1 Topic by schmeet (edited by schmeet 2020-07-04 09:39:03)

  • Registered: 2020-07-04
  • Posts: 17

Topic: Brand new Babyface Pro FS seems to lack low end?

Hi all, I was previously using a Mackie Onyx-820i firewire mixer as my interface.  I just received the BFPFS today.  I'm running on an iMac, OSX 10.10.5, with Mackie HR824 monitors.

I updated the RME driver to 2.22 and the firmware to v126.  I can't go to a later driver because of my Mac OS version.

So to start with I had a youtube video playing and I switched between the Mackie and the RME interfaces, trying to gain match between the two.  I noticed the Mackie has much more low end.  Switching back and forth I either have to juggle cables which takes a few seconds, or put one interface on the right channel and one on the left.  But it seems obvious that the RME has less lows (or more highs).

So what could be the problem here?  I tried with a brown noise generator and sine tones and the effect is hard to pin down there.  But with a piece of music I hear the RME as not having the impact in the low bass until the sound is painfully loud, where the Mackie sound big and heavy at medium levels.

I'm willing to believe that the superior D/A converters in the RME are showing me more "detail" in the high end, but this sounds too extreme to be that.  I'm having trouble picking out what the bass is doing on a pretty heavy metal song (yeah I know), where it's relatively easy on the Mackie.

I'm just a home studio hobbyist, so it's hard for me to judge what's going on.  Could there be some mode I have the Babyface in that's attenuating the lows?

My previous mixes done on the Mackie have translated pretty well to other systems, so I don't think it's that muted sounding. 

Any help appreciated.  I hope there's nothing wrong with my new interface... sad

  • Registered: 2020-07-04
  • Posts: 17

Re: Brand new Babyface Pro FS seems to lack low end?

Crap, now I'm noticing that sometimes the sound gets crackly and distorted, until I turn the volume up and then back down, and then the sound gets clean again. 

Do I have a bad unit?

  • Registered: 2020-07-04
  • Posts: 17

Re: Brand new Babyface Pro FS seems to lack low end?

OK, I'm an idiot and I panicked.  I had the bad luck of randomly picking a couple of mixes with a bright right channel.  Putting it in mono made both interfaces sound alike in terms of eq.  Sorry for the false alarm.  Again, I'm an idiot.

The crackling still bothers me.  It hasn't happened again, but is it something I should worry about?

4 Reply by marianimusicp (edited by marianimusicp 2021-06-06 19:12:53)

  • Registered: 2021-06-03
  • Posts: 7

Re: Brand new Babyface Pro FS seems to lack low end?

schmeet wrote:

OK, I'm an idiot and I panicked.  I had the bad luck of randomly picking a couple of mixes with a bright right channel.  Putting it in mono made both interfaces sound alike in terms of eq.  Sorry for the false alarm.  Again, I'm an idiot.

The crackling still bothers me.  It hasn't happened again, but is it something I should worry about?

Hi Schmeet! Songs are not mixed in such a way that right channel may be brighter than left channel. it's impossible.

Do you still feel that Babyface Pro Fs is lacking low end a bit? I ask because it seemed to me the same, especially when compared to UFX 2. The low frequencies felt a little thin, and the high mids and hights sometimes seem a bit bright.

  • Registered: 2020-07-04
  • Posts: 17

Re: Brand new Babyface Pro FS seems to lack low end?

marianimusicp wrote:
schmeet wrote:

OK, I'm an idiot and I panicked.  I had the bad luck of randomly picking a couple of mixes with a bright right channel.  Putting it in mono made both interfaces sound alike in terms of eq.  Sorry for the false alarm.  Again, I'm an idiot.

The crackling still bothers me.  It hasn't happened again, but is it something I should worry about?

Hi Schmeet! Songs are not mixed in such a way that right channel may be brighter than left channel. it's impossible.

Do you still feel that Babyface Pro Fs is lacking low end a bit? I ask because it seemed to me the same, especially when compared to UFX 2. The low frequencies felt a little thin, and the high mids and hights sometimes seem a bit bright.

Hi Marian,

The BFPFS sounds great to me now.  My mixes are good and seem to translate well to other systems.  Maybe I got used to the sound and I now compensate for it.  But I don’t currently have another interface to compare it to, so I can’t tell for sure.

I haven’t used the UFX, but I will say that recording electric bass directly into the Babyface sounds just as good on the low end and MUCH better on the mids and highs than anything I’ve used before this.

  • mkok
  • DAW Mastermind
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2020-11-04
  • Posts: 632

Re: Brand new Babyface Pro FS seems to lack low end?

Absolutely no reason the Babyface pro fs should sound week on the bottom end. It reproduces what it gets. It seems a lot of people are used to bass boost these days but that’s no good for tracking and mixing. I’m glad you are ok with that but now. I wrote this because someone else mentioned it too.

About the cracklings noise. You don’t mention what computer you have. If you have a pc then there are all sorts of reasons you get get this. What system do you have?

Babyface Pro Fs, Behringer ADA8200, win 10/11 PCs, Cubase/Wavelab, Adam A7X monitors.
  • Aro4
  • New member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2024-07-01
  • Posts: 4

Re: Brand new Babyface Pro FS seems to lack low end?

This is years later but, having used the Original BFP for 5 years and just upgrading to this today, the first thing I noticed was that the conversion sounds cleaner but definitely feels like it lacks bass. I always hear people say it doesn't alter the sound whatsoever etc, but since I have now tried them within one day of each other, It is way different. The FS mic pre sounds more sibilant (maybe just my unit) and the headphone out and monitor outs sound more detailed but lack bass. Maybe its the way its supposed to be and I will get used to it, or maybe the original BFP had too much bass there. Maybe this is intentional to prevent distortion in certain phones. Who knows. 1000 percent there though. I did notice more crackles in a project I was working on on both the original 2 days ago, and the FS today.