MP3 sound levels

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Jon Van Vox

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I'm having a bit of trouble mastering an MP3 file to the right sound levels. It always comes out a lot lower and not as clear. Does anyone have a short clip i can compare it to and use as a base for learning to mix for mp3? Perhaps you could give me some tips or point me in the right direction. I did some research but i still come up with lower sound levels then other songs.
 
Loudness generally comes during the mastering process with the use of compression and limiters. If you really want to achieve loudness quickly, you can add a limiter to the master bus, but this is generally not recommended. You want to get a good mix and send your song to a mastering engineer if you want the best results.
 
put a brickwall limiter on your master buss set to -1.1dBFS and it will sound much cleaner when you convert to mp3, mp3 starts to sound bad when it clips at -0.5dBFS and level above that from my experience.
 
Jon Van Vox said:
I'm having a bit of trouble mastering an MP3 file to the right sound levels. It always comes out a lot lower and not as clear. Does anyone have a short clip i can compare it to and use as a base for learning to mix for mp3? Perhaps you could give me some tips or point me in the right direction. I did some research but i still come up with lower sound levels then other songs.
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Are you actually trying to "master" an mp3 file? I wouldn't do that. You should be working with a wav file to do your pseudo-mastering with compression to increase overall loudness. Leave yourself at 0.6-1.0 db of headroom and then convert to mp3.

J
 
Also be careful when using a limiter to push your mixes near the 0dBfs level. Once a master that is hitting the 0dBfs ceiling gets converted to mp3 it is not uncommon for it to exceed that level, which will cause distortion. This is due to the effect of the codec on PCM audio.

Cheers :)
 
recorded mix -6db> stems > wav -2.db to mp3 with a cut of 16k if im doing it just for the mp3 file the reason why i do -2db from the wav to mp3 is because of the needed 2db for headroom then once i got it in mp3 i will import it eq it with the low format as it kills a lot of the sparkle in it. I still can't get it loud enough with out it distorting and losing quality on an mp3 level. (correct me if I'm wrong)

Now i know you should never really master an mp3 file you should do it from wav to mp3 direct with compressions and such but it doesn't do the job of making it louder with out it distorting even when i give it enough headroom.
 
Sounds way too complicated. When I'm putting down a listening master I merely bring it up to the loudness I want with the Waves L2 and export as MP3. Done. If it's 320 kbps it's almost indistinguishable from the WAV. Maybe try using a higher resolution MP3 setting.

Cheers :)
 
I use LAME @ 320 also. I was doing some research and I'm reading a lot about other encoders and how they work best for different kinds of songs. Also LAME cuts off at about 16k rather then 20k. I used a limiter to see if it would make that much difference and it did, it sounds worse and lost a lot of sparkle to it. From what I'm reading most people can't hear past 16k? This can't be right is it?

What encoders do you use and why?
What would be best for rock, metal, acoustic?
 
Still, way too complicated than it needs to be. And the assertion that some encoders are better for different music is audiophile nonsense.

I use whatever encoder my DAW comes with. And it sounds almost exactly like the original WAV at 320. Something is dreadfully wrong with your system if you're running into this much trouble.

Post an example, maybe?

Cheers :)
 
Perhaps your right, i will post something give me a little bit.

I been doing research and came across this test. hxxp://archive.arstechnica.com/wankerdesk/1q00/mp3/mp3-3.html What do you think about this testing could there be anything to it?
 
Never reprocess an mp3 once it's encoded. If you re-eq a mastered file it will generate higher peaks, even if you only cut.

Why do you need mp3 anyway? File sharing sites make sending mp3 files by email almost unnecessary, and most music hosting sites will convert from wave to their own format.
 
The problem is that the sound levels for both wav and mp3 is to low. I'm posting a sample of the mp3 @ 320 and wav. Remember you have to download it to get the correct format for the mp3 and wav as it converts it to 128 automatically when you upload it to soundcloud. hxxps://soundcloud.com/jon-van-vox/
 
Jon Van Vox said:
The problem is that the sound levels for both wav and mp3 is to low. I'm posting a sample of the mp3 @ 320 and wav. Remember you have to download it to get the correct format for the mp3 and wav as it converts it to 128 automatically when you upload it to soundcloud. hxxps://soundcloud.com/jon-van-vox/
Click to expand...

Was that mp3 made from that wave file?
 
Jon Van Vox said:
It was rendered from the Daw using LAME encoder.
Click to expand...

It might be interesting to encode an mp3 from a finished wave file. But I think that may not be the primary issue if the wave is also not "loud enough".

The simple answer, already given, is to apply a mastering limiter. That's usually best done to the mix file in a separate session. But there are, um, limits to what you can do with that without wrecking your mix. You may have to go back the mix and control dynamics there to give it more loudness potential.
 
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