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BlueMushroom123
Participating Frequently
May 6, 2022
Question

Audio recorded in multitrack quieter/lower quality than waveform

  • May 6, 2022
  • 2 replies
  • 1576 views

Hello, thank you in advance for reading this.

 

I am new to using Adobe Audition for recording voiceover. I recorded two sessions using the waveform editor and they sound great. My third session I recorded in the multitrack editor as I wanted to test the function of listening to playback while recording (although I didn't end up using it), and as far as I can remember the audio sounded equally great as my other recordings when I played it back.

 

Now as I'm sitting down to edit the files, the recording sounds quiet, hollow, and tinny -- of a different quality than the other audios that I recorded. The only thing that I did differently was record in multitrack as opposed to waveform so I imagine that is the source of the problem. Everything else was the same (studio recording setup, microphone, mic technique, etc.).

 

(It's not just a playback issue either, as I've exported the audio in wav and mp3, and when played in other software the sound is equally poor. I have raw files from my other waveform sessions that sound great in those same softwares, eg Windows Media Player.)

 

I've tried enhancing the audio with editing and different effects but I can't get it to replicate the same rich, warm, and loud quality as the other recordings. Does anyone have any insight into this issue and/or suggestions for how I might salvage this audio?

 

I guess going forward I will try recording in waveform again. Hopefully that will resolve the matter otherwise I am a bit perplexed as to why one recording can come out so great and then the other come out poorly using the same setup. The reason that I switched to Audition from Audacity is that after purchasing my new mic (Blue Yeti), recording in Audacity sounded the way that this recording that I am referring to now sounds -- hollow and tinny and quiet. I was concerned that it was the mic, but when switching to Audition it sounded great...and now it sounds poor again.

 

Would appreciate any help or insight to ensure high quality recordings every time. Thank you!

2 replies

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Wade_Fade
Participant
February 8, 2025

Thank you for your post, I do podcasting with adobe audition, record everything in multitrack and always had to have a huge vocal chain to compensate for the lack of depth. I tried Reaper and to my surprise it sounded full and needed little editing.

 

I looked up what the problem was and found your post. I'll try the waveform editor this time and test the difference. But I'd recommend you give reaper and try 👍

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BlueMushroom123Author
Participating Frequently
May 6, 2022

I'm not sure if there is a way to edit my post, but I just wanted to add that I was able to run a test recording in multitrack again, and this time it came out fine, of the same quality of the other good recordings (the ones recorded in waveform).

 

I've located the original tracks that I recorded of the problem recording, and indeed they did just record of a poorer quality and I'm not sure why. I'll be sure to test the playback going forward and make sure it's the quality that I want, but I am really stumped as to why this recording came out differently. It was a 2.5 hour recording session with video, so it's a frustrating loss.

SteveG_AudioMasters_
Community Expert
SteveG_AudioMasters_Community Expert
Community Expert
May 6, 2022

Chances are that you were trying to use Audition's monitoring, and you've ended up with what we politely refer to as digital feedback - it certainly fits the description you gave. The actual levels you get back from multitrack when you mix down may appear to be 3dB lower than you think they should be, and this has everything to do with how the pan law is set. There are a lot of threads about this already - a search will reveal them.

 

In general it's a lot safer to record in Multitrack, simply because it's direct to disk, rather than to a temp file, which is what happens in Waveform view. This has been known to cause a number of failures to occur, especially in systems where the temp file shares a space with the Operating System temp files. You don't actually 'save'  your file until you hit the 'Save' option in Waveform, whereas in Multitrack, even files that get interrupted whilst recording are generally salvageable.

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BlueMushroom123Author
Participating Frequently
May 6, 2022
Hi there,
 
Thank you for your feedback. By digital feedback do you mean the echo from hearing myself recorded in the headphones? If so that is not what I am referring to. I turned off monitoring for the actual recording, and when I tested this issue again under the same conditions (both with and without monitoring) there was no issue. If you meant something else by digital feedback then please clarify.
 
I haven’t had any problems recording in waveform but I appreciate the feedback about it being safer to record in multitrack. As it stands I am hesitant to record in multitrack due to the experience I’ve had thus far and my attempt to connect the dots. I’m still wondering if the issue might have had something to do with how the file got saved because I could’ve sworn it sounded good when I first played back my recording.
 
Another oddity about this particular recording experience is that my mixdown files disappeared from my Creative Cloud backup folder (which is where I was saving the original recording to). I found them in the deleted folder online on Creative Cloud. This was strange as I did not delete them. So I’m just wondering if the file was somehow compromised after recording.
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