Normalizing? Getting song to be loud without peaking?

[DAS19]

Well ive heard songs on cd's and they are a lot louder then my recordings. I think I have to normalize them but how do I go about doing that without peaking? I am using Acid Pro 5 right now but I have access to many other programs ie cubase, audition, etc.

Wondering if you can help me figure out how to get my song to be as loud as a cd I would buy at a store.

Thanks for your help.
Dave

 

[scrubs]

Mastering.

Getting a home recording as loud as a commercial CD while still retaining sound quality is difficult, but that is part of the mastering process. Look for some Limiter plugins to use on your master bus (Kjaerhus Classic Master Limiter is a good free vst plug) for increased loudness. That's certainly not all there is to the mastering process, but it will make your mixes louder.

 

[Nick98338]

Yes, a limiter. Or, a compressor, with "limiter" type settings. When you burn to CD, many burning programs have a "normalize" function. This is to get all tracks "close" to the same volume. They will make all tracks similar in volume, but may actually reduce volume of some tracks to get all tracks similar. Get the volume where you want before you burn. Don't use the "normalize" function in your burning software.

 

[pingu]

Yes you will need a limiter for this purpose.

A long time hero in this department is the L2 from waves.

Though try this, when you get a limiter, try and increase the volume as much as you can without audible pumping.
Then bounce it down and import it back to your workstation.

Then compare the two tracks pre limiting and post limiting at the same volume.

 

[sushi-mon]

normalization and finding some gain

My opinion of normalization, is it really just increases the headroom of the track's fader. For example, if the highest peak in a track is -3db, then normalization will boost everything up 3 db. You would get the same effect by pushing that track's fader up 3db. But with normalizing, you still have that 3 db of fader gain available. Make sense ?

Before you worry about adding volume elsewhere, you might want to take a closer look at your mixed tracks. Assuming you are happy with your mix, evaluate, which tracks are causing your clips ? For me, it was my drum track. There were 6 snare hits that were causing my clips, so I reduced those hits a couple of db with a gain processor. Once I did that, I was able to push up my master fader gain without clipping, and getting more volume a little more naturally. Also, this way I was able to maintain the overall level of the drums in the mix.

Also, take a look at your stereo mix. For me, although my snare drum is panned up the middle, I am getting some bleed into the left channel, so my left channel is peaking first. So, once you tame a side of the mix which peaks first, you can squeeze out some extra master fader gain there too. Of course, you still want to be happy with your stereo image.

I know it is not your question about really MAXING out your volume, but squeezing out some "hidden" gain this way is probably a good place to start. You might be surprised how it can add up.

 

[DAS19]

Thank you all for your comments. I will take all of this into consideration and will definitly try to get a limiter.

I never really new that getting a higher volume was part of the mastering process.

One more question though is it bad if there are some peaks in your song?

 

[jonnyc]

As long as they don't distort or ruin the song then no peaks aren't bad. I've only been doing this a year and a half and I've had many songs that have levels that peak, but I don't hear any distortion on most. So I just let my ears be the judge if there's a problem.

 

[DAS19]

alright good I didnt think I should get to techinical with peaks anyway. If theres no noticable distortion then ill be alright.

Thanks for your help everyone.

PS - I just reedited one of my songs and it sounds a whole lot better with the limiter.

 

[LeeRosario]

Just be careful.



A basic lesson on compression and limiting. Compression will change your sound, limiting shouldn't change the sound.

On a basic level, a limiter is a compressor set beyond a 8:1 ratio (some argue it's 10:1, but whatever).

Also, with limiting, do know that you have limits. I've always stressed this fact before. Limiters are not magic and depending on what limiter you use, you can kill the dynamics of a song instantly if you don't watch out.

I'd rather have the RMS volume of a song be lower to preserve its dynamic range than have a hypercompressed track with no disernable ups and downs.

In rock, you're looking at a dynamic range of about 3db. In classical and things like classical, you're looking at 100db. Imagine how uneventful classical would sound if you compress it to the level of rock.

Likewise, imagine how uneventful rock would sound if you compress it to complete and total 0 dynamic.

In mastering, you're not just looking at using compression and limiting, but expanding as well. However, expanding is a way to bring back dynamics to a song and seems to be more reconstructive than it is cosmetic.


Final statement: watch out how you use your limiting.

 

[bigtoe]

I think I have to normalize them but how do I go about doing that without peaking?

normalizing will actually take these peaks and make them "0". bring them up to that is.

i'm not so sure if normalizing brings something "over 0" down... as i'm not so sure you can go past 0. my ignorance there.

limiting and compression will allow you to tame these stray peaks so everything else (more of the meat of the music) will be closer to 0...which will make things louder overall.

depending on use - you can hear or not hear both compression and limiting.

i used the normalize funtion in our masterlink to do a quickie mastering job on a cd monday night...it reduced the low end tremendously.

Mike

 

[Joepie]

normalizing will actually take these peaks and make them "0". bring them up to that is.

i'm not so sure if normalizing brings something "over 0" down... as i'm not so sure you can go past 0. my ignorance there.

My newbie explanation for this would be:

When you're normalizing a track, the highest peak will be set to the preferred normalizing level (0 db is standard) and the rest will be adjusted relative to that. So... if your song has one peak that screams way above the rest, and you normalize, your song will still be soft, but the peak will be at 0db. Am I making sense?

So you want to use a compressor/limiter bring down that peak, and then normalize. That way your average db will be much higher.

 

[SuicideNote]

In classical and things like classical, you're looking at 100db. Imagine how uneventful classical would sound if you compress it to the level of rock.

This concept stresses me out. One of the things that bugs me about classical music is that the dynamics are so varied. I can understand that these volumn fluctuations are a big part of what makes it interesting and separates it from other music genres but damn, I hate when I have to turn my speakers either up or down to compensate for these dynamics. I like to set my speakers to a comfortable level and then forget about it. As a solution I'd use instrument selection more than mp < ff dynamics. But then again no one has confused me for Mozart.

 

[sushi-mon]

Just be careful.



A basic lesson on compression and limiting. Compression will change your sound, limiting shouldn't change the sound.

On a basic level, a limiter is a compressor set beyond a 8:1 ratio (some argue it's 10:1, but whatever).

Also, with limiting, do know that you have limits. I've always stressed this fact before. Limiters are not magic and depending on what limiter you use, you can kill the dynamics of a song instantly if you don't watch out.

I'd rather have the RMS volume of a song be lower to preserve its dynamic range than have a hypercompressed track with no disernable ups and downs.

In rock, you're looking at a dynamic range of about 3db. In classical and things like classical, you're looking at 100db. Imagine how uneventful classical would sound if you compress it to the level of rock.

Likewise, imagine how uneventful rock would sound if you compress it to complete and total 0 dynamic.

In mastering, you're not just looking at using compression and limiting, but expanding as well. However, expanding is a way to bring back dynamics to a song and seems to be more reconstructive than it is cosmetic.


Final statement: watch out how you use your limiting.

I agree. My point was that, before he starts fooling around with a bunch of compression and limiting to get volume, he really should more closely analyze his mix to see if he can make some tweaks that allow him to have more master fader gain. This way, he has not skewed the sound like he will get from major compression and limiting.

If he tweaks his mix, and can squeeze a few DB naturally, then he will need less mastering compression and limiting, thus the potential for even less skewing or coloration of sound.