Old 08-31-2017, 07:38 PM   #1
Tod
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Default Audio volume problems..

I hate to post this because I don't know how to reproduce it, but it clearly has to be a bug.

While mixing a song, I've been inserting previous mixes for comparison. I'm mixing these songs at a -0.6dB maximum peak.

However, when I insert them into my project, they are peaking out at a +2.5dB or more. This has been going on for a couple of days and was driving me nuts, I spent a great deal of time trying to figure it out.

I was sure that the peaks were just as I set them, because I have a project with all my clients songs loaded for checking them out, and they all show correctly in that project.

Today while working on the mix, I loaded a new project and opened the Reaper project where I had all the mixes and just as I figured, they're playing correctly there.

Then when I went back to the problem project, now the inserted track was playing correctly, and it's been playing correctly ever since. I didn't do anything except come back to the project?

Just wanted to post in case anyone else has encountered this.
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Old 09-01-2017, 03:02 AM   #2
DarkStar
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If I understand correctly ....

In the problem project, inserted tracks that were mixed down to -0.6dB play back at +2.5 dB (let's call that an increase of 3 dB ). But last time you loaded that problem projects those tracks were OK.

Pan laws?
Reaper loaded incorrectly (I've no idea that can happen)?

Perhaps you could open that problem project, play the inserted tracks and check the levels. Rinse and repeat several times. OK or too loud?

--------------------------------
PS: For comparisons and to save fiddling about, you might like to try:
https://www.meldaproduction.com/MCompare
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Old 09-01-2017, 05:42 AM   #3
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If you have a -3.00 pan law I'd look there for a potential issue

(maybe the new project didn't have such pan law so everything in the center plays at +3db?)

g
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Old 09-01-2017, 08:23 AM   #4
Tod
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkStar View Post
If I understand correctly ....

In the problem project, inserted tracks that were mixed down to -0.6dB play back at +2.5 dB (let's call that an increase of 3 dB ). But last time you loaded that problem projects those tracks were OK.

Pan laws?
Reaper loaded incorrectly (I've no idea that can happen)?

Perhaps you could open that problem project, play the inserted tracks and check the levels. Rinse and repeat several times. OK or too loud?

--------------------------------
PS: For comparisons and to save fiddling about, you might like to try:
https://www.meldaproduction.com/MCompare
Thanks DS, what I was doing was finishing up on a mix. I had rendered a couple of mixes before so that I could check it out and send a copy to my client. I inserted one of the rendered mixes into the project I was working on, set up grouped mutes so I could bounce back and forth, and as you mention, it played about 3dB hotter than it should have. Actually I should say it indicated 3dB hotter.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gianfini View Post
If you have a -3.00 pan law I'd look there for a potential issue

(maybe the new project didn't have such pan law so everything in the center plays at +3db?)
Thanks Gianfini, the pan is the first thing I checked and it was what I always use 0.0dB.

Okay guys, here's an update I just loaded the same project I was mixing that had the problem meter levels and guess what? Heh heh, it's hot again, only it's only a "+2.0dB today (2.5dB hotter).

So I added another project tab and loaded the mixed songs. I didn't play anything or do anything, I just loaded them in another project tab. I immediately went back, played the track, and it displayed the correct levels.

This is definitely a bug of some kind, but who knows. I'm going to try a few more things today and try narrow it down a little more, just because it would be good to know.
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Old 09-01-2017, 10:01 AM   #5
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Weird.

So, on loading the problem project, the levels are high. Then on tabbing to another project and back again, the levels are OK

Suggestion: after tabbing back and noting that the levels are now OK, save the project to a slightly different name. Compare the two editions of the project files (I use Excel).
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Old 09-01-2017, 10:16 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkStar View Post
Weird.

So, on loading the problem project, the levels are high. Then on tabbing to another project and back again, the levels are OK

Suggestion: after tabbing back and noting that the levels are now OK, save the project to a slightly different name. Compare the two editions of the project files (I use Excel).
Hi DS, ha, you snuck in here while I was typing. Check out all the tests I made and let me know what you think.

Regarding saving under a different name, I'll give that a shot, although, I've never checked out project files as text before.
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Old 09-01-2017, 10:11 AM   #7
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Well this is strange. I closed and reopened Reaper and the track continued to play correctly. This is right after I the test I mentioned above.

So I closed Reaper and rebooted my computer using "Restart". Now it was playing 2dB too hot again.

So then I just added another project tab, but didn't load anything in it. The track was still playing hot. So I clicked the other project tab and tried to load the project with the mixed songs. Reaper did a hard crash, that hasn't happened like that before. I wonder if it was because I had 3 different meters loaded as FX on the problem track. Incidentally, those meters indicate the same as Reaper, a +2.0dB.

At any rate, I opened Reaper again right after the crash without rebooting, and the track played correctly.

So then I rebooted, opened the project, and as expected, the track was playing hot again. This time I simply closed/reopened Reaper, loaded the project, and the track was still playing hot, so closing and reopening Reaper doesn't do it.

So I simply opened another project tab and loaded the mixed songs. I didn't do anything else, just opened the mixed songs, and bingo, the problem track played correctly again. One thing I noticed when I opened the mixed songs project, there was a clicking sound in the monitors that doesn't happen normally.

So for my last test, I rebooted my computer, opened the problem project in Reaper and again, the track is playing hot. This time I added a project tab and loaded a different small project that didn't have the same song in it. It still played hot, both before and after playing the small project. Also it didn't make a clicking sound.

So I loaded the mixed songs again and also got the clicking sound again. Like before, the problem track played correctly.

I did make one more test, I created and saved a project with same test mix that's on the problem track. When I loaded that in the other project tab, it didn't make the clicking sound, nor did it fix the problem. For some reason, it's only the mixed songs project that seems to fix this. The only thing about it is that all the songs were recorded at 16bit so I could put them on a CD.

If by chance Justin sees this, maybe it will give him some ideas of what the problem is. I might add, I seem to recollect this happening before when using reference mixes, but I'm not totally sure.
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Old 09-01-2017, 10:53 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tod View Post
hard crash [...]
One thing I noticed when I opened the mixed songs project, there was a clicking sound in the monitors that doesn't happen normally.
Sample rate mismatch between the default, the project in the second tab and the media file?

Last edited by cfillion; 09-01-2017 at 11:31 AM.
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