To soft.. ?

[Mendel]

When i export my music it sounds to soft ( low in volume ) compared to other music like cd's from as i lay dying, etc etc. even when a mix above the 3 db ! and export it's still to soft. want i export, and import it again and make the volume higher, they get cracks etc but then im even in a low volume area.

how can i make my wav.s higher in volume without ruining the mix ?

 

[Kazrog]

What you're probably asking about is apparent loudness, which you can address in mastering. A good mastering limiter such as the Waves L2 or L3 will get you there in a hurry. There's a lot more to mastering than just limiting though - but it's limiting that the label execs respond to the most. Remember that louder is not always better, and there's plenty of great sounding albums (Rush's Counterparts comes to mind) that aren't excessively squashed.

 

[Mendel]

ok thx, and it's true, but it's so weird. like all the albums in these day are around the same volume. when i listen a aborted album and then a blac dahli, volume is the same. but with min it's so soft.

 

[fabz]

ok thx, and it's true, but it's so weird. like all the albums in these day are around the same volume. when i listen a aborted album and then a blac dahli, volume is the same. but with min it's so soft.

Enemy of God is also not that loud but i love it like it is!

 

[flhctroll]

new maiden album not mastered.

 

[Black neon bob]

Forget volume... quality first..

I hate to listen to loud ass albums clipping over my speakers, just because it needed to be as loud or louder as the rest of the bunch...

 

[STINNETT]

First of all are you looking at your volume peaks or your average volume? The peaks don't mean shit in terms of how loud the overall track will seem.
Get the peaks under control in individual tracks during mixing, EQ out the problem areas and the stuff that you don't need so you get more room to breath.
Then slap a decent quality limiter on the 2 bus or on the stereo mixdown.

That being said, I happen to like quieter albums. I've got more than enough volume on my stereo, and they usually sound better.

When you really crank up a modern album that has no dynamics I think it sounds itrritating as hell.

This is an all too often argued subject.

 

[trym^^]

yep, especially with metal to the max theres so little place
for nuances. but try the timeworks mastering compressor.
uber-loudness with the touch of one fader.

the artifacts when limiting result from a overthetop emphasized eq somewhere.

 

[smy1]

This made my mixes louder without making them sound too squashed:

Make a group channel/buss for every instrument group (drums, bass, vocals, guitars, etc.) and put a good compressor on each group. Set it to a threshold so that it compresses up to 3-6db with a ratio of maybe 2:1 or 3:1. Then throw a compressor on the mixbuss and set it to 2:1 and a threshold that lets it compress maybe 3db. Then put a limiter at the very end of your "mastering chain" and pull it up till just before you don't like the way it sounds anymore (pumping, ducking, etc.).

Remember: this is advice for demo material only. If you want to put out professional sounding material, you should skip mastering it yourself. The idea to compress the instrument busses is still valid, tho.

 

[sparkyness]

Some of my favourite albums which are 10-15 years old are relatively quiet when compared to a lot of over-compressed stuff that I hear today. Seasons in the Abyss for one. I was amazed when I saw the waveform on those tracks. Dynamics is a dying element it seems.....

 

[Mendel]

ok true

 

[Senseyete]

listen to the last CD of Watcha,i really like these french guys but the first impression was....lol these is too loud isn't it?

 

[LSD-Studio]

yepp, kings x - dogman has an RMS of -14.xx
RHCP - Blood Sugar Sex Magik even -18.xx dB

that are 2 of the best sounding records ever (to my ears).

 

[Gnash]

Yeah, I like albums with some headroom and not too much lowend, you can turn up loud on your system, and they still sound great. Alice In Chains' "Dirt" is a good one, White Zombie's stuff (Andy Wallace), Terry Date's stuff, Mutt, and Andy's mixes, of course. That is really the goal for me. Mendel, I am guessing you are having the same quandary as I am, though. Are you saying your mix sounds cool (24 bit), then you export to (16 bit) .wav, and the volume drops? If so, what I do,(And it's gonna change real quick!), is boost the main output to past clipping (near death) and export. It will come out where you want it, if you fuck with it a couple times. I know this sounds fucked up, but it works for me. Like I said, when I find a better way, I'm there.