Ntrack Mix not loud enough

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digitcallous

New member
Since the Ntrack forum is currently down I thought I'd try this question here.

I mix a song in Ntrack so that the loudest part of the song just clips, which I thought is the loudest I can make it without distortion. I then use Ntrack to make a stereo WAV file. But when I play this file back the volume is definitely lower than a CD track. By the way, the song has fairly even volume throughout, so it's not that the quiet sections are too quiet. It seems that the loudest I can make an Ntrack file is quieter than a typical CD track.

How do I make my song louder? I have tried putting my song and a CD track (which I ripped) on a CD-R, and my song plays softer.

Anybody know the answer? Thanks.

DC
 
Almost every time, mass produced CDs are mastered, which means that high end outboard equipment or software is used to add or level surgical EQ changes, spacialization and high end compression and/or limiting is applied to the final waveforms. The major thing you may be missing out in is the compression. In a nutshell, compression will take the smaller waveforms (with the right amount of compression setting) and dynamically bring the volume up to meet the highest 0db peaks in a waveform. Now that goes without saying not to confuse compression with normalization. Normalization just applies a static volume level increase in the waveform to make the uppermost peak in the wavform to meet 0db. I hope this clarifies a bit what you were asking. Here would be a good place that discusses compression more in-depth: http://home.earthlink.net/~bobkatz24bit/compression.html

If you want to make your CD sound *close* to those polished and produced CD's, I'd suggest starting off with the FASoft Compressor 1.1 soft knee preset but if you don't have the plugin registered then it will mute the audio after 10 seconds or playback or mixdown. If anyone else knows of any good free compressor plugins with a soft knee preset, now would be a great time to chime in. I personally use the FaSoft soft knee comp. setting after a DBAudio mastering limiter on almost every track and it usually brings my levels up there with the pros. Then again, I mix heavier rock tracks almost exclusively. OF course, there are many other factors and such that may prevent you from doing it such as too much low end boom or high end shrill that may be making the waveforms prematurely peak out.
 
Thanks, Fritz, for offering help, but I'm still confused a bit. Are you saying that with the FASoft Compressor using soft knee setting I can bring everything on my tune up in volume when compared to commercial CDs. In the example that I gave where I put one of my songs and a song ripped from a CD onto a CD-R, if I listen to my song at normal volume, I have to turn the volume down when it gets to the ripped song. That's what I'm trying to avoid.

From what I understand, compression bring up the quiet passages to match more closely with the loud passages. I did not think it is supposed to make the whole thing louder. From your description, it almost seems like normalization is what I'm really looking for. Am I off base?

DC
 
From what you've described thusfar, you've already normalized. Yeah you're pretty much getting the point. Compression is one of a few roudabout methods to use to gain more volume. A limiter seems to sound more like suiting of your needs after your reply.

A Limiter works like a compressor but gives you more final output control allowing you to tame your peaks while bringing up the entire perceived volume all while operating within the (limited)0db ceiling.

The limiter, though, as a matter of function can "squash" the peaks of your file too much and overcompensate for the gain increase and can compromise the sound quality of your loudest passages if applied too liberally. Trial and error. I know this is kinda hard to digest in words alone but it's even harder for me to describe. lol.

Just get a limiter plugin somewhere (http://www.thedirectxfiles.com/manufacturers/dbrown_dbl.htm)and apply it and use it to try to match your song's volume with a produced CD. Hope this helps.
 
Since you're comparing your song to a professionally recorded and mastered song, this exercise may be of some help to you.

Open both songs in a WAV editor (Audacity is a great freebie) and compare the... ummmm.. density(?) of the waveform. A song with high dynamic range will be full of peaks and valleys. A song with very little dynamic range will be much more solid colored (more like a rectangle) with few peaks. The challenge for a rock recording engineer is to get more apparent volume (less dynamic range) without ruining the tonality of the song.

Good luck; we're all walking that fine line.



tj
 
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