Volume Control?

[Foxdog175]

After just selling my Roland VS-1880, I used some of that money (and a lil extra) to buy myself a Korg D32XD. I've always had volume problems when I burn an audio CD. The volume is always terribly low. I need to bring it into a computer program to amp the volume about 25dB. And of course, after doing that, parts of the song become distorted (too much gain).

It all sounds very well when the tracks are laid down and they're pumping out my monitors (volume balance), but when I burn the CD and listen to it in a real CD player, I gotta really crank the volume. What's my problem? Does the master volume play a big role when recording to the Master Tracks (the L/R tracks that I burn to a CD)? It's [master volume fader] usually down pretty low when I record to the Master Tracks.

When I record tracks, I try to keep the volume input (that's displayed on the main timeline) around the -12- mark. Where am I screwing up? Is it when I record my tracks or is it when I record to the Master Tracks?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[guttadaj]

If you're comparing to commercial CD's, yeah, you're gonna notice that yours aren't as loud. They compress the piss out of commercial CD's, so they're a pubic hair away from clipping throughout most of the song. If you send your stuff to a professional mastering house, they'll probably bring your levels up, or you can try it yourself, but you're not gonna come close to what they can do. It's sorta sad, because dynamics are dying in the process. Anyway, if you are having to bring your level up 25 dB though, there's definitely something wrong besides this. Not sure what it is. You want to avoid digital clipping so give yourself some headroom. Tracking so peaks are around -6 should give you some headroom - I've heard different opinions on this level, so fiddle at will. Then, when mixing, you should be able to get the overall mix so that the peaks almost hit 0.

Good luck,
-Jeff

 

[Foxdog175]

Yes, I'm definitely doing something wrong. You can't even hear any audio when it's burnt to a CD. When you're telling me to give myself some headroom, what do you mean by that? What do you mean by tracking? Is this fixable by messing with the Master Tracks or do I need to re-record everything?

 

[Raw-Tracks]

Foxdog,

Are you using your L/R Master Fader as a volume control? It sounds to me like this may be the problem. You should have your L/R master at or very near unity gain. You should have a pot of some sort for your Monitor Speaker level.

Forgive me, I know nothing about the two products you mentioned, but it seems like a possible explanation.

 

[Foxdog175]

Foxdog,

Are you using your L/R Master Fader as a volume control? It sounds to me like this may be the problem. You should have your L/R master at or very near unity gain. You should have a pot of some sort for your Monitor Speaker level.

Forgive me, I know nothing about the two products you mentioned, but it seems like a possible explanation.

Can you explain what you mean by, "unity gain?" I only have one master fader. It's almost always very low (though I could turn down my monitors a bit to turn up the master fader). Should I turn up my master fader when I record my tracks to my Master L/R?

 

[Raw-Tracks]

Unity Gain means the fader is neither adding level, nor attenuating the signal. Unity on some faders is all the way up, sometimes almost all the way up. If your fader has a "0" almost at the top, but then +6 or something like that above it, unity is at the "0" point.

You need to stop using your master fader as a volume control, and use your monitor level control to control your monitors.

 

[Foxdog175]

You need to stop using your master fader as a volume control, and use your monitor level control to control your monitors.

Aah ok. I'm going to ask an idiot question: what is the master fader used for then? -- second thought, I just went back to re-read your post. I think you're right. My master fader is very low. I'll crank that sucker up to what you refer to as unity gain and see if that does the trick.

 

[Foxdog175]

Thanks much! That indeed was my problem. I re-recorded the master tracks with the master fader at 0 (very top) and that definitely fixed it. Thanks again!

 

[Raw-Tracks]

Happy to see your problem has been resolved.