Final Mix Volume Not Hot Enough

[Massive Master]

The clipped version will be .5dB quieter from turning down the entire signal.

Oh no! A half dB!!!

 

[masteringhouse]

The clipped version will be .5dB quieter from turning down the entire signal.

Oh no! A half dB!!!

Not sure if this was 100% joke John ...

Just for clarity, the limited signal also peaks at -.5dBFS, both are reducing peaks by X dBFS, so I don't think one will be more quiet than the other.

edit:
I'm still drink my morning coffee, nevermind ...
I misread and thought you meant quieter than each other.

The .5 dBFS reduction was done (as J knows) so that the resulting audio doesn't register the overs on most playback systems.

 

[ez_willis]

With what limiter? If you are just taking a CD that has peaks at 0dbFS and turning up the volume out of one set of converters into another set, you are clipping something.

I'm not getting the peaks up to 0dbFS at the first burn, many times. That's why I send it back through.

I'm a rookie, cut me some slack.

 

[Farview]

I'm not getting the peaks up to 0dbFS at the first burn, many times. That's why I send it back through.

Why don't you turn it up until you do?

Why do you use a stand-alone unit? (assuming you are recording on a computer) You could easily do all this volume enhancing in the box. It would save CD's and having to burn in real time.

 

[ez_willis]

Why do you use a stand-alone unit?

Because I use a tascam tm d-1000 before/after the computer. If your next question is "why?", it's because I use 8 channels for my drums and I can bring them into Logic seperately, via the RME Hammerfall HDSP 9652. I use the pre's on it to mic everything else as well. On the way out, sometimes I'll use the onboard effects to compress the stereo tracks.

Why don't you turn it up until you do?

I try to. Sometimes, if it seems like the mix could be louder, I'll run it back through. I try to get it right the first time around, but like I said, I'm a rookie.

My setup is weird, too.

 

[Nate74]

Not to hijack the thread... (can you do that when you were the original poster) but after some research I decided to try about half a dozen different settings on the loudest 10 seconds of a mix. I then imported the limited portions all back into a new file and was able to visually see what each amount of limiting did. I set the max or peak or cealing control to 98% and tried various db settings from -4 to -16.

I could not only see what the limiter was doing but then compared it to the overall perceived change in volume.

In the end, I realized that though I could really push the levels up, the music lost a lot of its punch and clarity so a happy medium was best.

Anyway, thanks to all for contributing and for the education.

 

[Nate74]

Seriously, who still neg reps people anonymously? Pussy!

I know, I know, it shouldn't bother me but it does a bit...just had to vent.