I am pretty sure it is directly related to the settings for the mp3. The higher I set it at, the less the underwater sound was there. 4410, 320 lbps seems to be the threshold where it sounds the same as when played on Sonar. If I go any higher, the size is too big to send to anyone in an email and if I go any lower, I can still here the ocean in my song. So having the option to choose when creating an mp3 on Goldwave is the best way to go for me.

Hey, wait a second, my suggestion solved it, and isn't the "Best Answer? 
 
Incidentally, SONAR also allows choosing higher bit rates as well as VBR and quality vs. speed of encoding.
 
 
 
 
 

And thanks a bunch for reminding me about Goldwave... I've seen you guys mention it before. 
I have Wave Lab but am soooo pisssed about installing it on a second computer... totally not allowed,,, you will be put in a German prison...    So I downloaded the trial of Goldwave and played with it last night. It does it's moneys worth ( $60can) for sure and for a LIFETIME upgrade. This is a good company and so I will support them from now on. Only feature that it is lacking is the global RMS analyzer which I really use a lot. But for batch conversion, Live stereo recording and mucking about with a wave file,, very good software...  
 
Much easier way to work than dinking around with Sonar... 

brundlefly
Hey, wait a second, my suggestion solved it, and isn't the "Best Answer? 
 
Incidentally, SONAR also allows choosing higher bit rates as well as VBR and quality vs. speed of encoding.
 
 
 
 
 

You did help big time no doubt, but the prize went to the guy why gave me the link to Goldwave. You did get a "helpful" though.
 
I couldnt' find how to do micro adjust the mp3 on Sonar. Is that option in the "export" dialog box?

If the integrated mp3 encoder is used in SONAR, a dialog box pops up with options. If an external encoder is used, the options must be added to the command line in the External Encoder Configuration Utility.

cclarry
I was just going to chime it that if you're using the Lame Encoder, it does wreak some havoc on
material.  When I used it, the sound changed far too much, so I stopped using it altogether.

What did you switch to instead?

Does anyone use the mp3 encoder in iTunes?  While I usually use LAME or Audition, I sometimes use iTunes with projects that involve a lot of short clips because it's good for converting multiple files at once.  It can also be configured for all the data rates I need.

Sharkbite

brundlefly
Hey, wait a second, my suggestion solved it, and isn't the "Best Answer? 
 
Incidentally, SONAR also allows choosing higher bit rates as well as VBR and quality vs. speed of encoding.
 
 
 
 
 

You did help big time no doubt, but the prize went to the guy why gave me the link to Goldwave. You did get a "helpful" though.
 
I couldnt' find how to do micro adjust the mp3 on Sonar. Is that option in the "export" dialog box?

That'll be me 

Rick O Shay
Does anyone use the mp3 encoder in iTunes?  

iTunes is the scariest software I ever installed on a computer. It immediately converted all my WMA files without me asking,, so I ended up with all these weird extra songs. It made a mess. It also was not happy about me telling the "store' to p-ss off and leave me alone. It is what I call "invasive" 
 
This is why I stay with "safe" free programs like Win Amp for playing my music. I've always said that everyone who has a home studio should not only have DAW software, but use a Wave edito too. So now for the money, Golden Wave is a keeper. It's batch converter is equal to Wave Labs for half the price sans ever having to re register and upgrade again.
 
 
 
Tools of the Trade: 
 
DAW- for multi track recording, creating, compossing and mixing down to a 2 track file
Wave editor- For putting the final touches on the file, conversion to other formats
CD burning software- Self explanatory. 
 
Even though one program might try to do all these things, it will not do them all perfectly.  

Tools of the Trade: 
 
DAW - Sonar
Wave editor - Goldwave
CD burning - Sony CD Architect
 
That's the 3 I've got installed on my systems, and it's not likely to change.