Volume is -3dB quieter in FMOD STUDIO than oringal file

FMOD Studio
1

Hi all,
Would love to get some asstaince / info on Fmod Studio playback volume.
I have a test tone that playing back 3dB quieter when played back in Fmod Studio on an event.
I’ve double-checked all my routing, spatialisation, plugins and output devices, and I also played the test tones directly from the Asset Browser but couldn’t pinpoint the cause.
This goes for all sounds within FmodStudio and not just isolated to the test tone.

Has anyone else encountered this issue or have any ideas? Could it be some “under the hood” behavior?

Currently using Fmod Studio 2.03.03, on windows 11.

2

Hi,

I’ve been able to reproduce the issue you’re describing, and I’ve passed it along to the development team for further investigation. However, to confirm, are you also observing this -3dB difference when sounds are played in game builds, or is it only in Studio?

3

Hi leah,
At this moment I cant test builds but I can confirme the -3dB discrepancy is happering within Studio and the engine editor.

4

After some investigation, it’s likely that your test tone is mono, and is being output to a stereo speaker mode. When this happens, FMOD center pans the mono signal, which will cause the full scale signal to be attenuated in each speaker by a factor of 0.707, which would account for the -3dB dip.

Can you confirm for me that your test tone is mono? If so, if you duplicate the mono track to two identical tracks in stereo, do you still observe the 3dB dip?

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5

Thanks for getting back to me, Leah!

Ah, that makes sense, and yes I can confirm that the test tone is mono.

I just tried the same test with a stereo asset and can confirm there’s no loss of volume. Case solved!

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