Soundcloud compression and artifacts

[tonwins11]

I was recording a cover yesterday where I spent almost the whole day trying to satisfy the sound I want to hear. When finally I was done, I render the file in mp3 format (best quality @ 320kbps). I'm using reaper as my DAW by the way. When I was uploading the file through soundcloud, the sound was just too compressed and there was a noticeable volume drop compared to the one played through my PC. I was using the neck pickup of my Les Paul where it really sounds muddy and muffled.

Gear setup: Guitar->Wampler triple wreck at medium gain->USB guitar link->PC
DAW editing: Used cab simulator (Guitar rig 2 VST), added slight compression and reverb

Any recording tips I should do to at least make the recording uploaded through soundcloud sound near the original one? 

[jowash]

upload Wav file format and let souncloud render it for u medyo matagal nga lng pwede rin render as Flac or AIF
export mo yung mix mo sa lossles format yung mp3 lossy format na tpos i coconvert na nman ng soundcloud into another lossy format     

 http://soundcloud.com/jowash/uno-dos-tres-maria

[Ralph_Petrucci]

Bro you might want to check the panning laws of your DAW when it masters the track.

I had this problem before na when I bounce my track sa ADOBE Audition, may volume drop na malala so ayun, I googled it and apparently apnning laws ang may problem.

Also, baka naman may special EQ settings ang soundcard mo? kaya pag sa audio interface mo, maganda ang labas pero pag pineplay mo na sa soundcloud via your soundcard, iba na ang tunog?

[samuelfianza]

Try rendering to wav first then convert it to mp3.

[KitC]

You are applying double conversion by uploading an mp3. Soundcloud will convert again to a compressed format so its better to upload a wav like they say.

[tonwins11]

What I did was I didn't apply compressor [VST] (which I did with my first render) and rendered it at the highest possible bitrate and sample rate in mp3 format. It helped though I'm thinking also of re-uploading another one in WAV form with compression and without compression just to see the difference.

Downside, I longer uploading time for WAV.