Shotcut audio not the same as export file audio

As many people I’ve found online I’m having a problem with my audio. When I search YouTube or Google I find lots of people showing how to modify the audio gain in several different ways and I’ve tried them all, my problem is different than any I’ve found.
When editing a video I adjust the volume of the clip using the audio gain. Everything sounds great on Shotcut so I export and upload and people told me my audio wasn’t balanced…even though I balanced it with the gain in Shotcut. So I started doing a final review of the exported file using HDMI to my TV (when editing I was using headphones on the computer) and I discovered they are correct. Huge difference between what I was hearing and what was uploaded. So I decided to edit using the exact same HDMI computer/TV connection so I’d, in theory, hear the difference and I’ve discovered that after exporting the file I can play the .mp4 file on my computer while the exact Shotcut file is open I created it with and the audio is different. In other words using the exact same HDMI connection the Shotcut audio balance heard while playing the clip in Shotcut is not the same as the audio balance in the .mp4 file Shotcut creates. Without knowing what Shotcut is going to do to/with the audio balance am I left guessing what the balance will be at export, watch the exported file, raise/lower audio gain, export again, watch it again…rinse repeat as necessary?

Any audio player has an volume control also shotcut, so when different player can play the same audio high and low, this is why you have to use an loundness meter when mixing you audio, beause Youtube will turn down you loudness if it is to high.

(Select the audio view to see the Audio Loudness Meter in Shotcut)

You can google “Youtube Loudness” to find the correct target Loudness values (it is -14 LUFS AFAIK)

Balanced audio er more subjective, overlaying speak and music, can be hard, when you are speaking the music must be turned down, to it don’t make it hard to hear your voice, when you are not speaking, it can be a little lounder, but not to loud for people to think it is annoying to listen too.
It all depends of what kind of video you are making and who you audience are

There are many possible points of failure here. On a good day, Shotcut is a “what you hear is what you get” environment.

The most basic question is… what happens if the exported video is brought back into Shotcut and played back there? Are the volume levels the same as during editing? If they are, then Shotcut may have application-specific volume settings that are different from the other apps. Or, the other media players may have their internal volume controls set to something other than 100%. If you’re on Linux, there’s even a chance that Shotcut is bypassing the system volume level and giving you 100% in a way that other apps are not.

This is really difficult to diagnose without knowing your operating system, Shotcut version, and what “imbalanced” audio means. Balance between left/right channels? Volume balance between different tracks?

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