Volume control

[JoyceBach]

How do I make all my songs the same volume after I have recorded the song so that when it is played back on a cd player you don't have to turn the volume control up or down?
I am using cakewalk studio 9

[Emanuel Vella]

I'm not an expert but I think what you need is LIMITING, and there are a ton of options available.

[UtahBites]

actually, it really depends on the amount of meticulousness (is that REALLY a word??) that you desire, and what you have to work with in the first place.

It starts from the detail you take in the initial recording levels and continues on down through the mixing, EQing, mastering processes, which ALL contribute to your levels in the mix.

Compression/limiting is one important tool, so is EQ, so is your mastering. Using meters to look and listen is recommended for mixing equivalent levels (but which CW9 is lacking!!)
Too much of any one thing is almost guaranteed to be detremental to your end result (ie...too much limiting will make it sound "squashed"), but on the otherhand, may be necessary if your recording levels are highly uneven and/or volumetrically challenged.
Like I said...it depends (on what you have to work with, and how meticulous you want to be with it)...
There are MANY resources on homerecording.com (and elsewhere) that I would recommend you to read on this subject.

sorry if I contributed to confusion, but sort of a difficult question to give a simple answer IMHO...
ub

[Redkid53]

Try this:
In Home Studio 9 toolbar, EDIT->AUDIO->NORMALIZE

I think this is the correct path, if not, it is definetly somewhere under the EDIT menu on the main toolbar. First mixdown to one track: TOOLS->BOUNCE TO TRACK, then normalize that one track. When normalizing in Cakewalk, the db level is a set value, you can not change it, therefore, this should solve the volume problems on your CD if you do it to each song.

[dachay2tnr]

Normalizing will only take your peak volume to 0db (or whatever setting you normalize to). The perceived loudness of a song is much more a result of the average volume (RMS).

While normalizing might make a single song louder (depending on how high the peaks are when you start) it will very likely do nothing to help make an array of songs sound equal in volume.

UtahBites pretty much gave you the right answer. Compression and/or limiting are a couple of tools that will help in this area - as will good tracking techniques to begin with. An analytical tool that can measure RMS volumes will also be beneficial, since it will help to guide your ears.

Generally if you track well to being with, equalizing volume will be accomplished when you have the tracks mastered. If you're having them done professionally, you should be fine. If you're going to do them yourself, you got a bit of a learning curve before you.

[Paul881]

DO NOT NORMALIZE!!!!

This is a destructive algorithm, once applied cannot be restored. Nor increase/decrease by 3db either.