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PC Sound cards flip audio channels?

R

Robert Bass

OK this is a new one. I have suspected that one of our audio workstations at work, was miswired in such a way that the audio channels were crossed from the studio console output into the sound card. I figured it must have been careless engineering.

However, today at my home studio, I experienced a very strange problem! On at least one stereo recording I made, the channels were flipped in a similar fashion! I checked, double checked and even ttriple checked my audio wiring, which I connected myself. I cannot find any crossed wires. Two other audio files recorded the exact same way, did not encounter the same problem.

After witnessing this on my home studio, I did a left / right channel recording test through the same setup, and it worked correctly.

What the hell ???

R
 
I've had some strange s*#$ happen with sound cards over the years. Never had them flip channels before. Does it flip it on the input or the output?

I've had them change levels on their own before and had them just stop working. A reboot has always cleared it for me so I have always blamed Windows for it.
 
I've seen the level change problem on the input side of a sound card, but it's an automatic adjustment a piece of audio software makes whenever I open it. That doesn't bother me much, since it's a quick fix thing. :)

As far as my problem goes, I did some more testing. I have a copy of one of those NAB audio system setup CD's. Track 1 on the disc is the left channel / right channel test. Playing it through the exact same setup used previously, everything checks out correctly. It's showing correct VU meter response on my 12 channel audio mixer, and on the screen shot of the software doing the recording on the PC. A test recording through the system worked correctly. It plays back correctly on a secondary PC in another location.

I then tried re-recording the song and lo and behold it flipped the channels again! This makes no sense to me since the NAB setup CD works correctly. I used the same CD player and all, so I don't get it. ???

R
 
I don't know what software you are using or what sound card but could there be a setting for some sort of an automatic phase correction? Maybe it see's something that it doesn't like on that particular disc and its "wigging" it out.

Have you tried similar pieces of audio to see if they do the smae thing? Another test might be the song be the song "Moving In Stereo" by the Cars. It has a continual shift between channels and since there is audio in both channels at the same time it might yeald a different answer.

You could always blame it on "Yahoodie". A station that I used to work at had a P.D. that blamed Yahoodie every time we couldn't explain something. :)
 
The NAB Setup CD had a phase test included, and it also checks out OK.

I'm thinking the sound card just hates the song itself. Two other songs I tried, are also working correctly *I Can't Hold Back - Survivor and All The Love - Te Outfield).

The problematic song is Sanctify Yourself by Simple Minds. The elec guitar within the song's intro, was the dead giveaway that something strange is going on. It appears in the right channel when played from the CD, but it flips to the left channel when I record it. I wonder if I have a sinning sound card? ;D

The software I am using to record from, is the line input record mode within Audiograbber. My playback software and file ripping program is Adobe Audition. To my knowledge, neither of these programs has any special features that might cause this. I have tried to use Adobe to make this same recording, but apparently the computer doing the recording does not have enough memory, or something. The recordings tend to skip via this method.

R
 
You're not crazy, I had a "professional" sound card pull the same trick a few years back. There was no rhyme or reason it just decided to flip channels. I guess the driver became dyslexic during rebooting.
 
OK gang, good news!

Apparently the problem had nothing to do with my audio wiring or recording process. :)

It turns out that something happened to the "original" file I had initially ripped the song as. This was so I could compare the original version against my re-recording. Somehow or another the channels got flipped during or after I first ripped the song to my PC.

I have re-ripped it again and this time it worked correclty. Yay! :)

Now as to what caused that, I have no clue.

Gracias for all y'alls help!

R
 
even stranger,a song not ripping completely. i heard a song that played about 41 sec then segued to the next file.sure enough i went to the file it was 41 sec, the original was 3:26...Weird? never have solved that one..all the rest of the library was fine.
 
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