Getting song Radio Ready

[IcePhixia]

I've been wondering for the last couple of months why my last song on radio didn't so that clear and powerful as in the studio.

The I found out that quite a few people said that when you send/email or drop your song of for a radio station, that the overall RMS must not be over the -6db range...thus, don't compress or limit your song, but keep the song as is.

I've attached a file where the overall range is say within this -6db limit. What should be the main focus to get this sort of song radio ready, since the song contains quite a few dips below -18db...?

How do we keep the songs overall clear and punchy without going over the -6db limit and not using any compressor or limiters to get the soft parts up?

 

[impact87]

From what I thought, you have to use compression to help out with those dips.. Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

First, stop sending your songs to stations with student DJs that don't know how to engineer their signals.

Second, your pictures seem to indicate that you are mistaking peak volume for RMS volume as the RMS for those waveforms looks more like a normal -20dBFS RMS, or thereabouts. RMS indicates a type of *average* volume, not the highest peak volume of your loudest transients.

Third, the advice that your RMS should be less that -6dBFS is good advice, as nothing other than pink noise that has an RMS that freakin' high is going to sound good, especially on the radio. Your RMS should be a LOT less than -6dBFS. Especially for a song like yours that has so many rests in it (which will automatically numerically drag the average level down.)

Your problem is you're trying to get your song to sound as loud as everybody else's when their songs are all mastered too loud. This is an unfortunate consequence of the stupidity prevalent among today's artists and producers, who are currently following a fashion fad of over-boosting the average volume of a song in much the same way that the superpowers in the 60s and 70s kept just piling up the number of nuclear warheads they had beyond any actually necessary number in nothing but a pissing contest.

If you really need to have your stuff played on that radio station, you need to worsen the sound of your music by crunching further than it should go with a compressor and limiter. As the question on how to smash your music is asked in this mastering forum on an average of about twice a month, I suggest you look through this forum for the multitude of the other threads here that already discuss how to do this ad nauseum. I can see four of them listed right on the first page of thread, including at least one specifically asking about mastering for radio.

G.

 

[Massive Master]

I'm not a "meter and waveform" guy -- But those waveforms don't look anywhere near averaging -6dBRMS. They might be *PEAKING* at -6dBFS -- and -6dB(FS)RMS is far too loud anyway.

Get it to the level where it sounds right but still has reasonable dynamics. A crest of around 15dB is almost universally a "nice place" and you aren't going to get more "radio friendly" than that either.

 

[IcePhixia]

Second, your pictures seem to indicate that you are mistaking peak volume for RMS volume as the RMS for those waveforms looks more like a normal -20dBFS RMS, or thereabouts. RMS indicates a type of *average* volume, not the highest peak volume of your loudest transients.
G.

Hi SouthSIDE Glen. Your are correct, my mistake with the RMS. I' should have been -6dBfs, not RMS.

I think the problem with our little song was that our dynamic range in our MIXING stage was not looked at. We didn't apply proper compression or limiting to our tracks, and we ended with a song that's dynamic range was to wide. Getting proper mixing is a very big part in getting the true radio ready song and applying good EQ, Compression and limiting to work with the dynamics will help the song in the long run. So we are now back in the studio with our latest track and man are we learning!

I've downloaded waves plugins (demo) ones from CLA and I must say, using proper quality compressors on this track helped with the dynamic range. Now the song is already way louder and looks more like a radio song, but it's not a wall of sound like most CD's that you will find in the store. I am going to buy those CLA plugins! They are rock solid and will help with my future projects. I've used free plugins and they just sound thin or distorted when we get to the fast attack, fast release times...which is what really brings the sound out and keeping the dynamics tight. (Did find a few free plugins to be of good quality ), but those CLA range is one of the best compressors range in the industry, and they cost a fraction of the hardware babies

We still have to remember that the radio station is going to apply compression again on this track, so we've worked with the dynamic range of the song to get that sorted

Our final question now is, at what level should this final stereo song be then? -6dBfs? Or should we look at the overall avg? And what should the avg level be at?

 

[Waltz Mastering]

Our final question now is, at what level should this final stereo song be then? -6dBfs? Or should we look at the overall avg? And what should the avg level be at?

You can set the songs peak level between -.5 to -.2 dBFS. The rms level doesn't really matter and doesn't really tell you much as far as perceived loudness. I would go with whatever sounds good and not be concerned with the rms number so much.

 

[SafeandSound]

For a great sound on radio somewhere around -14dB RMS thereabouts is a good level, this way you tend not to have to
overly distort the sound with limiting etc. and your bass level will not need any compromise and dynamics will still largely be in place. Bear in mind station processing will do a great deal multiband processing to your audio and if you have limited too heavily there will be a massive increase in distortion. Being "Radio ready" is fine but I would have a view to overall translation, good sound, decent level without too much compromise, unless it is for specific purpose of radio playback, i.e. you are a guest on a programme or featured artist etc.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Our final question now is, at what level should this final stereo song be then? -6dBfs? Or should we look at the overall avg? And what should the avg level be at?

There is no real "should" answer here. The peak level is irrelevant (as long as you avoid clipping), and the RMS level is just as dependent upon the content of the song as it is anything else. What's a "normal" RMS for a ballad with a spartan arrangement and plenty of rests is likely to be several dBs less than a power anthem with a wall of distortion-style production, even if the perceived volume to the human ear is about the same.

Most popular music styles of the last half-century or so, *when mixed at nominal levels*, tend to wind up before mastering with an RMS somewhere in the -20 to -15 dBRMS range, give or take a dB or two amongst friends.

The purists among us (including me) would rather not see the mastering pushed much higher than that, except as needed to balance the perceived level of songs strung together into an album. The latest popular fad, however is to push the RMS as high as they can without turning the production into white noise, for the misguided reasoning that somehow if a song is louder it will be more accepted. That's a completely false premise, but it's one that's proven awfully hard to fight in the public conscience.

The best advice IMHO is to use your ears (or another's ears for a fresh perspective) to determine at just what point the compression for loudness starts to sound obvious - i.e. where it starts to sound exactly like it's purposely been compressed to sound loud - and then back off from that point by a dB or two. This will give you some volume boost to sooth the need for fad without sacrificing too much sound quality for the sake of loudness.

Then, from that point, compare the result against the original, playing them back at the same *perceived* volume, and make an honest decision about what you think of the difference in sound quality between the two. Then take the "after" version and compare that to a commercially smashed mix at the same volume setting, to hear the difference in volume between the two.

Then, after listing to both sides of the story (so to speak), you can make your own educated decision about just how much of a trade you personally feel you want to make between sound quality and loudness. Boost it further if you want, if you actually think that the louder stuff sounds actually does better to you, and not just louder, and make your own choice about just how much of a trade is worthwhile to your own personal taste.

G.