How to get more volume?

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RAMI said:
Maybe I'm the one that's missing something, but I don't see how recording so that you peak at -2, but turning down your faders when you mix is any different than recording so that you peak at -10 and not having to turn down your faders as much. It's the same thing. How hot or not hot you track has nothing to do with how much headroom you have when you mix.
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Yeah...in the digital world....it's all just numbers....though sometimes with certain plugs, the track levels may come into play.
I think the real reason some suggest watching levels during tracking is that at that first stage you are still dealing with an analog front end.

I tend to not pay too much attention to my DAW converter input levels....other than to choose either -10 or +4, depending what analog gear I'm using at my front end.
Most times, when I get the signal I want/like at my analog end...it's usually on the money in the DAW. I think too much gets tossed about "the correct" levels one should use in the DAW...and they're all over the place, but in reality, the "correct" level is usually referenced to the analog side, since once in the DAW, it's just math.
 
miroslav said:
I think the real reason some suggest watching levels during tracking is that at that first stage you are still dealing with an analog front end.
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Yeah, that's what I've come to understand. If I'm correct, it doesn't really matter how hot you record into your DAW as far as the digital side of it's concerned. Technically, you can come in at -.1 if you really wanted to. The problem is that, if you're coming in that hot, there's a good chance that your gain staging is wrong somewhere on the analog side, before you even got to your computer.
 
ecc83 said:
Don't know about anyone else but my hourly pee'ing is caused by medication post an operation for bladder cancer.

I anyone wants proof, PM me.

Dave.
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My post was just a joke in general aimed at no one in particular. More of an old age yelling at clouds thing. Good luck with that cancer thing though.
 
Disclaimer, OP wants "loud" but makes no mention of quality. So here you go to make your mix sound loud...

Hey OP, here's how to make your song "louder" since it wasn't really answered here. Put a limiter at the end of your chain of the entire mix (after pre, after the master fader), it's called post. Before engaging the limiter, bring the master fader down to the point where your peaks are under 0db, between -3db and -1db is good. Now go into your post limiter and set the threshold to -0.01 (this way you will have no clipping whatsoever). Now on your limiter, ensure it is on, and start cranking your input gain, try bringing it to +4db to start, and go as loud as you can/want (+8db it will really start to sound bad when the kick and snare hit). You can also bump the master fader, but really work on input gain instead if you can. You're essentially doing a cheesy faux mastering job by the way.

There may be other settings on your limiter, like attack, I have no idea what DAW or plug ins you are using. Play around with these other controls if you feel like your mix is thumping or dropping out.
 
Greg_L said:
My post was just a joke in general aimed at no one in particular. More of an old age yelling at clouds thing. Good luck with that cancer thing though.
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Yeah, I certainly wasn't directing anything I said at anyone's illness, especially since I had no idea. If there's one line I don't cross, it's making fun of something that ain't funny no matter how you look at it. I can take it though. I have a heart condition, and I joke about it more than any of my friends is comfortable with, but that's self-directed. So fire away. :D
 
PS - If you ever plan on mixing down for mastering later, you need to get rid of that whole limiter in post. Any mastering engineer will likely shoot you if you deliver a file that is limited/EQed/compressed/oddly-reverbed/whatever. This process is in leiue of actual real mastering.
 
Mastering technically isn't about just making a single louder. Mastering is getting an entire project ready for mass consumption.
 
gregoryg said:
Hey OP, here's how to make your song "louder" since it wasn't really answered here.
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Um.....Yes it was. You just repeated what I said and added some details, most of which are not necesarry.

First of all, you don't put your "threshold" to -.1. That's not the threshold, that's the peak limit. The threshold is what you adjust to find where you want the limiter to kick in. If you put your threshold to -.1, the limiter won't even do anything.

You also don't need to touch your master fader with a limiter. Just adjust the threshold on the limiter downward until it kicks in. From there, you either adjust your make-up gain, or if it's a look-ahead limiter, you don't have to do anything for it to adjust the make-up as you bring down your threshold.
 
RAMI said:
Um.....Yes it was. You just repeated what I said and added some details, most of which are not necesarry.

First of all, you don't put your "threshold" to -.1. That's not the threshold, that's the peak limit. The threshold is what you adjust to find where you want the limiter to kick in. If you put your threshold to -.1, the limiter won't even do anything.

You also don't need to touch your master fader with a limiter. Just adjust the threshold on the limiter downward until it kicks in. From there, you either adjust your make-up gain, or if it's a look-ahead limiter, you don't have to do anything for it to adjust the make-up as you bring down your threshold.
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There are three pages of shtick here so I didn't/don't see your post. Secondly, there is obviously more than one way to accomplish "make it louder." What I suggest here is just one of them. Really isn't intended to criticize or even reference whatever it was that you suggested in your post.
 
And BTW, on my limiter, peak and threshold are tied (one control) and it is -0.01 that I suggested to avoid clipping.
 
gregoryg said:
There are three pages of shtick here so I didn't/don't see your post. Secondly, there is obviously more than one way to accomplish "make it louder." What I suggest here is just one of them. Really isn't intended to criticize or even reference whatever is was you suggested in your post.
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It's cool man. I wasn't attacking you. But if you're not going to read the "three pages of shtick", maybe you shouldn't say it wasn't answered since you don't know if it has or not. Also, if we're going to try and help someone, let's at least get the terms right, or else we're doing them more harm than good.

Mis-naming "threshold" isn't just a matter of "more than one way" to accomplish something. It's simply the wrong term for what you were describing. Again, not attacking you, we all make mistakes. I was just pointing it out before the OP got even more confused.
 
Greg_L said:
Mastering technically isn't about just making a single louder. Mastering is getting an entire project ready for mass consumption.
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Never said it was. I believe I even said "cheesy" and "faux" to differentiate that what I suggested is anything but "real" mastering, which yes indeed includes elements beyond volume.
 
gregoryg said:
And BTW, on my limiter, peak and threshold are tied (one control) and it is -0.01 that I suggested to avoid clipping.
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I'd like to see that. Threshold and peak are 2 completely different things. Maybe you have a limiter where one affects the other somehow, but bringing your threshold to -.1 will not do anything. Threshold, by definition is what you bring down until it's at the level that it can compress your signal.
 
RAMI said:
It's cool man. I wasn't attacking you. But if you're not going to read the "three pages of shtick", maybe you shouldn't say it wasn't answered since you don't know if it has or not. Also, if we're going to try and help someone, let's at least get the terms right, or else we're doing them more harm than good.

Mis-naming "threshold" isn't just a matter of "more than one way" to accomplish something. It's simply the wrong term for what you were describing. Again, not attacking you, we all make mistakes. I was just pointing it out before the OP got even more confused.
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Well in that case, it's actually called "Ceiling" not peak.
 
thanks for the comments guys i've worked my way out with the mix to something louder and it sounds good now.

I can see that the subject has gone way far from where it started but its entertaining so keep it up hehehe :P
 
gregoryg said:
And yes, bringing your ceiling to -0.01 will in fact prevent your out put from clipping. That's the whole point of the ceiling, things don't go higher than it. So if 0db+ = clipping; -0.01db = not clipping.
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I never said it wasn't. I know how a limiter works. Yes, bringing it up -.01 is not going to clip. I never disagreed with that. I'm saying that bringing your THRESHOLD to -.01 (or -.1 or whatever) won't do anything. That's not where the threshold will have any affect. Again, THRESHOLD and PEAK/CEILING (same thing) are 2 different things.
 
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