Mix Volume?

[Pughbert]

When i mix my recordings, the almost always come out a little lower in volume when compared to a comertial CD. Im one of these people who likes to track as close to 0dB as possible, and my mix is also floating at about 0dB.
If i turn my master fader up any higher clipping sets in.

So how do i increase the volume of the overall mix? - a job for mastering?

 

[Halion]

Yes, a job for mastering, although that is far from everything that mastering is.

You could just put a limiter on the main bus and crank it up, but first ask yourself why you want the same volume as commercial cds. If people dig your music, they should be smart enough turn up the volume themselves (and if you didn't make the music yourself, why worry about it at all!).

Ofcourse if you wanna sound "commercial", that's another thing.

 

[RhythmRmixd]

Every step in the recording and mixing stages is crucial to bringing the most potential volume out of a song. From the sounds you use, to the levels you record at during tracking, how you process the sounds during your multitrack, to your levels and processing during mixdown. It all adds up. Commerical mixes are created by those who can make the most of volume (and everything else) at each of these stages. Not to even mention the quality of the equipment their using, although nowadays I think that's becoming less and less of an excuse.

 

[Pughbert]

right cheers. Yer i know thats far for the mastering engineers job.! And i dont particulary fuss about it, ive recorded quite a few cds which are below comertial volume, but i was more just curious what can be done if i choose to boost the level.

Cheers.