nobaody really listen to music like that , i would go by what you hear in the car and a boom box.
it's more of an natural sound.

dj e.d.e wrote:i would go by what you hear in the car and a boom box. it's more of an natural sound.

Yeah, what he said.

You can do 5.1 in Vegas but that's a different story and way harder than 2 channel mixes. I've done it a few times and a song in 5.1 is no joke to mess around with.

if your only refenece inside is form your cans then of course it will sound different in your car- your listening to it in open air for a start

you mention a mastering process- maybe you should leave that out until your mixes translate...

it not to say im dead happy with mine as im not but i felt that doing things to the mix as a whole was impeding me....

GET MONITORS NOW!!

or if you have no cash at least a boom box so you can a/b through that

greg