very confused

[NationalSandwic]

hello
i'm mixing digitally and having a major struggle with volume. i understand how sounds add up and can push the mix over 0dB, but on some tracks I can get a really good volume that i'm happy with that doesn't clip the master. on other tracks, the master is clipping but the mix is really soft. i really need help with this. any advice?
thanks
anthony

[scrubs]

Originally Posted by NationalSandwic

hello
i'm mixing digitally and having a major struggle with volume. i understand how sounds add up and can push the mix over 0dB, but on some tracks I can get a really good volume that i'm happy with that doesn't clip the master. on other tracks, the master is clipping but the mix is really soft. i really need help with this. any advice?
thanks
anthony

It's hard to say without hearing the music. However, you might want to look into a frequency analyzer. That will tell you if you are getting buildup of certain frequencies that are preventing you from raising the gain of the overall mix (say, for example, that 500Hz has peaks 4dB louder than the other frequencies in your mix -- then you could make some EQ cuts there and raise the level of the overall mix). Any decent mastering software should have one. I've used a free VST one called Voxengo SPAN (Spectrum Analyzer).

http://www.voxengo.com/freevst/

[NationalSandwic]

that's a great tool! and a great site. thanks! ok, but check it out. the vst unit has a scale from -57 to 0 dB. my kick is sitting at -15 on the VST scale(!) but on my master track it's clipping at 3.6? I'm using logic audio, btw...

[Mike_OHara]

Originally Posted by NationalSandwic

that's a great tool! and a great site. thanks! ok, but check it out. the vst unit has a scale from -57 to 0 dB. my kick is sitting at -15 on the VST scale(!) but on my master track it's clipping at 3.6? I'm using logic audio, btw...

One thing to consider....

A track may on average be fairly quiet, but it can still contain transient peaks that take it above the 0dB level and into clipping territory. Try taking a look at the waveforms of the individual tracks to see where the the transient peaks (i.e. "spikes" on sounds with sharp attacks, like for example the kick drum) are most pronounced, and then apply limiting to those tracks (make sure you have a fast attack on the limiter).

Mike

[NationalSandwic]

i understand that. one thing about limiters is that i worry about squashing the sound out of the mix. i just don't understand why one piece of software is giving me different dB figures to another.

[tubesrawsom]

loud isnt nessecarily good if its soft music let it be mastering usually sets levels