software instrument sound is bad on CD only

[paulflytrap]

This is a problem with one particular sound (percussion windchimeish sound - key C5 in "pop drumkit") - have tried replaying the midi part/reducing volume/ as well as multiple routes to CD - different Macs/ burners/24bit/16bit/ itunes import settings, but always getting same change to the sound, from sweet bellchime sound to crackly/fizzly 'power cable in a puddle' sound. It sounds fine before being burned though. the pile of CDs burned to test different attempted solutions is getting scary (not to mention time) & thats just 1 of the songs I've recorded with this sound - the others dont do it as badly as this one song & where it does it worst is where there's not as much other stuff going on, which seems strange.

[Eriksimon]

Can you upload both a fragment of the "good" sound and of the "bad" sound?

[paulflytrap]

Can you upload both a fragment of the "good" sound and of the "bad" sound?

 

It wouldnt let me upload wavs or mp3s but you can hear them here;

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqZol5aTKAk&feature=youtu.be

 

crackly one is from CD & clean one is from mac.

[camillo jr]

I can't hear the crackle - the main difference here is that the crackly file sounds quieter in your vid. But maybe I'm not listening in the right place? One thing you might try is to do a bounce-in-place of that section only and then just use the audio file instead.

[Eriksimon]

Yes, I can hear it (Camillo, it is only the windchimes sound at 13"-16" and 32"-35", a bit in the back of the mix). No 'dealbreaker', but not how it should sound - as you can hear in the 'crackleless' 2nd pass).

 

What I would do is load up that kit in EXS24 and see how it behaves there. If I remember correctly all you need to do is swap Ultrabeat for EXS24, it'll automatically load up the same drumkit. See if that gives you the same crackling or not.

If it does, you could consider finding a different windchimes sample and using that instead, if you have to even as an audio file on a separate audio track.

Another option would be to bounce the drumtrack in place (BIP); if the BIP file doesn't have the crackling, the bounced mix won't either. A third option is to freeze the track - again, if the frozen (=32 bits audio) track doesn't crackle, the bounced mix won't either.

It is odd that this problem is apparently not predictable. I'll see/hear how my pop drumkit windchimes behave in UB and EXS24, see if I can replicate your result.

Listening to it again I am beginning to think it sounds a bit like encoding artefacts. It is the sort of sound that is sensitive to lossy encoding "artefactionation".

[paulflytrap]

Listening to it again I am beginning to think it sounds a bit like encoding artefacts. It is the sort of sound that is sensitive to lossy encoding "artefactionation".

 

 

 

I have already tried a straight bounce on a fresh track - would 'bounce in place' be different/better?

I'm going to try your other suggestions although I just read something about older CD players sometimes not playing burned CDs properly - tried one of the 'crackly' Cds in my mac & it sounds fine - the CD players I've been checking my mixes on aren't exactly new so may well be the cause, I'll get hold of some newer players to check & update here.

thanks for the input .

[paulflytrap]

I can't hear the crackle - the main difference here is that the crackly file sounds quieter in your vid. But maybe I'm not listening in the right place? One thing you might try is to do a bounce-in-place of that section only and then just use the audio file instead.

 

sorry, forgot to normalise. & thank you for the tip.