Volume Help - Drive

[joe mama]

Ok here is a song that me and my band made this week called "Drive".

Here is my problem with it though: It isn't loud enough!!! When I add the song to iTunes and play it back-to-back with songs from other bands it is way quieter. When I go back to Sonar and look at each track, I see that they are already pretty loud and are peaking in past the red. When I output to a .wav, it sounds terrible because of all of the high peaks. When I convert it to .mp3 though, the annoying peak cutouts are gone. Basically, here is my question: How do I get my recordings to be as loud as the professionally made recordings?

 

[Seeker of Rock]

Sorry, man. Took me to a page instead of having a direct song link, a lot of spam looking links. Post a direct link and I'd love to hear your stuff.

 

[rayc]

Joe Mama,
Your link page isn't very clear - the link is almost out of sight at the bottom left.
Streaming is a much more popular option for listeners on this forum. Try Soundclick or some other mob - free & listener friendly (except for the compression).
DRIVE:
It is a little quiet but not annoyingly so. In fact after a monemt or two I didn't notice. Wav files are far better fidelity & allow for dynamic rabge MP3's compress heavily (usually 90% of information) so you get the TV advert syndrome of heavy compression. If you get a good recording that is dynamic, tat's cool IF you're getting it made in to a CD you can get it mastered professionally & they'll deal PROPERLY with the problem. There's a lot of info on compression in the mixing/mastering section of the forum.
You need to compress vocals & bass a little on the way in so that the peaks don't cause the problem - probably drums too.
You can compress with software when inside but you'll establish a better starting point with a LITTLE compression going in - be careful though as you can't undo outboard compression.
You can use a software compressor on the tracks you already have - again be careful.
I use very little compression if I can avoid it though vocals are notorious for being uneven - esp if the singer is untrained or under rehearsed.
The songs pretty good - though the intro is so long I thought it was going to be an instrumental. Good fun song that'd be an even bigger blast with a larger or three.

 

[joe mama]

Good fun song that'd be an even bigger blast with a larger or three.

What do you mean by that?^^


Oh and thank you very much for the advice. Right now all I am using is software compressors. So what type of outboard compressor should I look for? Can you give some recommended ones? Thanks!

 

[CIRO]

Some points to consider:

1) Your overall mix sound it´s good. But, for a "rock tune", has too much energy on around 90 - 100 hz (bass guitar / bass drum , I suppose it´s the bass guitar).Try to cut ~3-4dbs on this region and it can sounds less "boomy" .
But the right way is do it at mix process ,and comparing the sound with the "radio ready" songs you are talking about.
2)Take care with this "loud enough", because your master is on "limit of limiter".
3)When pass to mp3, put the wave file to -0.6/-0.7 db to not overload.

 

[SnakeDog5050]

Removing some midrange bass would help the sound IMO.
About making this louder... I looked at the waveform and try this sometime...
1 download goldwave at www.goldwave.com
2 use the compress feature and pick "reduce peaks" that will make the song sound pretty much the same, but you'll have a smaller waveform
3 mess with the increase volume feature then until the waveform is right below clipping.
By the looks of the file you should be able to get some more volume out of this with that technique.. but yeah, look into to that midrange or high energy section CIRO is talking about.
Cheers

 

[ido1957]

Some points to consider:

1) Your overall mix sound it´s good. But, for a "rock tune", has too much energy on around 90 - 100 hz (bass guitar / bass drum , I suppose it´s the bass guitar).Try to cut ~3-4dbs on this region and it can sounds less "boomy" .

CIRO pretty much said it - cut the bottom end a bit. Might even allow you to get a bit more volume out of the mix. Drums and bass can push a mix over the limit easily.
That aside, the vocals are very cool, drums are excellent, groove is really happening. This would do well on mainstream radio - catchy and upbeat...