Question

A lot of people have this issue. I've used a lot of different DAWs and never encountered this problem before, ever! The mix in S1 sounds good, the kick knocks, the samples are in the position I want them to be, everything is clear. Nothing is on the master bus and I'm only using stock FX with S1 prime. When I import the mixdown back into S1, sounds the same as the mix. No issues....

However, if I play the mixdown on WMP, VLC, iTunes. put into Audacity, Sound Forge, or ANY other program, the mixdown sounds like someone has over-compressed it and the positioning of the instruments (stereo image) changes A LOT. The mix lacks clarity, feels like someone has sucked out 475hz with a WIDE Q, and the kick sounds fluffy. Again, never had this issue on any other DAW, and I'm not the only one.

Answer 1

I am struggling mightily with this as well. I'm coming over from Logic Pro, and have never seen anything like this.

Answer 2

Any luck with this yet?  I moved over to a new PC and now have the same issue all the sudden.

Answer 3

My guess for this would be that there is some kind of 3D or spatial sound processing turned on in Windows or your soundcard, and all of the other programs are playing via standard Windows Audio, which gets hit with the spatial sound processing.  Meanwhile, Studio One is going direct to the soundcard via ASIO, or to an entirely different one if you have a separate pro audio interface, and bypassing that processing.  These spatial processing and sound enhancement features can make any music sound way different than the original mix.  They're more intended for watching movies or playing games, and even then they sometimes sound weird.

For instance, there's something called Windows Sonic for Headphones, which in theory should only be happening when listening through headphones, but could be coming through the speakers too if it has misidentified what's plugged into the speaker jack. There's also Dolby Atmos and a bunch of other names for these types of sound enhancement and simulated 3D/surround features. If your soundcard has it's own custom control panel it there's probably a setting for it in there. If you find where this spatial processing setting is in your case and turn it off then your mix should sound exactly the same as in S1 when played via any Windows program.

Answer 4

I think William's answer (December 3, 2020) makes sense but I have the same issue as the original poster and I have NO other sound card in my system other than the USB Studio 24c.  I disabled the onboard sound on my motherboard in the BIOS.  I have checked VLC, Windows Media player, etc. in the sound app of Windows 10 and NONE of the special processing functions are enabled.  However, I have the same issues upon mixdown: sound quality is awful. (But it sounds perfect when the exported file is played in Studio One.)  I have spent hours exporting tracks using different setting with no luck,  I have even mixed down single tracks (bass or vocals, for example) with no plugins and the resulting mixdown is still tinny like all the low end has been EQ'd out when played in anything other than Studio One. I have run out of ideas of things to try.............

Answer 5

I was having exactly the same problem.  The file (whether WAV or MP3) sounded great played in Studio One, and sounded fine when I put the file on a USB and play it in my car, but if I try to play it back on my computer using any software other than StudioOne the sound was bad - mids are muddy, bass is thin, highs are raspy.

Solution that worked for me - I went into Device Manager and (using "remove device") removed my interface (Presonus USB1810) each place it appeared, then reinstalled the software for it - and that fixed the problem.