Jump to content

help! everytime I bounce my logic it sounds smaller!

harveytao

By harveytao
in Logic Pro

Recommended Posts

harveytao Newbie

harveytao

Posted
Posted
so, first, i bounced it to mp3 the highest quality played with quicktime, and it sounded really small, so I bounced it again with pcm wave format, it still sound really small, when i realized and turned normalize off, there are terrible noises in my headphone, then, i put limiter on for each track, it still sounded terrible. is there a way of getting really good quality sounds? or logic's just having this problem and can't be solved?
Link to comment
Share on other sites
shivermetimbers Newbie

shivermetimbers

Posted
Posted
" ... I mentioned that, earlier in the show, a drug joke - and I hate to do that, because it creates a mess, and I'm not into drugs any more. I quit completely, and I hate people who are still into it. Well.. I do take one drug now - for fun - and, maybe you've heard of it, it's a new thing, I don't know if you have or not. It's a new thing, it makes you small. [ indicates size with fingers ] About this big. And, you know, I'll be home, sitting with my friends, and, uh.. we'll be sitting around, and somebody will say, "Heeeyyy.. let's get small!" So, you know, we get small, and uh.. the only bad thing is if some tall people come over. You're walking around going, "Ah hahaha..!" Now, I know I shouldn't get small when I'm driving.. but I was driving around the other day, and I said, "What the heck?" You know? So I'm driving like.. [ extends arms high in the air like he's reaching up to a giant steering wheel ] And, uh.. a cop pulls me over. And he makes me get out, he looks at me and he says, "Heyyy.. are you small"? I said, "No-o-o! I'm not!" He said, "Well, I'm gonna have to measure you." They have this little test they give you - they give you a balloon.. and if you can get inside of it, they know you're small. Now, I've already talked it over with the cast - they've been working all week, it's a tough thing to do, come out here live. Immediately after the show, we're all gonna go out.. and get really small! "
Link to comment
Share on other sites
harveytao Newbie

harveytao

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Question #1: do you have the manual?

Question #2: what do you mean by "small"?

Question #3: what is it that you're bouncing?

Question #4: have you read our Forum Guidelines?

 

um...where's manuel? can you give me a picture or show me step by step? i'll be really thankful, i just started to use this 2 weeks ago, and i'm bouncing a song with my vocals in it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ski Proficient

ski

Posted
Posted
um...where's manuel? can you give me a picture or show me step by step? i'll be really thankful, i just started to use this 2 weeks ago, and i'm bouncing a song with my vocals in it.

 

The manual... depends on whether you bought Logic or downloaded it via a torrent. How did you get your copy?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
harveytao Newbie

harveytao

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Question #1: do you have the manual?

Question #2: what do you mean by "small"?

Question #3: what is it that you're bouncing?

Question #4: have you read our Forum Guidelines?

 

i mean small as the sound quality doesn't sound really good, when i listened to it in logic i can actually feel every beat, and the sound's very strong and clear, when i exported it, the volunme came down, and it doesn't sound like what I heard exactly in logic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
harveytao Newbie

harveytao

Posted
  • Author
Posted
um...where's manuel? can you give me a picture or show me step by step? i'll be really thankful, i just started to use this 2 weeks ago, and i'm bouncing a song with my vocals in it.

 

The manual... depends on whether you bought Logic or downloaded it via a torrent. How did you get your copy?

 

i bought it for freaking 500 bucks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ski Proficient

ski

Posted
Posted
i bought it for freaking 500 bucks!

 

Excellent! So you'll find the manual located under the Help menu item.

 

Now, in terms of the sound, it all depends on what you're playing it out of. What you're hearing from Logic is, of course, your "master" and you're hearing it at full quality. But when you bounce to MP3 you immediately lose quality unless you've used a very high bit rate (like 256 or higher). Playing your track out of iTunes is likely going to change the sound more.

 

There are numerous options available when bouncing. One of them is "normalize". It's generally suggested that you turn this option off and instead, try to get your mix to sound as loud as possible without clipping by adjusting the levels in your track (or, in one fell swoop, the stereo output). Provided that you don't clip, you'll be getting full fidelity out of Logic. But...

 

When it comes to playing a full-fi mix outside of Logic, the only file formats that will give you this are "PCM" (meaning AIF or WAV) or, a very high bit-rate MP3.

 

If you're looking to play back your mix from the web, then MP3 is an obvious choice, but don't skimp on bit rate. However, if you're looking to burn a CD, then choose one of the PCM formats for your bounce, keeping in mind that if you're working at 24 bit that you'll need to dither it down to 16 bits to burn to a CD. Details in the manual.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
harveytao Newbie

harveytao

Posted
  • Author
Posted
i bought it for freaking 500 bucks!

 

Excellent! So you'll find the manual located under the Help menu item.

 

Now, in terms of the sound, it all depends on what you're playing it out of. What you're hearing from Logic is, of course, your "master" and you're hearing it at full quality. But when you bounce to MP3 you immediately lose quality unless you've used a very high bit rate (like 256 or higher). Playing your track out of iTunes is likely going to change the sound more.

 

There are numerous options available when bouncing. One of them is "normalize". It's generally suggested that you turn this option off and instead, try to get your mix to sound as loud as possible without clipping by adjusting the levels in your track (or, in one fell swoop, the stereo output). Provided that you don't clip, you'll be getting full fidelity out of Logic. But...

 

When it comes to playing a full-fi mix outside of Logic, the only file formats that will give you this are "PCM" (meaning AIF or WAV) or, a very high bit-rate MP3.

 

If you're looking to play back your mix from the web, then MP3 is an obvious choice, but don't skimp on bit rate. However, if you're looking to burn a CD, then choose one of the PCM formats for your bounce, keeping in mind that if you're working at 24 bit that you'll need to dither it down to 16 bits to burn to a CD. Details in the manual.

 

 

thank you very much, i'm getting into it, but still a bit confused, are you saying that i should make my sound as loud as possible? so that when i bounce it out, it's going to be normal, or can you send me a picture of one of your project, to let me see what's all things i need to have.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ski Proficient

ski

Posted
Posted

No two projects are the same, so posting a picture won't really help you. On my last 3 projects the Stereo Output was set to -5.1 for one, 0 dB for another, and -7 for another.

 

The idea of getting full fidelity (which includes dynamic range) is to print (bounce) your mix so that you're taking advantage of as many bits as possible. You can, of course, print a mix that peaks right at or very near zero, though it's better to leave some headroom. How much headroom is a matter of debate which I won't get into here (there are plenty of threads on that subject here on LPH). Of course, printing a slightly lower mix to avoid peaks means that you might not be taking advantage of the full 24-bit dynamic range, but it's a fact of digital life that getting optimal fidelity/dynamic range is always a compromise.

 

You can always insert a compressor, limiter or (the dreaded) AdLimiter on the output which will squash the dynamics (to the degree that you set) but, on the flip side, you'll increase the overall perception of loudness in your mix. That will give you the perception that it translates better playing back across different playback mediums, such as iTunes, Quicktime, and so on. Still, the playback medium itself can influence the sound. We get tons of questions here about why mixes don't sound as good playing back on iTunes. In many cases, iTunes itself is the culprit.

 

In closing, I'm talking about printing (bouncing) your mixes at the highest possible level short of clipping so that you're not left with the perception that your mixes sound "small". If you need even more loudness, then the technique of applying a compressor/limiter/adlimiter is something you might want to develop.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Eriksimon Newbie

Eriksimon

Posted
Posted
Sorry to butt in off topic, but why do you say the AdLimiter is "dreaded"?

 

My guess: because it is (very) easy to get it wrong (mainly overdo it), and you can turn invigoratingly lively music into exhaustingly flat dead music with it. You need to be sort of an "AdLimiter whisperer".. Also, some use it as a quick fix for an unbalanced mix - not a good idea.

But, these are all just my guesses (stuff I've learned on this and the Apple forum - probably also from Ski... :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ski Proficient

ski

Posted
Posted
Sorry to butt in off topic, but why do you say the AdLimiter is "dreaded"?

 

Erik is right on the money in suspecting what lay behind my comment. It's too-often used as a kind of panacea for curing the condition whereby the output level of a mix is either too low or too hot. Wrongo! I've also seen posts where people complain about not being able to overcome latency in their track, only to have it come out in the wash that they've got the AdLimiter "in" all the time. This is a terrible approach while tracking for all manner of reasons, not the least of which is that the sound and dynamics of a track are going to change with each new part added to it. In summary, the reason I characterized it as "dreaded" is mainly because of how often it's used for all the wrong reasons. Applied correctly, and on material that will actually sound good coming out the other end, it's a highly useful tool.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
shivermetimbers Newbie

shivermetimbers

Posted
Posted

Yeah. Tha AdLim is like God. Many people abuse it and hope it will fix everything in the end. Like getting drunk and puking in the toilet. "Oh God, help me PLEASE... I'll do anything if you make it better."

 

You can't do that, you have to do things right to begin with and not rely on some mystical power to make things right.

 

You have limiters on each track? Good lord ... :shock:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bluey Newbie

bluey

Posted
Posted
Question #1: do you have the manual?

Question #2: what do you mean by "small"?

Question #3: what is it that you're bouncing?

Question #4: have you read our Forum Guidelines?

 

um...where's manuel? can you give me a picture or show me step by step? i'll be really thankful, i just started to use this 2 weeks ago, and i'm bouncing a song with my vocals in it.

 

you been bouncing a song for two weeks?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...