Volume levels question!

[mburton21]

Hello there this is my first post on the forums, though I have been reading them as a guest for a while now hehe.

Anyways, my question has to do with the fact that my final mixes have a significantly lower volume than those of any decent-professionally done CD. I'm no expert but I know my way around Pro Tools and recording environments.

I'm in what is basically a Melodic Deathmetal band with the standard multi-tracked rhythm guitars and layers of harmony, etc. and I've recorded it using pretty good equipment, Endorphin Stereo compressor from Digitalfishphones on the master tracks, etc.

So basically, everything rips but I can't seem to squeeze much more volume out of it before peaking, the only thing I can think of is to decrease the volume of everything and maybe increase the overall volume in mastering?

What to do?!

 

[Force666]

Getting Your Loudness

This is a great thread on the subject. And yes, you would usually get your overall volume in the mastering stage.

 

[mick thompson]

well yea if your clipping pre your master volume on your vu's then turn down the volume on your channels and boost it on your master until just before it clips on the master vu - you shouldn't run into noise problems if you used good gear

 

[Trevoire520]

Your mix has quite alot to do with how loud you can get. If the mix is bass heavy you'll really struggle to get a good level.

Other than that, doing a few stages of light compression (less than 2dB gain reduction) is better than just slapping one on the end and doing all the and getting that to do all the work.

Have a read of the "getting your loudness" thread. There's loads of great info there.