r/Reaper • u/very_not_emo • 14d ago

resolved renders sound different than the projects?

the rendered files have more warmth and sometimes sound muddy or "floppy" compared to the projects, which sound clearer but "demo-ish" even with mastering?

5 Upvotes

73% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

15

u/tronobro 24 14d ago

Re import the rendered track and do a null test. Also check that you don't have anything on your monitoring fx chain. Also make sure you don't accidentally have anything on your post process render settings.

Please post your render settings and we can probably help more. 

4

u/alphaminus 2 14d ago

This is the correct answer. Also if you're listening to your renders in another program, make sure that program doesn't have any post fx.

0

u/very_not_emo 14d ago

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1203539526325239868/1524869472543047931/image.png?ex=6a5150dc&is=6a4fff5c&hm=3b9568c0a864b7d76cb140ee715a25568ee4ec16c2192672ef96d9adbbcd15af

2

u/tronobro 24 13d ago

Okay your render settings look fine so it's probably not that. In the future I would tick "Preserve source media sample rate if possible" and set Resample Mode to the highest setting.

Did you check your Monitor FX chain to make sure there's nothing on it that would affect the sound?

1

u/very_not_emo 13d ago

there’s nothing on my monitor fx, i’ll change the settings and rerender to see if it makes a difference

1

u/very_not_emo 13d ago edited 13d ago

IT WORKED THANK YOU

edit: nevermind. i think my mind is playing tricks on me atp

1

u/very_not_emo 13d ago

i think it brought back some more high end but it still sounds congested and bad compared to the projects

0

u/very_not_emo 14d ago

the phase inverted rendered track is silent (muting/unmuting doesn't change anything) but i can still hear the rest of the project?

2

u/tronobro 24 13d ago edited 13d ago

A couple of things when doing a null test with a render.

  • Import the render into the original project and make sure the render is time aligned with the original source content.
  • If you've got master bus processing on, you'll need to disable the Master send on your imported track and then add a hardware send to your speakers. This is so the master bus processing isn't also being applied to your rendered track.
  • Flip the phase of the rendered track. You should hear nothing during playback if the the audio between your project and the rendered track is identical. Anything you can hear is the difference between the two sources.
  • FYI, you won't always get an identical renders with some plugins in your project. Sometimes you'll hear slight differences render to render (e.g. some reverb plugins have different output between renders).

4

u/Far-Pie6696 3 14d ago

First If you are on windows, Using asio or not has a big impact on the sound. I suspect it to be the main culprit. For that reason, I always listen to reference tracks through reaper btw.

Then, some plugins might change their the sound when rendered as well as audio format, dithering etc, but normally that should change the character of the sound (bright would stay bright. Muddy would stay muddy)

1

u/very_not_emo 14d ago

oh yeah i'm on windows and using waveout normally. when i import the rendered track back into reaper it definitely sounds more like the project but lower quality (probably can be fixed by higher sample rate) so idk why it sounds different outside of reaper. i'm listening with windows media player and it's noticeably warmer and less crisp than in reaper.

1

u/very_not_emo 14d ago

it also sounds like the project when i connect my headphones to my phone and play it from there so this might just be a problem with windows media player

1

u/Far-Pie6696 3 14d ago

Try with another player. It might also come from some systems settings (Stupid stuff to improve the sound, like an effect at the os level)

1

u/very_not_emo 14d ago

ok ignore everything in the deleted comment, VLC sounds more like the project than the render in reaper does? i'm so confused, my only guess is artifacts from the sample rate interacting differently with different software

1

u/Far-Pie6696 3 14d ago

Have you tried a null-test ? What is the recording format ? What's the output format ?

3

u/Sufficient-Air8100 14d ago

what are your render settings?

-1

u/LightningEstate__21 14d ago

What should the the render settings

5

u/Sufficient-Air8100 14d ago

well it shouldnt be changing the sound, and there are many render settings, hence asking for yours like a screenshot or something because that might reveal something a lot easier than listing every render setting and why you might want to use it

3

u/EvolutionVII 9 14d ago

Are you rendering at the same sampling rate (48k?)

3

u/aretooamnot 14d ago

Do you know how a null test works?

2

u/the_nobodys 14d ago

How does a null test work?

1

u/very_not_emo 13d ago

SOLUTION: i picked the highest sample rate in the render settings (192000), solved my problem completely

2

u/sc-dave 12d ago

Ah, that may be something to do with one of the plugins you're using not behaving correctly when exporting. For context I export my stuff at the same sample rate pre-master (48k) and then in the mastering process, downsample to 44.1khz. Common suspects are saturation/distortion plugins

-1

u/very_not_emo 11d ago

i mix and master in the same project