Master Normalization, Saving, various Newb Questions

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Nigel_Tufnel

New member
Hello,
I have used "what I have" to record in the past with mixed results. I think if I had a few pointers for my setup, I could do a better job getting results.

First off I am recording multitrack demo's and burning to cd. I use 6 tracks max. The sound quality is not great, but for what I am using it is acceptable to me. I am using a Tascam 4-track into my soundcard and Cool Edit Pro 2 (Adobe Audition?). I use a pedal for the basic drum tracks, I mike my guitar and run into the tascam, and run the bass and vocals direct into the tascam. I dont know if this is "good" to do, but it has worked for me.

My first question - How is the best way to get all songs put on a cd to be the same volume and more or less the same sound? My problem in the past was the time that passed inbetween recording I changed settiings and the end result song was all different volumes.

2nd question - I mistakenly saved my last efforts as mp3's. Should I be saving all my tracks and sessions as WAV, or what?

Any other advise would be appreciated. (I am the process of reading threads to gatheer info and other ideas/advise!)
Thanks!
 
As to the volume question...I dunno. :D All mine pretty much are doin what yours are doin. Different levels etc. But since mine are goin to an ME, I don't care. :p
What I do for levels if I'm posting online is just strap a limiter across it and boost the levels to a couple db below clipping.
Not the best way to do it but...meh... :)

As to the MP3 thang....I never save my goodz as MP3...always WAV. Mp3's too compressed.
my 2c
Kel
 
I would look into some of the free online metering plugins. If you have them running while you playback one of your songs most will give you the Absolute Peak and than an Average of the loudness... Let me see if I can find one for you...


-Barrett
 
Nigel_Tufnel said:
I mistakenly saved my last efforts as mp3's. Should I be saving all my tracks and sessions as WAV
Click to expand...
Definitely .

See for yourself...
Save a mixdown as an mp3.
Save the same mixdown as a 24/44.1 wav file.
Listen to the difference on a decent playback system.
 
See for yourself...
Save a mixdown as an mp3.
Save the same mixdown as a 24/44.1 wav file.
Listen to the difference on a decent playback system.
Click to expand...
But only do that if the individual tracks you're mixing together are wavs. If you're using mp3s for the individual tracks you're probably going to get a lot of smearing and freq spectrum artifacts in the mix, whatever the resolution of the rendered file type.
 
Massive Master said:
A normalizer...?
Click to expand...

I don't know if its all that common but I just got a masterlink and it has one. I never use the thing, but I figured if such an effect exists there must be a plugin for it. The one on the Masterlink sets the highest peak value to full-scale. I'm never concerned with making my mixes as loud as Satan's Ass, but I think that's the draw to the effect.
 
I mean, what an ME would do is just line it all up, push the faders up and use his/her ears to get everything sounding good one song after the next. The thing is, you can't really rely on RMS meter levels...you have to use your ears. Perceived volume is everything, so maybe use a *very* general RMS level as a target, but then use your ears for relative volume from one song to the next. As for how you get the volume up, that's just a tiny part of the ME's job, and he/she is usually relying on a bunch of experience, a fantastic room, a stellar playback system and great analog gear with tons of headroom. Alternately, you could just ram it through a limiter and see what you get...:eek:

Frank
 
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