Oops. Too much to take :o)

One thing though: An excellent mix (EM for short) done with excellent soudcard and excellent loudspeakers can be called excellent only if it translates to other systems. That's the whole point! If the EM sounds bad on some other soundsystem it's useless, it is NOT a good mix then. You realise that all commercial CDs can be thrown in any player and they sound OK or great depending on the system. That's how the mix must be. Any speculation you seem to like :o) doesn't lead anywhere.

Every soundsystem sounds different, and an EM sounds good everywhere (in relation to the quality of the soundsystem).

One of the key things of your problem setting is that you don't compare how the wav sounds through the integrated soundcard of laptop #1 and #2. Most likely it's almost the same.

I did not mean that you are surprised by the quality difference of the laptop speakers. It was a comment to your statement, where you said that people are.

Roey Izhakis book "Mixing Audio" is good read in developing your mixing skills.

You're not alone. It's hard for many beginners to believe that a mix that sounds good by the studio working spot is absolutely useless in other surroundings. One good way to learn is to import a commercial track on one track of your project and compare the sounds and frequency curves.

OP= Original Post

Could you maybe have WMA's equalizer or effects engaged on laptop 2?

It all come back to having your monitoring set up in a way as to make mixes that will playback nicely on 99% of the systems out there. And remember, these days that's a lot of crappy audio systems.  Most of us who have succeeded in this endeavor will have at least 4 playback systems at hand.
1- Near-fields- your work horse, put your money here. 
2- Full range system and loud - good quality 12"LF and subs.  
3- Getto or computer speakers, must be made of plastic for best sound. ;}
4- good Headphones.
5- Cheap ear buds
I takes some experience to develop the "ears" that will give you satisfying results. Know one can expect to get it right without practice.
You also need to understand your audio formats, conversions and playback equipment ( software?) It is much easier to make a mess of things with a computer than it would have been with a tape based system.
The OP from 2007 and newer have obviously set something up in the playback that is not the same on both. Only other thing comes to mind is file format and codex issues.

bitflipper


Could you maybe have WMA's equalizer or effects engaged on laptop 2?

Yea, that was one of the first things I checked.... not the issue.  But thanks for responding.  By the way, your 'stuff' sounds great.  That's the kind of sound quality I'm trying to achieve.   Also, I really 'get' the kick-back-in-the-PI thing.  I've been there (the PI).   I hope to do something similar in Medellin. 

Thanks Kalle.

johnnyV

Know one can expect to get it right without practice.

I'll keep working on it.  Thanks.

Jim

drjgs20


Thanks Kalle.

You're welcome!

Yup been doing this a long time (mixing & mastering) my mixes sound GREAT my Cds sound like crap and I do not see anyone with real answers other than lots of experimenting this really suck as I think I have like a million hrs in this and will be dead before I get the good CDs unless something changes ...anyone find any answers??? My 1st experiment will be to add a spectral analyser to my VST plug ins / effects to look at what going on. cause the time factor is INSANE ! http://forum.cakewalk.com...ageID=942415&pop=true# So I hope we can all remedy this THX and best wishes.... Anthony ZEALMEinc

If your WAVs and CDs don't sound exactly like it sounds in Sonar, then you're doing something wrong. They should sound exactly the same on the same audio equipment. If you're playing them back on Windows Media Player, make sure the SOHS and EQ are off. 

This thread was started in 2007, and ya it's a common topic with home studio ( amateur) engineers. 

Whats with the link to a PM? 
All discussions here are open so other people can join in and people might also learn something new. 

May I recommend starting your own thread and even if your not an X series user I'd post there as there is way more people involved. 
Also the Newbie Section of GearSluts is good on this topic.