Reaper query

[rggillespie]

In the very bottom left hand corner of the screen in Reaper where you can see the left and right hand RMS levels, my left hand channel is consistently reading louder than the right? I thought it was just due to how I'd panned things but I did a 9 track for a cd recently and they are all like that. On a new song today the left hand channel is showing -0.2 peaks but the right is -1.4, they are are all more of less like this. Certainly always the left-hand side never the right. But played back they sound to me not noticeably louder on the left than right. Is this a reaper settings issue or something with the monitors or interface perhaps? Any ideas from my fellow reaper users would be appreciated

[Drew Stephenson]

Does your interface have any software (totalmix / mixcontrol etc) that might be interfering from a previous setting?

[Hugh Robjohns]

First thing, go here:

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques ... test-files

And download the stereo level check tone files (tracks 2 or 4) at an appropriate sample rate.

Place in a new stereo track, route direct to the stereo output and check the left and right output meters.

They should be identical.

If they aren't, you have some output processing going on.

If they are, your mixes have an overall offset for some reason and you'll need to track it down.

It's not unusual to have one channel louder than other moment by moment, but a consistent offset indicates something awry.

I find a vectorscope (XY) display very helpful in spotting left/right imaging problems.

[James Perrett]

In Reaper you can use the JS Tone Generator to generate sine, square or triangle waves of any frequency and then use the JS Goniometer to look at the left/right correlation.

[rggillespie]

thanks for the tips everyone, I'll get onto it and work through it. Looking forward to seeing a goniometer, that's a new one on me.

[James Perrett]

Looking forward to seeing a goniometer, that's a new one on me.

It is just another name for a vector scope.

[sonics]

OT:
Nice free goniometer plugin if anybody needs one.

[Hugh Robjohns]

Good call, Sonics. Not seen that one before. I particularly like the correlation vs frequency meter which is very unusual but very informative!

[sonics]

Not seen that one before. I particularly like the correlation vs frequency meter which is very unusual but very informative!

Glad you like it! I've said this elsewhere, but ToneBoosters' old v3 plugin packages are available free now, if you can or want to run VST(2) and AU plugins. They are very good indeed. Nice programming. Prices are also very reasonable if you want to buy any current versions.

[rggillespie]

I've had some success with the SOS test files and JS tone generator, thanks very much Hugh and James. Played together with no processing everything was level in reaper. As standard on the master bus, I always have sonarworks ref 4 then ozone tonal balance control and ozone 9 a greg calbi preset 'general clarity'. That's default for me, when I introduced these 3, the imbalance came in. -9.7 on the left and -10.4 on the right. It seems it's the ozone 9 'general clarity' setting is the culprit, so I'll search there for something. The difference is always 0.7 between left and right regardless of where the master output slider is set. So my quest continues, I might add 30 minutes of the tone generator listening on a loop isn't recommended, it's quite irritating!

[Aled Hughes]

Not directly related your problem, but I’d recommend moving Sonarworks from the master bus to the ‘Monitoring FX’ chain. That way it can sit there doing its thing without you having to bypass it everytime you render a track.