[GalacticBass]

So I burned my two newest tracks onto a CD so I could listen to them in the car. I instantly noticed that the audio quality on the CD isn't as good as it is on my computer speakers or headphones.

I'm noticing that a lot of sounds suddenly don't sound properly mixed. Such as the snare being way louder than it should and other sounds being lower than they should. Yet when I play them on my laptop, everything sounds very finely mixed. This is a really frustrating problem to have because I'm working on an album and plan to give CDs to people.

Has this been a problem with anyone else here? I'm not sure if it's a problem with the way I'm burning them onto the CD or if my mixing and mastering apparently sucks and can only be noticed when played through a CD.

Oh and I've also tampered with the EQs in my car and it still didn't sound right.

Please let me know if you have any solutions to this problem.

[scyn]

Is it possible for you to listen in your car via some other method - ipod / flashdrive etc? Or possibly to play the cd on other sources? I often take a track to the car to listen to as it's a system I'm very accustomed to, and more often than not the mix sounds very different. What software are you using to make the cd's? I can't imagine that being the problem though...but there's always the possibility.

[EatTheFood]

Originally Posted by scyn

Is it possible for you to listen in your car via some other method - ipod / flashdrive etc? Or possibly to play the cd on other sources? I often take a track to the car to listen to as it's a system I'm very accustomed to, and more often than not the mix sounds very different. What software are you using to make the cd's? I can't imagine that being the problem though...but there's always the possibility.

This. Also, on what kind of monitors are you mixing? And how are you exporting your files (configuration) ?

[GalacticBass]

Originally Posted by scyn

Is it possible for you to listen in your car via some other method - ipod / flashdrive etc? Or possibly to play the cd on other sources? I often take a track to the car to listen to as it's a system I'm very accustomed to, and more often than not the mix sounds very different. What software are you using to make the cd's? I can't imagine that being the problem though...but there's always the possibility.

Unfortunately, I don't have an ipod. I'll have to test the CD on some other sources but I haven't been able to yet. I use Ableton Live and I rendered my tracks in WAV format 32 bit.

[scyn]

Originally Posted by GalacticBass

Unfortunately, I don't have an ipod. I'll have to test the CD on some other sources but I haven't been able to yet. I use Ableton Live and I rendered my tracks in WAV format 32 bit.

Try turn Normalize off and render at 24 or 16 bit. Might be a good idea to render with different settings, name the rendered track as such, burn to cd & go listen in the car and see if you can hear any difference between the various rendering options.

I think it's most likely a mixing issue though. Is this the first time you're listening to your tracks in the car / on another system?

[GalacticBass]

Originally Posted by EatTheFood

This. Also, on what kind of monitors are you mixing? And how are you exporting your files (configuration) ?

I normally don't mix with my speakers. They're really not that great and don't have much bottom end to them. (and even then the track still sounds well mixed on them) I use my headphones to mix. My headphones are Sennheiser HD 280 Pro.

[GalacticBass]

Originally Posted by scyn

Try turn Normalize off and render at 24 or 16 bit. Might be a good idea to render with different settings, name the rendered track as such, burn to cd & go listen in the car and see if you can hear any difference between the various rendering options.

I think it's most likely a mixing issue though. Is this the first time you're listening to your tracks in the car / on another system?

I will definitely try those configurations.

I'm really hoping this isn't a mixing issue though. This isn't the first time I've burned my tracks onto a CD and listened to them in a car. But the last time I did was a long time ago and I wasn't as knowledgeable with mixing as I am now.

If it's a mixing issue then how am I supposed to make it sound better? My tracks aren't perfect but everything sounds really well leveled on my laptop and even my friend's laptop.

[Optimal Prime]

It is common in mixing music that tracks should always be tested on many systems anyway; the car being a classic source of feedback for your music. Bass is likely to behave radically different in a car anyway and could highlight problems differently, especially compared to a laptop which focuses on a completely different spectrum of clarity, entirely bypassing the low end completely.

What I haven't picked up from this thread though is wether you are referring to the actual CD being different from a 16bit 44.1khz wav file played directly on your laptop. You said that you instantly noticed it doesn't sound the same on the CD. Have you checked both CD and Wav on the same set of speakers you use to mix down on, I take it you have?

[scyn]

Originally Posted by GalacticBass

If it's a mixing issue then how am I supposed to make it sound better? My tracks aren't perfect but everything sounds really well leveled on my laptop and even my friend's laptop.

Well I'd wager that those laptop speakers are quite similar with regards to the type of frequency response...standard laptop audio will not differ much between laptops unless they're one of those 'pro audio' laptops with built in subs or whatever they have inside them.

As for how to make it sound better...heh, I'm still on that journey myself . I mix with AKG K240 mkII headphones and after a year I'm still learning how their sound translates onto other systems. I try and reference my mix on as many other sources as I can...laptop speakers, hi-fi speakers, car radio, in-ear headphones and of course the AKG's that I mix with. Just got a set of monitors so I'm looking forward to seeing how things translate when mixed on them. I'm no expert on the matter...but what little I do know has come from much back & forth between systems, getting to know the sound of the systems & a lot of patience.

[Crude_beats]

this is most probably mixing issue.

Monitors -> headphones -> Earplugs -> Car stereo -> friends house (has a nice sub). If all is ok then its fine. If something sounds shit, take notes and try and fix it and repeat again

[GalacticBass]

Originally Posted by Optimal Prime

It is common in mixing music that tracks should always be tested on many systems anyway; the car being a classic source of feedback for your music. Bass is likely to behave radically different in a car anyway and could highlight problems differently, especially compared to a laptop which focuses on a completely different spectrum of clarity, entirely bypassing the low end completely.

What I haven't picked up from this thread though is wether you are referring to the actual CD being different from a 16bit 44.1khz wav file played directly on your laptop. You said that you instantly noticed it doesn't sound the same on the CD. Have you checked both CD and Wav on the same set of speakers you use to mix down on, I take it you have?

Well I didn't burn a 16bit CD yet but I just rendered the tracks in 16bit and they sound just fine on my laptop. I'll find out how they sound on CD tomorrow. (it's almost 3am here lol)

Also, I wish I had known about needing to test your track on other audio systems. Right now I feel at a huge loss on what to do. When I listen to my track in the car, the snare is so overbearing it's ridiculous. But if I turn it down then it won't sound as good on my laptop. @__@

Edit: Here's the track I am referring to, btw. It's not mixed perfectly or anything but when listening to it in my car it's just awful lol. [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click here to register]

[Focalized]

Honesty - your track is very distorted and compressed, and a mess. Too much use of bitcrushers. And midrange. No Depth. Sounds like you mixed on a laptop trying to boost up all the frequencies a laptop will not produce. That's why it sounds bad in the car.

Actually I think it would sound bad on a laptop too.

[Crude_beats]

Originally Posted by GalacticBass

Well I didn't burn a 16bit CD yet but I just rendered the tracks in 16bit and they sound just fine on my laptop. I'll find out how they sound on CD tomorrow. (it's almost 3am here lol)

Also, I wish I had known about needing to test your track on other audio systems. Right now I feel at a huge loss on what to do. When I listen to my track in the car, the snare is so overbearing it's ridiculous. But if I turn it down then it won't sound as good on my laptop. @__@

Edit: Here's the track I am referring to, btw. It's not mixed perfectly or anything but when listening to it in my car it's just awful lol. [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click here to register]

If the monitoring situation you are in is shit you will compensate and that will yield bad results.

Also if you have a snare that is really narrow in its frequency response on some systems it will sound more clear then on others. So if you find that you must lower snare cause it stings in ear in car but find it lacking on other systems the answer might be layering or boost some other frequencies on it to make it more broad not to turn it up. But in a shitty monitoring situation you wont notice this and you will instead simply raise volume making that narrow freq peak and it takes over on other systems and hurts you ears.

Song is fine though. Just give it some more work mixing wise. Test on several systems, take notes, change stuff and try and make it work.

[surgeongeneral]

In your session, how many of the meters clip out (turn red)? The answer should be zero.

[Ni-Kulo]

happens all the time.

Originally Posted by Crude_beats

this is most probably mixing issue.

Monitors -> headphones -> Earplugs -> Car stereo -> friends house (has a nice sub). If all is ok then its fine. If something sounds shit, take notes and try and fix it and repeat again

exactly this, + iphone earplugs, since probably every 3rd person will listen through this crappy phones^^

thats exactly what mixing/mastering is about make it sound awesome on all the systems.

and you most likely (like most others) lack the experience, equipment that a nice soundengineer has,

just go with trial and error,

try on as many different systems as you can, and you will be surprised! ;D
since technically every system got its own build in eq, and material/building limitations, they all got their own sound

[GalacticBass]

Okay so I tried burning the tracks on another CD but this time I rendered them 16bit. I noticed when playing them in the car that they sound significantly better. The synths don't sound super crappy and over all the mixing isn't as bad.

Unfortunately it is still bad mixing wise. So I'm going to have to work on re-mixing them.

Focalized, I noticed your comment about how it sounded like I boosted frequencies in my track because my laptop wouldn't produce them. What do you mean by my laptop wouldn't produce them? I was using headphones while mixing. Does it still matter if I'm using a laptop? Should songs not be produced on laptops? I NEVER EVER produce any of my tracks by using the built in laptop speakers. I either use headphones or plug my external speakers in.

[scyn]

Originally Posted by GalacticBass

Should songs not be produced on laptops?

Lol. It's irrelevant whether you use a pc, mac, laptop or ipad to produce with. What is relevant is the gear that you're checking your mix with. Using only laptop speakers to mix with would be tough, but you're not doing that so it's ok. Focalized just meant that your laptop speakers won't produce low frequencies - so it's near impossible to make mixing decisions on those aspects of your track.

[GalacticBass]

Originally Posted by scyn

Lol. It's irrelevant whether you use a pc, mac, laptop or ipad to produce with. What is relevant is the gear that you're checking your mix with. Using only laptop speakers to mix with would be tough, but you're not doing that so it's ok. Focalized just meant that your laptop speakers won't produce low frequencies - so it's near impossible to make mixing decisions on those aspects of your track.

Ah okay, thanks for clarifying lol. My Headphones have a lot of low frequencies to them so that way I'm able to mix low frequencies. My car however does not have much bottom end to it. So when I play the song, there's very little low frequencies being heard. Looks like I'll have to bust out my old mp3 player and earplugs to see how it sounds on that as well lol.

[surgeongeneral]

Originally Posted by GalacticBass

Ah okay, thanks for clarifying lol. My Headphones have a lot of low frequencies to them so that way I'm able to mix low frequencies. My car however does not have much bottom end to it. So when I play the song, there's very little low frequencies being heard.

Take one second and just think about what you said.

You say your headphones are really bassy. So when you mix on your headphones you probably won't ever feel the need to push the bass or kick much because your headphones are bassy and it sounds fine already. So when you take your mix to your car, is the low end hard to notice because of your car's system, or it is because you tried to mix on a pair of bassy headphones and produced a shrill mix? Probably a little bit of both, but I'd say it's mostly it's a reflection of the enviroment you mixed in (bassy headphones).

[alwarren]

Hi

I have had a similar problem in the past and it is important to have a very flat frequency response in at least one set of listening equipment.

Many studios use several sets of speakers to do a mix and it is not a bad thing that it doesn't sound that good in the car yet because it has given you the chance to remix the track. I have used the car in the past as a listening point due to its acoustics and speakers. It is a bit time consuming I know.

I often find that just after finishing a track I'm tired and have over listened to it. Given a bit of time away I find I can come back and make the adjustments that are needed.

Al