MixDown: Too Quiet, Loses Quality, and Overexaggerates Panning/Bass

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Level 1

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MixDown: Too Quiet, Loses Quality, and Overexaggerates Panning/Bass

I'm having a lot of problems with mixing down my songs from GarageBand into iTunes. Here's the problem:

In GarageBand I get everything so it sounds perfect. However, when I mixdown the file to iTunes it becomes very quiet, loses much of the "umpf" that it had in GarageBand, and overexaggerates the panning and bass.

I've been able to compensate for the panning by simply under panning in GarageBand. I've not yet been able to solve the other problems.

Mixed songs are always at a lower level than a typical CD or mp3. When I try and boost the sound in GarageBand I run into peaking problems and it sounds even worse (distorted). In addition to being quieter they lose much of their presence and umpf as well as overexaggerating the bass.

It's a real pain because none of this is evident in GarageBand, so it's only after recording and mixing down that I find out it sounds bad. The bass is especially bad -- it's fine in the GarageBand mix and then is completely overblown in mp3.

Any and all suggestions would be most welcome.

PowerBook, Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Posted on Mar 31, 2006 6:37 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 31, 2006 7:15 PM in response to hambuckstar

hi there- i'm sure i'm not as helpful as some of the guys here who answered my questions, but i'll say a couple of things, if i may.

check EVERYTHING in your iTunes preferences file. then double check to make sure you're importing at the levels you prefer. you can set how you want it imported, as in what kind of file, mp3< AIFF, various other files types, and also the bit rate, so make sure that looks cool. double check there's no added eq on your itunes program, you may have the equalizer set to a curve and not know it.

i had a panning problem that i endured for about 4 days and night and lost mucho hair, but it got solved. it ended up being the sound enhancement box got checked. who knew ? good luck........

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Answer 2

xs4is

Level 4

2,800 points

Apr 1, 2006 12:35 AM in response to roundbadger

I'm with round badger on this one. Sounds like your iTunes prefs aren't what they need to be. And the point about Sound Enhancement is, IMO, probably right on the money.

If you get the panning issue figured out, but are still unhappy with the levels, try importing the new complete song from iTunes into GB and "master" it. Open up the Master track and there are a bunch of presets for different types of song styles. I like the Pop Top 40 (i think that's what it's called). Also try a little AULimiter and AUCompressor and experiment until it sounds right to you.

Good Luck Hambuckstar!

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Answer 3

HangTime

Level 9

53,853 points

Apr 1, 2006 12:39 AM in response to roundbadger

you can set how you want it
imported, as in what kind of file, mp3< AIFF,
various other files types, and also the bit rate, so
make sure that looks cool. </div>

This is incorrect, you can not change how GB exports by changing iTunes' preferences. iTunes has nothing whatsoever to do with how GB exports.

OTOH, iTunes' SoundCheck, Sound Enhancer, and EQ can radically affect how a song sounds. Do check those settings.

--HangTime [Will Compute for Food] %-|>

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Answer 4

Apr 1, 2006 7:07 AM in response to HangTime

like i said.... i may not be as helpful..... thanks for the clarification. i thought someone mentioned in another thread that the itunes importing choice affected imported GB tracks. my bad, as everyone seems to say these days 🙂

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Answer 5

Apr 1, 2006 7:13 AM in response to roundbadger

It affects the playback, not the export. If it sounds bad, and you uncheck Sound Enhancement, and turn off the EQ, the song should sound the same as it did in GB.

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Answer 6

HangTime

Level 9

53,853 points

Apr 1, 2006 9:14 AM in response to roundbadger

No worries, roundbadger, it's actually a common misunderstanding because the workflow appears to be an "import" (after all how does it get into iTunes). But really GB does all the work exporting and when it's done it tells iTunes to just add a reference to the exported file to its library.

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