Turn It Off and Back On Again
When in doubt, turn it off and back on again. This is my tried and true solution for when your software is being inexplicably weird--especially ProTools.
Last night, I was trying to export an audiobook edit, and every time, the bounced file sounded slow-mo and distorted. Even though everything was playing back completely normally in the session, no matter what I did, it was exporting wrong.
I checked all my inputs and outputs--nothing weird there.
Then, I checked my session settings and export settings. The session sample rate matched the export sample rate (sometimes if you export at a different sample rate than your session, it can add noise or mess with the speed and pitch of the file). So, it wasn't sample rate.
Then, I tried pasting my edit onto a new track in the session and bounced from there--same slow-mo, distorted file.
I even tried consolodating the edit as one clip and just using that file from the Audio Files folder in the ProTools session folder. That didn't work either, the file still sounded weird.
Last but not least, as a hail mary in an attempt not to lose hours of work, I restarted my whole computer and ProTools.
Guess what? That did it. I bounced my edit and the file sounded completely normal, no slow-mo, no distortion.
Whenever you try literally every possible solution in ProTools and it still doesn't work, always try to restart your computer. It's been the fix for me quite a few times when I couldn't get anything else to work.
ProTools is very finicky and particular. Sometimes it just needs a reboot, or as a lot of audio engineers I've met would say, a kick in the ass.
So, never count out the old adage "turn it off and back on again." It really does work (at least a lot of the time).
Term Definitions from this Post:
Bounce - another word for export or render, essentially combining multiple audio tracks into a single audio file. The term originated during the analog tape era, when there were a limited number of tracks to work with. Engineers would "bounce" multiple recorded tracks onto a single new track, freeing up space to record more parts. Even though modern DAWs don't require this process, the term "bouncing" has become the colloquial way to say exporting or rendering a finished mix.
Sample Rate - the number of times a sound wave is measured each second to convert it into digital audio. Kind of like frame rate in video, a higher sample rate captures more measurements per second, creating a more accurate digital representation of the original sound.
Bonus terms:
Hertz (Hz) and Kilohertz (kHz) - units used to measure frequency, which is the number of times a repeating wave cycle occurs in one second. Frequency, in audio, is also referred to as pitch. One Hertz equals one cycle per second, and one Kilohertz equals one thousand cycles per second.
Nyquist Theorem - the sample rate should be more than twice the frequency range you're trying to record to accurately capture the sound. E.g. the human range of hearing is 20 Hz - 20 kHz (most recordings fall within this range since no-one can hear below or above it), and the lowest sample rate regularly utilized today is 44.1 kHz (a little more than double 20 kHz). 48 kHz, 96 kHz, and even 196 kHz are used today for an even "clearer" sound.
Sources
Origin of "Bounce:" https://www.production-expert.com/production-expert-1/why-do-we-call-it-bouncing-a-mix
Sample Rate + Nyquist Theorem: https://www.izotope.com/community/blog/digital-audio-basics-sample-rate-and-bit-depth?srsltid=AfmBOopbCLnPtQF7akcPy1Wez3tu01bdjOWCwCezliNnGVUR_g_n9qHE
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