Hi,
So here is my question.
I start a new project in Ableton 11 and in my master bus at the very end of the chain is SoundID Reference.
The calibration profile I am using is Sennheiser Momentum 3 Wireless with Active Noise Cancelling ON as those are the headphones I am using.
So, let's say I choose 3 tracks and the first track is Bass, the 2nd, Synth and the 3rd Kick drum.
I adjust the volume on the tracks with the calibration on SoundID Reference on and I get the tracks to sound good with the calibration on.
However, when I turn off calibration, and play the track back, the bass is way too loud!
So am I doing something wrong?
Even when I hard bypass the plug in and export the file to .wav and then master it with Ozone 9's mastering assistant and export the file mastered to .wav the bass is really too loud.
So what is going on?
To correct this, I have to go back into Ableton and lower the bass significantly but then it sounds good with the Plug-In off but too low with it on.
Thanks!
1 comment
Hi, thanks for your post!
The idea with the SoundID Reference calibration enabled is that you would mix your track with a flat representation of the signal, including the bass. Depending on the headphones you have, having the bass reduced, means that you would bring in more bass in the mix to help it translate better onto other systems. This is why you notice a lot more bass once the calibration is disabled. Working without calibration would mean that you would reduce the bass, because there is too much of it on your particular headphones - this would result in more lack of bass when played on other systems, and vice versa - if there is too much bass on your particular headphones, you would be over-compensating it.
Make sure to take time and listen back to the finished mix on a few different playback systems - you should notice that the bass translates a lot better. The calibration in SoundID Reference is targeted for your specific headphone mode in order to correct them, so when you disable the calibration, the mix will sound different. However, it is working as intended - it will sound a lot better on most other systems, not on your headphones specifically.