Offline bouncing query

[Megamix]

Hi, I’m new here and a bit of a newbie so apologies if I don’t know what I’m talking about !

I’ve tried searching for an answer to my query but haven’t found anything.

My question is about offline bouncing in SD and the resultant volume levels of audio files within my DAW. I’m finding that they’re too quiet. When playing back SD as a MIDI track everything sounds nice and beefy but when I then bounce to audio files and import into my DAW there isn’t a lot of gain headroom to play with. All of the DAW channel faders are set at 0db. My guess is that SD renders the files after bouncing so there’s no clipping but the resultant files end up being too quiet. Or at least, as I say, there’s not a lot of headroom to play with.

I’ve got around the problem by increasing the gain on the audio files in my DAW using software processing but I’m concerned that this will also increase underlying noise. Is there any way of getting SD to bounce files a bit hotter ? I notice in the bounce window there are the Pre Mixer and Post Mixer settings but I’m not sure how these are to be used. The manual doesn’t seem mention them.

Any help appreciated !

Thanks

Topic

[jbraner]

If there isn’t a lot of headroom, then the files must be at a pretty high volume.

When you import the files into your DAW, what do they look like? Do they look like they’re a decent volume? or low? You can play with the volumes in your DAW, to get them however you want. There really isn’t any “noise” to worry about, as there isn’t noise in the files – you’ve just rendered digital files – you haven’t recorded them with a microphone. 😉

If the WAV files that you import look really low – then just play with the settings when you bounce – and turn up the volume. If you turn it too high, Superior will back off and render them at a lower volume, so there is no clipping.

John Braner
http://johnbraner.bandcamp.com
http://www.soundclick.com/johnbraner
and all the major streaming/download sites.
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Reaper 7 x64 (latest version), Windows 11 Pro 64 bit, AMD Ryzen 3950x, 32GB RAM, MSI MAG X570 Tomahawk Wifi mobo (not using wifi though), NVIDIA GEForce GT710 video card, MOTU Ultralite AVB audio interface

[Megamix]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

Sorry, when I say headroom I mean the faders in my DAW automatically set to 0db and the audio is ok-ish but not as hot as I would like. I can’t push the faders up any more as this will be going above 0, which isn’t ideal.

Looking at the waveforms on the audio files in the DAW they seem quite low. By the way, I’m bouncing pre-mixer in SD. I’ve tried increasing the pre-mixer level up a bit but this doesn’t seem to make any difference as when SD renders the files afterwards they end up the same as if I had just left the level to its default setting.

Cheers.

[Juicy]

In your daw, are your meters pre or post fader ?

You can also setup multi track bouncing making audio of SD in your daw and not in SD’s mixer .

[Ian Scott]

Hey there,

Just wondering if you are listening to a combined preset and then bouncing offline not through the internal mixer?

[Megamix]

Hi Juicy, the meters in my daw are just in the default setting, I’m not sure if they’re pre or post I’m afraid. Yes, I’m thinking there might be a way to record a stereo mix of SD through my daw’s mixer as that’s how I’m monitoring SD and everything sounds good. I suppose if I have enough ram and cpu resource I could just leave it running as midi until I’m ready to mix.

Hi Stuntnut, I’m not using any presets in SD, just using the default sounds and bleeds etc, bouncing offiline pre-SD mixer and then importing the files into my daw.

As I say, I think I’ll investigate bouncing to a stereo mix within my daw, that way I can add eq and comp etc in the daw and make it sound nice before a final stereo mix.

Thanks all for taking the time to reply.

Cheers.

[Juicy]

Yes, It will free up cpu/ram too.
Re post/pre fadering.
Generally Daws are post fader for simplicity but sometimes (if they can switch like logic)its nice to confirm levels by checking pre fader
so your fader has nothing to do with what you see on your meter.
Naturally just looking at the waveform is a good way to check too.

[jbraner]

If you bounce through your DAW, you have to load all the bleeds in RAM – in Superior.

If you bounce through Superior, you’ll get all bleeds etc, even if you only load a few of them in the actual kit in Superior.

I’m not at my music computer – but I’d say bounce through Superior rather than your DAW (as long as you don’t need EFX in your bounce) and just push the fader up. Also make sure the “volume” in Superior is up at adecent level. You’re not going to get distortion because Superior won’t let you set the volume too high (if it’s too high, the bounce backs off and rebounces at a lower level). Otherwise feel free to turn up the volumes in your DAW. You won’t raise the noise floor because the noise isn’t there 😉 Also, it doesn’t matter if you go above 0db on your DAW mixer – you’re just raising the volume of a (clean) WAV file that’s too low.

Play around with your bounce settings until you get a nice healthy WAV out of Superior – then you’ll know how to set it for all the rest of your mixes 😉

John Braner
http://johnbraner.bandcamp.com
http://www.soundclick.com/johnbraner
and all the major streaming/download sites.
-------------------------------------------------
Reaper 7 x64 (latest version), Windows 11 Pro 64 bit, AMD Ryzen 3950x, 32GB RAM, MSI MAG X570 Tomahawk Wifi mobo (not using wifi though), NVIDIA GEForce GT710 video card, MOTU Ultralite AVB audio interface

[Sean Tatalovich]

If you offline bounce I hear back something quite different. Levels are different. I don’t hear effects on individual tracks.

I choose all bleed and bounce in SD2. After import tracks are very loud (I can send to a buss and lower volume) but they sound like they are missing something.

[Author]

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