volume levels!!!

[badshane]

pk, im in Pa8, I mixdown all my audio trax to 2 , export audio (those 2 trax) to a wave file then use graceamp to encode to MP3. I originally recorded the trax quite hot....mixed them down quite hot, but when I listen to the final product, the MP3 is quiet....very low volume....

check it out

http://briefcase.yahoo.com/bc/shane...erhill/lst?.dir=/My+Documents&.src=bc&.view=l


what ya think is the prob??

 

[dachay2tnr]

Ahhh, the perennial complaint of all homerec'ers. Here is the likely problem.

You can only record/mix up to the level of your highest peak - otherwise you clip. If your highest peak(s) are significantly above your "average" or RMS volume, then the mix will be tend to be low in volume.

To solve this, you have to tame (reduce) the peaks. You can do this through compression and/or limiting. These tools will "knock down" your peaks, and therefore allow you to raise the overall volume of the mix. Of course, raising the overall volume also raises the noise floor and compression/limiting can also introduce audible artifacts (distortion, pumping) if used improperly.

Suggest you start by doing some research on compression. There are several good articles available, including one by Shailat who particpates in this BBS (sorry don't have the URL handy). Do a search on compression, and you should find more than you need.

 

[badshane]

compression

I have a few compression plugins...any suggestions which one?

 

[dachay2tnr]

I have found Wave Hammer from Sound Forge to be good, as well as L1 Ultramaximizer from Waves Ltd (which is actually a limiter). But I'm far from an expert on the subject. If you only need to raise the mixed-down wave file a few db, you can probably apply one of these directly to the finished wave.

Soemtimes, though it may be a single track that is causing you problems. In that case putting some compression on just the problem track would be better than compressing the entire mix.