Does Master volume effect the track volumes when bounced

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JamesJen

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Hey Everyone
So I recorded a few tracks 2 audio and 1 midi
Now all 3 tracks sit around the -9db never going above -6db
After I bounce the midi track to an audio track it dropped to -18db
I increased the volume of the new audio track to match the others
When I bounced all three to one track it did the same thing.
Once I exported the track to .wav I have a track that can not be heard unless I turn the speakers up to 100%.
The only thing I can think of is, I have to turn the Master down because the raw recordings are too loud when played back through my monitors (which have no volume control on them). So I am wondering if that is effecting my volume when bouncing. I am Using Sonar 8 with Delta 1010 with my monitors hooked up to the 1010 1/2 outputs.
Any Ideas?
 
You mention the word bounce. Are you mixing mutilple mixes? Or is there just one mix down?

Typically your mix down level should be around -12 digital , and then using some sort of leveling device to bring it up to normal cd listening volume, but depending on the type of leveling device will determine the quality you loose as you go up. It's important to be aware of level headroom and also compresson headroom.

Using a mixer will help you control your monitoring volume while not tampering with your actual mix level. I believe it is common people get these mixed up
 
When you say master volume it could only mean two things:

Master Fader (mix volume)

or

Speaker Volume (listening level)


Which is it?

The master fader affects your mix volume, the speaker volume doesn't. It just turns your speakers up or down.
 
JamesJen said:
I bounce the midi track to an audio track
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Well, that's a neat trick!!

...there's got to be more details than that - one of them might be relevant...or it might not. But taken literally, what you said doesn't make much sense at all. ;)

In my software - there's two uses of the word "bounce":

* Selecting multiple bits of audio on a track and right clicking and choosing "bounce" - All this does is make all the edits into one contiguous chunk - mix settings have no effect in that whatsoever.
* The other is to actually "bounce" a send or an output bus or some kind of group channel *something* down to an editable track. Mix settings there are all taken into account, because the audio is actually rendered to a whole new file.

Sounds like you're doing something along the lines of the latter, and yes - in that case, if you're bouncing the main output bus - then naturally the volume of the main output bus will affect the volume of the "bounced" audio.
 
JamesJen said:
Once I exported the track to .wav I have a track that can not be heard unless I turn the speakers up to 100%.
The only thing I can think of is, I have to turn the Master down because the raw recordings are too loud when played back through my monitors (which have no volume control on them). So I am wondering if that is effecting my volume when bouncing. I am Using Sonar 8 with Delta 1010 with my monitors hooked up to the 1010 1/2 outputs.
Any Ideas?
Click to expand...

Yea, this is a big mess, and I actually remember being confused about this when I first began.

Do this: Pull up the M-Audio drivers, and go to the output page. Turn the volume on output 1/2 all the way down. Now Play a song that's really loud - like any commercial rock/metal/rap/country track (anything but classical or jazz, really) Windows Media Player - not in your DAW.

Make sure the volume slider on WMP is all the way up, and go back to the M-Audio drivers - now slide the volume on 1/2 up until it's a comfortable level.

There you go - now don't mess with the main volume fader in your DAW while mixing because you want your monitors turned down or up anymore - that's not what it's for - (I actually don't ever even touch the main fader in a DAW, personally, and I'm definitely not the only one. You don't really need it at all - it's just a convenience for if you find that you've made a good mix, but everything's way too low, well - you can turn it all up at once with the main fader. It's not meant to control the output level of your hardware - it is relevant to your mix only).
 
TyphoidHippo - in your first post, the latter term for bounce was exactly what I was doing. Your suggestion in the second post worked perfect for me.

I never had to touch the master fader in the past so I never noticed what difference it made. I got the delta 1010 and with the powered monitors about a month ago and everything so seemed loud during playback that I used the master fader to turn it down not realizing it effcted the mix. The little speaker icon only controls volume for anything outside DAW. Once running the DAW it doesn't do anything. You never guess how many times I recorded a track and blew my ears off when I played it back. Now I Know why..haha
I guess as one grows and adds better gear you learn new things

Thanks for help guys
James
 
TyphoidHippo - in your first post, the latter term for bounce was exactly what I was doing. Your suggestion in the second post worked perfect for me.

I never had to touch the master fader in the past so I never noticed what difference it made. I got the delta 1010 and with the powered monitors about a month ago and everything so seemed loud during playback that I used the master fader to turn it down not realizing it effcted the mix. The little speaker icon only controls volume for anything outside DAW. Once running the DAW it doesn't do anything. You never guess how many times I recorded a track and blew my ears off when I played it back. Now I Know why..haha
I guess as one grows and adds better gear you learn new things

Thanks for help guys
James
 
JamesJen said:
TyphoidHippo - in your first post, the latter term for bounce was exactly what I was doing. Your suggestion in the second post worked perfect for me.
Click to expand...
Good deal, glad I could help :D

JamesJen said:
The little speaker icon only controls volume for anything outside DAW.
Click to expand...
I'm going to guess you've got your computer's onboard soundcard routed through your 1010 if you're able to adjust your volume with that little speaker outside of your DAW - is that right? M-Audio has never provided a driver that works with the little speaker interface for any device I've ever had (I've never had a 1010, though). Not that it's a big deal or anything, I was just going to advise that there is a cleaner/simpler/"better" way to cut-out the middle-man and avoid using the built-in device altogether.

JamesJen said:
I guess as one grows and adds better gear you learn new things

Thanks for help guys
James
Click to expand...

You got that right! Heck, I'm always learning new things about gear I've had for a long time :D.
 
JamesJen said:
The only thing I can think of is, I have to turn the Master down because the raw recordings are too loud when played back through my monitors (which have no volume control on them). So I am wondering if that is effecting my volume when bouncing. I am Using Sonar 8 with Delta 1010 with my monitors hooked up to the 1010 1/2 outputs.
Any Ideas?
Click to expand...

Yes it is.

Find an alternative way of controlling speaker volumes.
 
gecko zzed said:
Yes it is.

Find an alternative way of controlling speaker volumes.
Click to expand...

Yep. And I haven't had to try this but it seems like it ought to work.. Assign the master out to 'none, and add an aux send-output on the master, route that to your monitors -an independent volume that 'tracks your mix.
Another gotcha is when you play or export the finished bounced mix track- it doesn't want to go through whatever settings and processing you might have on the master a second time. I make a dedicated playback/export bus for the mix tracks that stays zero and clean. (That assigns to the same monitor-out as well
:drunk:
 
TyphoidHippo - I don't have an onboard sound card or any sound card, only the 1010. The speaker icon controls line 1/2 outputs of the 1010. Next to it is the M-Audio Delta icon which opens the M-Audio Delta Control Panel. Which is where I made the adjustments you suggested earlier. All is good in my world once again (for the time being at least...lol).
Thanks again for the help
James
 
JamesJen said:
TyphoidHippo - I don't have an onboard sound card or any sound card, only the 1010. The speaker icon controls line 1/2 outputs of the 1010.
Click to expand...
Gotcha - just out of curiosity because I dabble in sound programming here and there - when you adjust the output with the little speaker thing, does it actually change the slider on the output for 1/2 in the M-Audio driver interface?

gecko zzed said:
Yes it is.

Find an alternative way of controlling speaker volumes.
Click to expand...

We already got that settled, dude. @JamesJen: As the thread creator - you can lock this whenever you're done entertaining us. :D
 
dastrick said:
hmmmm....................................:confused:
Click to expand...

Yea, maybe that came out wrong. I meant something like: "If you don't want to keep having this thread pop up in your control panel because people keep offering suggestions to your problem even though the problem is now resolved, or perhaps you get tired of me asking you stupid questions about how your driver software interacts with Windows, you can lock it."
 
TyphoidHippo - no such thing as stupid questions....lol
If you want to know anything more about my driver just send me a msg.
 
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