How to hear your song in another player after exporting
After an export, choose File > Open the last export in Play by Zaweba and Loop by Zaweba hands the file straight to the music player.
Hearing your song in another player is one menu click away in Loop by Zaweba. After you export, choose File > Open the last export in Play by Zaweba and the file opens in the Zaweba music player, ready to listen. If the song is for a video, File > Send the last export to Video by Zaweba hands the same file to the video editor instead.
Listening outside the program you made a song in is one of the best checks there is. Here's why, and how to make the most of it.
Why listen somewhere else
Inside a music program you hear the song with all your work in front of you: the grid, the meters, the parts you know are there. Your ears fill in what your eyes see. In a plain player you hear only the sound, the way everyone else will. Problems you skated over, like a vocal that's too quiet or a bass that booms, often jump out.
It also confirms the export itself. You hear exactly the file you'll share, so you know it starts and ends cleanly and has nothing missing.
From export to listening
Export first. File > Export offers WAV (16 or 24 bit; Ctrl+E for WAV), MP3 at 320 kbit/s and OGG Vorbis, for the whole song or just the loop region, with a two-second tail so reverb and delay can ring out. Exports render offline in the background, many times faster than real time.
When the export has finished, open the File menu and choose Open the last export in Play by Zaweba. Play opens with your file. Listen from the start.
Make a note of anything that bothers you, go back to Loop, fix it, export again and listen again. It's quick enough to do several times.
What to listen for
Levels between parts. Is the lead clear? Do the drums sit with the rest or poke out?
The low end. A bass that sounded fine on your computer speakers may be too loud or too quiet elsewhere. Try headphones too.
The start and the end. Is there an awkward gap before the first beat? Does the song stop neatly, with the tail of the reverb fading rather than cutting off?
Loudness and crunch. The master limiter in Loop stops the export from going over -0.3 dBFS, but a mix that leans on it hard can sound squashed. If it does, lower the busiest tracks in the mixer.
Sending it to video
If the music is for a video, File > Send the last export to Video by Zaweba passes the export to the video editor so you can lay it under your clips. It's worth listening in Play first, then sending, so the version in your video is the one you're happy with.
Exporting stems and MIDI
The quick-open commands hand over the last export. Stems, one 24-bit WAV per chosen track, are best checked by loading them into whichever program you plan to use them in. They are rendered with the master limiter off so they add back up to the mix. MIDI files can be checked by importing them back into Loop with File > Import MIDI file as new tracks.
Keeping track of versions
Each export is a new file on your computer. Give versions clear names as you go, so the one you share is the one you meant to, and keep the .zloop saved alongside so you can always go back and export again.
