Can Drivers affect an Exported MP3?

[SonicSynthesis]

EDIT: Ok i've figured out it's because my soundcard has some Dolby Advanced Audio on it, i switched it off and everything's normal. Although this brings up another question; because the Advanced Audio wasn't enhancing my music but making it worse, does that mean my mixing is bad? Or are these audio enhancements a hit or miss even with commercial music?

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I'm having a few troubles. When i'm mixing i'm either using my audio interface driver, or my ASIO4ALL if i'm not at my desk. I've got a fading in intro section and it sounded fine while i was playing it on my ASIO driver. I exported it to an MP3 and it sounds like the fade in doesn't even exist, it's extremely loud and when more instruments come in it gets quieter and muddier. I know that MP3's lose some quality but this seemed strange. I went back in FL and switched to my Primary Sound Driver and it sounded exactly like it did in the MP3.

I have to turn the levels down sooooo much on Primary Sound to stop them being far too loud, and when i switch back to my ASIO i can barely hear them.

This is really confusing me...why does my MP3 export as though i'm playing in primary sound instead of ASIO? Iknow that when i play back the mP3 in media player it will be using my laptops primary sound, but i thought the ASIO sound would be imitated so to speak when it's exported. I'm no seasoned mixer, so i hope this makes sense.

Edited November 21, 2013 by SonicSynthesis

[Moseph]

Those audio enhancements are hit-or-miss even with professionally-produced stuff. The best way to evaluate the quality of your mix is to compare it to a similar reference track that you know is mixed well.

[SonicSynthesis]

Those audio enhancements are hit-or-miss even with professionally-produced stuff. The best way to evaluate the quality of your mix is to compare it to a similar reference track that you know is mixed well.

Sound advice (pun intended ). Surely if they're hit-or-miss then there is really no point in them existing in the first place.

[Argle]

definitely turn that shit off while mixing. Otherwise it's a total crap shoot.

[Byproduct]

The "audio enchantments" just mess things up. No song (commercial or not) can accommodate to randomly set eqs and master reverbs and whatnot. So yeah they tend to mess things up. Turn them off and dont worry about it

[SonicSynthesis]

Not knowing about these enhancements has been really screwing with me. I would listen to remixes on here to give me an idea of the quality and volume level i'm looking for, and they'd always sound extra bassy and punchy, and i could just never reach that level without distortion. Now i know why Listening again with it off the tracks sound waaaaay more normal. This is a problem that's been plaguing me ever since i started, i'm so glad it's finally resolved. I knew it would be something stupid.

[timaeus222]

Not knowing about these enhancements has been really screwing with me. I would listen to remixes on here to give me an idea of the quality and volume level i'm looking for, and they'd always sound extra bassy and punchy, and i could just never reach that level without distortion. Now i know why Listening again with it off the tracks sound waaaaay more normal. This is a problem that's been plaguing me ever since i started, i'm so glad it's finally resolved. I knew it would be something stupid.

Yep, this happens with all new Windows Vista/7 computers afaik. I turn that off too. Just doesn't give authentic sound when it's on.

It does not directly affect the exported mp3, it affects your audio output/playback. ASIO is an entirely separate driver from your Primary Audio Driver, so your DAW preview is natural since the output/playback in there uses ASIO. After exporting, your computer uses the Primary Audio Driver for audio playback, so it only seems like the mp3 was messed with. It wasn't. You just hear a modified playback.

Edited November 22, 2013 by timaeus222