Recordings sound very low volume!

[Ninja_Drummer]

Hey guys, this seemed like a nice informative forum, so I'd thought I'd join it.

I'm a drummer, as you can see with my name, and I've taken the role in my band to learn about recording and all the pazazz that deals with it. I've also sort of thought of it as a profession in the future.

But anyways, I use Cubase LE 4 with a Alesis IO26 firewire interface for inputs. Whenever my band or I record, the raw mixes sound very low, or quiet, I've tried to raise the gain a bit on the interface but it doesn't seem to do any good. Also, whenever I EQ the kick drum, it sounds to "oomphy" whenever I mix it in with the other instruments. It sounds the way I like it when I solo it out, but when it's mixed in it sounds totally different. My band records live so I know there is the high possibility of bleeding on the other tracks, but I soloed out the guitar and bass and didn't really hear any bleeding at all. I've thought about bring the kick drum out a bit, but again, the volume output is so low that I've already got the in-program gain at its highest just to hear it.

 

[mixsit]

'Low likely that not = 'normal. Don't confuse that with 'CDs that are squashed. Search peak limiting', compression', volume wars'.
First, before deciding to 'fix anything with compression or whatever, and unless the tracks are actually recorded way low, bring your monitor level (or master bus too?) up so you can hear it well. Do not let 'playback' level drive early mix decisions.

Solo the bass and kick together (and any 'bigger-than-badass guitars that might be intruding into bass/kick world and need trimmed off.

Any one solo'd is good for learning what that one is doing- but it is the combination(s) that define the sound -and drive the decisions.

 

[Ninja_Drummer]

Well it does record pretty low. I've tried bringing up the gain on the interface for all the instruments but it ends up clipping on Cubase. I will try different methods, but I remember reading in the manual that you can level out the difference between the Alesis Direct Monitoring program or the gain on the interface itself.

I've tried cutting out some of the bleeding on the guitar and bass, but I end up cutting off a crucial part of the instrument's sound. I was thinking that to solve the issue with the kick is to bring it out more in the mix.

 

[Farview]

Your tracking levels should average somewhere around -18dbfs. Your mixes should average around -18dbfs too.

Mastering is where commercial CDs get the volume from. The mixes are supposed to be that quiet because you are skipping a step...

 

[mixsit]

Well it does record pretty low. I've tried bringing up the gain on the interface for all the instruments but it ends up clipping on Cubase.

Cubase track record meter? Then its not low its maxed out. Why would you say that is low?

I've tried cutting out some of the bleeding on the guitar and bass, but I end up cutting off a crucial part of the instrument's sound.

Question here would be is the bass and kick fairly clean on their own? If the guitars are fairly close miced seems like the main source of mush might be on the drum mics?

.. I've thought about bring the kick drum out a bit, but again, the volume output is so low that I've already got the in-program gain at its highest just to hear it.

Other things are too loud in the mix then.

 

[Ninja_Drummer]

I guess what I meant to say was that the overall mix records at a low volume, even with the master volume at its max. I might have to just post one of our mixes because it seems yall are having a hard time understanding my point hehe, maybe cause of my lack of knowledge or just the difficuly of picturing the issue.

Cubase track record meter? Then its not low its maxed out. Why would you say that is low?


Question here would be is the bass and kick fairly clean on their own? If the guitars are fairly close miced seems like the main source of mush might be on the drum mics?

The bass sounds pretty clean, the kick does as well. So I know for sure there isn't really a problem there.

 

[Willyc510]

no idea if this will help...
BUT, i just learned that if you click
-Audio
than
-Process
than-
Normalize
you can turn up an audio recording.

 

[Farview]

no idea if this will help...
BUT, i just learned that if you click
-Audio
than
-Process
than-
Normalize
you can turn up an audio recording.

That's one of the worst things to do. It needlessly runs you out of headroom.

As was said, mixes and individual tracks are supposed to be much quieter than a finished commercial CD.

 

[Jamez0r]

I'm glad to find a recent post on this, because I am having the same trouble.

Recording quality seems good, and the volume that I am recording at rides the line just below the clipping 'red' area of the meter (sorry I don't know the technical terms) without hitting it.

It sounds like what mixsit and Farview are saying is that we are recording at the correct level, but theres another step that brings up the volume (Mastering?).

Could someone explain what you need to do for this? Can you master the song within Cubase or do you need a separate program?

Thanks!