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Stereo to Mono conversion : sound ends up saturated?

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  • GivenToFlyHD

    • Aug 2020
    • 4

    Stereo to Mono conversion : sound ends up saturated?

    Hi - I'm a happy user of the Converter and especially the Stereo to Mono tool which is handy to me : I'm half-deaf and I wanted to keep FLACs but be able to convert them in MONO (even though I have to compromise on the number of channels, I don't wont to compromise on sound quality). It seems dBpoweramp is the only software that does that in bulk : great stuff.

    Anyway : my problem is as follows. When I convert a stereo FLAC into a Mono FLAC, the sound ends up saturated. It also seems the problem is rather new. But I don't understand why, since I haven't changed anything in my system.

    Here's an illustration regarding the same FLAC song :

    1) The original stereo file looks like this:
    Click image for larger version

Name:	original_stereo.png
Views:	1
Size:	30.8 KB
ID:	297557

    2) Once converted in Mono using the Converter:
    Click image for larger version

Name:	saturated.png
Views:	1
Size:	15.4 KB
ID:	297558

    3) To compare, the same Stereo file converted in mono (with a third-party software: Audacity) looks like this:
    Click image for larger version

Name:	not_saturated.png
Views:	1
Size:	16.3 KB
ID:	297559

    Does anyone know what is wrong? Thanks for your help.
  • mville
    dBpoweramp Guru

    • Dec 2008
    • 4021

    #2
    Re: Stereo to Mono conversion : sound ends up saturated?

    What DSP(s) are you using in dBpoweramp?

    What gain settings are being applied in Audacity?

    Comment

    • GivenToFlyHD

      • Aug 2020
      • 4

      #3
      Re: Stereo to Mono conversion : sound ends up saturated?

      I have been using "Channel Count", as advised by someone on the web. In Audacity, i just used the "stereo to mono" function.

      Comment

      • GivenToFlyHD

        • Aug 2020
        • 4

        #4
        Re: Stereo to Mono conversion : sound ends up saturated?

        Tell me if I'm wrong, but I should use "Channel Mapper" instead, right? Can I resolve my problem by using a 50%-50% mix?

        Comment

        • mville
          dBpoweramp Guru

          • Dec 2008
          • 4021

          #5
          Re: Stereo to Mono conversion : sound ends up saturated?

          Originally posted by GivenToFlyHD
          Tell me if I'm wrong, but I should use "Channel Mapper" instead, right? Can I resolve my problem by using a 50%-50% mix?
          Possibly, but you would have to experiment with the Channel Mapper settings to try and replicate what Audacity is doing and then decide whether you are happy with the results.

          I'm not familiar with Audacity, but I guess the stereo to mono function is applying a gain change, to avoid potential clipping. Whether the amount of gain change is set by the user, set based on a reference level or simply a fixed amount, you would have to check the Audacity documentation.

          Comment

          • GivenToFlyHD

            • Aug 2020
            • 4

            #6
            Re: Stereo to Mono conversion : sound ends up saturated?

            Ok, thanks a lot for your answers and advices!

            Comment

            • Spoon
              Administrator
              • Apr 2002
              • 44574

              #7
              Re: Stereo to Mono conversion : sound ends up saturated?

              Depending on the audio, you effectively have 2 channels which become one, and if the channels perfectly add together then you would need to set the gain at 0.5, but for most music that will be too quiet.

              You are best:

              DSP Effect: Bit Depth >> Floating point
              Channel Count
              Volume Normalize: Peak to peak
              Bit Depth: 16 bit (with dither)
              Spoon
              www.dbpoweramp.com

              Comment

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