How to raise the level in my recordings..

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ericlingus

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I would like to know how I can raise the level of a recording I did so when I mixdown the track to wav or whatever, the volume will be like an album. Right now when I mixdown my tracks, the volume is not very high,but if I were to listen to an album it would be much louder on the same volume level as my recording. So how can I do this? What I tried doing is import my mixdown into cubase LE and just raise the level of the whole track. But it will clip if I do it too much. So what's your advice on how to do this? I have no clue.
 
It really depends on what you are starting with. Post a clip.
 
There a lot of ways you can go about this but the easiest way is to use a limiter.
 
This is a broad topic. You probably have several tracks and all of them have peaks that exceed the average level. This is where your music will clip when you try to turn it up. The peaks determine your maximum level but they do not determine how "loud" the track actually sounds. You want to possibly compress those tracks or maybe do some editing for those rediculous peaks that shouldn't be there.
Your other option is to use a limiter which is basically a more agressive form of compression.
Read up on compression and limiting, and if your tracking methods are making you end up with huge peaks that shouldn't be there, consider editing out those peaks or retracking something.

Over compressing and over limiting will make something sound like shit real fast so don't get carried away. It is not a free for all.
 
Actually. You really should start reading about mastering.

Thats really what you need to look in to.
 
Yes thats true if eq and compression cant enhance the mix.


Volume does not = better.
 
pingu said:
Yes thats true if eq and compression cant enhance the mix.


Volume does not = better.
Click to expand...

I would actually try raising the volume before applying EQ or compression. Lately, I've been using EQ and compression only when they solve a direct problem. If the mix is too quiet, try turning it up.

Does the mix sound right if you just turn up your monitors?
 
what do you use to record into ..before you mixdown to cubase
 
ryanlikestorock said:
I would actually try raising the volume before applying EQ or compression. Lately, I've been using EQ and compression only when they solve a direct problem. If the mix is too quiet, try turning it up.

Does the mix sound right if you just turn up your monitors?
Click to expand...

He did state that it clips before he can turn the level up high enough. It sounds to me like he definitely needs to do something about it.
 
ryanlikestorock said:
I would actually try raising the volume before applying EQ or compression. Lately, I've been using EQ and compression only when they solve a direct problem. If the mix is too quiet, try turning it up.
Click to expand...

See, this is why it's a complicated topic. Yesterday I listened to one mix that was very bassy, way down in the sub-bass region (20, 30Hz). Analyzing it, it was about -14dBRMS, but it didn't even sound that loud, because much of the loudness was from that low region where the ear is insensitive. If somebody listened on a typical system that can't reproduce those frequencies, it wouldn't have sounded loud as a typical -14, probably more like a -16. But if I just turned that mix up with a limiter, it wouldn't have sounded good at all.

So you are correct to use EQ when it solves a direct problem, but without hearing the mix, I have no idea if EQ or limiting is the solution. Many, many homebrew mixes have EQ problems, many more have dynamic issues with individual tracks that are best addressed before mastering.

Thus I don't agree with the remark "look into mastering". Volume needs to be addressed in the mix (if not before). It's tough to pick up more than a dB or 2 in mastering without risking serious damage to a mix. It's much much easier for we amateurs to make a mix louder than a master.
 
mshilarious said:
Thus I don't agree with the remark "look into mastering". .Volume needs to be addressed in the mix (if not before). It's tough to pick up more than a dB or 2 in mastering without risking serious damage to a mix. It's much much easier for we amateurs to make a mix louder than a master
Click to expand...


What dont you agree with.

If the mix is finished its time to start thinking about mastering.


There is all sort of problems with looking for loudness at the mixing stage.

A mix should be optimised for its sound and nothing else. Then you need to find a way to increase this sound if need be and mastering is generally the best option for this.

Sure there are the losers that want it hot but the mix is not the only place to
go for it. (probably the worst)
 
pingu said:
What dont you agree with.

If the mix is finished its time to start thinking about mastering.
Click to expand...

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say with some certainty that the mix is not finished. ;)
 
pingu said:
There is all sort of problems with looking for loudness at the mixing stage.

A mix should be optimised for its sound and nothing else. Then you need to find a way to increase this sound if need be and mastering is generally the best option for this.

Sure there are the losers that want it hot but the mix is not the only place to
go for it. (probably the worst)
Click to expand...

If you have individual tracks with out of control peaks, and a buildup of unwanted frequencies.....what better time to address these issues than during the mixing stage. I think that is what we are all talking about here.
 
And I might add, if you are one of the people who wants your mix to end up loud, you do have to sort of be conscious of that fact as you mix. You can't always just make it sound good and leave it up to the mastering engineer to make it really smokin.
(BTW: I'm not saying this guy needs to bother paying somebody to master his stuff)
 
ericlingus said:
wow all these replies yet no helpful answers.
Click to expand...

Okay, you are blowing the possibility of getting any more help with that comment. There are plenty of helpful answers there and that is a stupid thing to say.

People want to help....I think that is obvious. If you don't understand what people are saying to you, it's your problem not theirs. Do you think people are being paid to post on here?
 
metalhead28 said:
Okay, you are blowing the possibility of getting any more help with that comment. There are plenty of helpful answers there and that is a stupid thing to say.

People want to help....I think that is obvious. If you don't understand what people are saying to you, it's your problem not theirs. Do you think people are being paid to post on here?
Click to expand...

I think it's hard to get a good answer to this question. I'm trying to get a handle on it myself. It comes up often here and I read through them for whatever help I can glean. My early mixes suffered from low volume but now I can get them (guestimating here) within 3dB of commercial volumes. I figure that's about as close as I'll get without having them pro-mastered.

After hanging out here for a couple years and trying different things I've settled into an approach that seems to work well. I mix my tracks by turning the monitors up higher than my normal listening volume. I just try to get everything to sit nicely. Then I take several passes at the stereo mix level, using volume envelopes and compression to bring peaks down. In each pass I try to push the main mix up 1 or 2 dB, find and fix any clipping points. If I could stand to listen to these mixes even more than I already do, I think I could squeeze 'em up maybe another dB.
 
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