Monitoring sound different than recorded

[fooman]

So I was tracking some bass through my API DI, straight into a Lynx Aurora.

It was just me working on my own time, so I decided to forget the headphones and monitor right out of the nearfields. It turns out that the sound recorded is different than the sound I am hearing while playing.

How is this possible?
The signal is monitored in this chain: bass->API DI->Lynx Aurora->ATTY->monitors

Shouldn't it be exactly what recorded/played back the same as I hear as I play through the monitors?

[-Noodles-]

What's your room like?

Getting any major differences with reference material?

Or just this particular instance?

[fooman]

My room is treated well.
I never usually record monitoring without headphones, so to be honest I'm not sure if this is normal. I'm in a one-room setup, and it's been working out OK however this came as a bit of a surprise. Pretty much everything except bass that I record is loud and acoustic, meaning I have to wear headphones and monitor through my Mackie mixer... meaning the sound WILL change and it's expected.

[matt thomas]

Originally Posted by fooman

So I was tracking some bass through my API DI, straight into a Lynx Aurora.

It was just me working on my own time, so I decided to forget the headphones and monitor right out of the nearfields. It turns out that the sound recorded is different than the sound I am hearing while playing.

How is this possible?
The signal is monitored in this chain: bass->API DI->Lynx Aurora->ATTY->monitors

Shouldn't it be exactly what recorded/played back the same as I hear as I play through the monitors?

well if you are monitoring post converters then yes it should be the same.

Unless you have your DAW set to 16 bit? but I'm guessing this is probably not the problem

It is probably only sounding different to you, but is actually the same

My guess is either you have a volume difference between monitoring and playback

Or you are getting vibrations from the bass itself, as well as hearing its acoustic sound whilst playing it which is adding to the sound you hear whilst tracking

narco

[fooman]

I'm almost 100% positive I'm in 24-bit... but I've actually made that mistake before after a re-install. Thanks for that, I'll be sure to check.

[matt thomas]

your daw can also be set at a different sample rate to your lynx, however it should be obvious if this were happening as it would have to process the files after recording them

narco

[Nolet]

I get this all the time DI-ing guitar thru a 512 or 500NV. When playing, the acoustic sound from the strings and pick mix with the DI sound. When playing back, it it's just the pure sound from the pickups. Also, when playing I sit differently and my head is in a different position to my speakers then when I listen back to the recording. All this adds up of course.

aahh..narco just said that...sorry

[goroplayground]

just a thought....maybe u hear the acoustic or strings sound from the bass along with the amplified signal from ur monitors? it does add clarity to the overall sound so u may think u lose some clarity when u r playing back the recorded track

oops..somebody've already mentioned it~

[fooman]

I'm not discounting anyone's advice, nor am I saying I'm correct here...
but I was paying particular attention to the sound of the bass. I mean, playing the bass w/o an amp is pretty much quiet, especially when listening to music through speakers while playing.

I listened back in the position I played in as well.

Anywho, perhaps you are all correct and the bass mixed with the monitored signal was playing tricks on me. I do think I should check the bit-rate I'm recording in since I did a clean install of my DAW software not too long ago and can't recall if I set the bit-rate to 24. I think it defaults to 16 for some reason.