I'm having an unusual issue with audio levels since upgrading to Sonar X1, and I have never encountered this in any other versions of Sonar (I've owned every version since ProAudio 9). I exported a mono lead vocal audio track from a project, that had already been cleaned up and bounced to a single clip. The track fader was at 0, and I exported it as just a mono track without running it through the main bus at all, keeping the same sample rate and bit depth, and deselecting any "Mix Enables" that are unnecessary. This is commonly how I would export individual audio files to use in other applications. Here's a screen shot of my export:



I was exporting the file in order to import it into Melodyne, which I use to tune vocals, and it is far more stable running as a standalone program than as a plugin in Sonar. I noticed immediately in Melodyne that the audio sounded louder, so I closed it without processing or saving it, and imported the file back into Sonar to check the actual WAV file, not wanting to trust my ears. Sure enough, the audio file is exactly 3dB louder than the one I exported, and I have no idea why. Here is a screen shot showing the two files: track 4 is the original I exported, and track 3 is the one I imported. As you can see, track 4 was assigned to the main output of my audio interface, a Mackie Onyx Blackbird, before I exported it, and there are no plugins on the track, and the ProChannel is completely disabled on the track as well.



And here is a screen shot of my main audio interface output in Sonar, which is what the track was assigned to, so you can see that the level is at 0:



Lastly, here is a screen shot of my Mackie Blackbird Control software, so you can see that all of my output levels are at 0, and are therefore not contributing to a level increase of an audio export:



I have attempted this several times with several different files, and always have the same results. If anyone has any ideas or insight regarding why my exported audio is experiencing a 3dB increase in level, I would greatly appreciate it! I operate a recording studio as a business, so obviously having an issue like this is not acceptable, especially when exporting final mixes or masters! Thanks in advance.

Tim
River Music Productions

The problem is most likely that you're exporting a stereo mix to mono. Sonar doesn't work this out for you, it just mashes the two tracks together.

What you need to do is have a master bus, rather than go directly to the main outs on your audio interface. Route all tracks to the master bus, route the master bus to the main outputs, and switch the interleave of the master bus to mono.

At that point, what you are seeing and hearing in Sonar will be the same as what you're exporting as mono.

Ah, actually, I might be wrong here, if you're exporting the track rather than the mix. Worht checking the interleave in the track itself, though.

Check the default pan laws, if you have come from an earlier version than 8.5.2 they were broken or at least being applied twice.

So you may have to look up what the actual pan laws you were using in previous versions equated too and set X1 up the same to get like for like behaviour.

http://www.cakewalk.com/s...eader.aspx?ID=20091211

Does this sound like your problem?

John T


Ah, actually, I might be wrong here, if you're exporting the track rather than the mix. Worht checking the interleave in the track itself, though.

Yes, I'm not exporting a stereo mix to mono, as the track is mono, and I'm exporting only the track. I always have a master bus, through which I ultimately route all my tracks, even if they go through other sub busses first. I have also attempted to export the entire mix in mono, directly through my audio output, selecting only this track/clip to export; as well as routing the track through my master bus and changing the master bus to mono, again selecting only the track/clip to export. Same results each time, exported audio is exactly 3dB louder than the one I exported!

How do I "check in the interleave in the track itself"?

Tim

Jonbouy


Check the default pan laws, if you have come from an earlier version than 8.5.2 they were broken or at least being applied twice.

So you may have to look up what the actual pan laws you were using in previous versions equated too and set X1 up the same to get like for like behaviour.

http://www.cakewalk.com/s...eader.aspx?ID=20091211

Does this sound like your problem?

I upgraded from 8.5.2 to X1, so I'm not sure that's a factor. However, as the article suggested, I changed the PanLawCompatMode value in my AUD.INI file from 0 to 1 to enable backward compatibility with the Pan Law behaviour in previous versions, and performed the export again, with the same results - exported files are exactly 3dB louder!

Tim

was it normalized on export or after?

seconds on Interleave.

VigilantSound


was it normalized on export or after?

No, it was not normalized in any way - in fact, I'm not sure I know how to normalize an audio file on export.
Tim

you need to change your pan-law to something like "-3dB ....", not at my daw right now,.. but that usually fixes it.