Doubling final tracks for loudness??????

[pappy999]

Hello,
I have been trying to master a recently recorded album and discovered that if you use two identical 24 bit stereo mixes to bounce to one stereo mix, the result is a louder somewhat compressed final track that sounds almost as compressed as a commercial CD. I did this on all ten songs of the album with no digital clipping or distortion. Does anyone else do this? Are there any negatives I should look out for?

I am using Pro tools LE if anyone was wondering.

[xfinsterx]

All you idea does is increase the overall volume

You could get the same effect by simply turning up the main mix and not bothering with the double.

Do you have a limiter or compressor across the 2 bus?

If so, that is why it sounds "more compressed" is because you are sending more input the 2 bus.

-Finster

[Ford Van]

When you compare the two, make sure you increase the volume of the original by 6dB.

That is all you did when you doubled it.

hehe....I know a local studio owner who was SO excited about "discovering" this. I just showed him what I was talking about. He is a good friend, so really, I didn't enjoy the look on his face when he discovered how silly it all was. But, it WAS sort of funny.

[jonnyc]

Originally Posted by Ford Van

When you compare the two, make sure you increase the volume of the original by 6dB.

That is all you did when you doubled it.

hehe....I know a local studio owner who was SO excited about "discovering" this. I just showed him what I was talking about. He is a good friend, so really, I didn't enjoy the look on his face when he discovered how silly it all was. But, it WAS sort of funny.

LOL I know how this goes too. I have a friend that mentored me at first with this studio stuff and he's a really nice guy but he's so off on so many things that I feel like I know way more than he does know, kind of like the roles have been reversed. Anyway two weeks ago while finishing up my cousins first cd he had this great idea. He called it super double stereo, it was the exact same method described in this thread. I tried to tell him all he did was turn the volume up, but seeing how he still see's me as his pupil he didn't listen. He's also convinced the phase reverse button on plug ins is the "activation" switch. Thank God I have you guys or I'd be all messed up.

[Farview]

I announced in the normalization thread that it was the dumbesty thing I had ever heard. This thread is the new winner.