What is a simple way to normaliz? My songs are weak in volume

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IloveJesus

New member
I guess I'm a newbie (although I feel old), and I have what is probably a very common question.

How do I normalize? I'm using guitar tracks pro to make my songs. I'm satisfied with most aspects of the recording process and getting some good sounds, but when I mix down to MP3 the songs are not nearly as loud as stuff on the radio or other guys recording. I have to turn up the volume.

Anyway. Simple question: How does one normalize after mixing?
 
It is a common question considering I askd the same one in my early stage of recording. I will rely my help to you.

Normalizing is not what you think it is. Normalzing is used usually at the end of tracking when first mixing you normalize all the tracks soo they are at relatively similar volume levels.

When you asked how come your stuff isnt as loud as stuff say commercial recorded and released material is because that stuff was professionally mastered. If you got your stuff professionally mastered at a mastering studio im sure it would be as loud as the stuff on the radio. Mastering for the longest time have been trying to get things as loud as possible with out peaking or sounding like shit. You can try to do your own mastering with mastering plug ins of various sorts but its never going to sound as good as the pros like anything.

Hope this helps.
 
DAS19 said:
It is a common question considering I askd the same one in my early stage of recording. I will rely my help to you.

Normalizing is not what you think it is. Normalzing is used usually at the end of tracking when first mixing you normalize all the tracks soo they are at relatively similar volume levels.

When you asked how come your stuff isn't as loud as stuff say commercial recorded and released material is because that stuff was professionally mastered. If you got your stuff professionally mastered at a mastering studio im sure it would be as loud as the stuff on the radio. Mastering for the longest time have been trying to get things as loud as possible with out peaking or sounding like shit. You can try to do your own mastering with mastering plug ins of various sorts but its never going to sound as good as the pros like anything.

Hope this helps.
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Sorry, but this is almost completely wrong.

You should not ever "normalize" anything. Do a search, it's pretty easy.

Second, to get your mixes louder, you will need a brick wall limiter. Now, it's not going to get as loud as commercial releases. Those are done by professionals with years of practice, and I couldn't explain it here if I wanted to - nor can I get mine that loud. It goes far beyond just sending it to a great mastering engineer. If the tracks aren't up to snuff even a several thousand dollar mastering job will not get them to commercial levels. Besides, super loud CD's sound like ass..........
 
Normalizing is not what you think it is. Normalzing is used usually at the end of tracking when first mixing you normalize all the tracks soo they are at relatively similar volume levels.
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Almost without a doubt, the absolute most freakishly bad answer ever given to any question.

Normalizing is not what YOU think it is to be sure... And it has nothing to do getting different sources to a similar volume... It can give a bunch of sources a similar peak level - but that has nothing to do with relative levels and energy.
Mastering for the longest time have been trying to get things as loud as possible with out peaking or sounding like shit.
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No, mastering is creating a cohesive, compliant production master from a collection of mixes. The "loud" part is a (rather tragic) "side job" of the mastering engineer. But I'll give you the "without sounding like sh*t" part - It's controlled damage. I hope the artists and labels get over it some day.
 
I either normalize on mixdown or just turn the master fader up until the loudest peak is around -1db or where ever. Don't normalize individual tracks. Some may say don't normalize ever, but I'd personally rather normalize the final mix than bother running the song through a limiter. Then again I'm kind of lazy...
 
I don't really understand all that, but I'm working on it.

I'm learning about compression.

I think it's because I'm not using any preamps at the present. I'm getting one today (if the UPS truck shows up).
 
IloveJesus said:
I think it's because I'm not using any preamps at the present. I'm getting one today (if the UPS truck shows up).
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What are you using?

Lot to learn here but eventually you will probably want some more loudness but you will find out just how quick you can destroy your sound. Find you a limiter and learn how to tweak it enough to get that volume but still have some dynamics left. You will NEVER get to the loudness of a commercial CD so forget it. Once you have reached a level where you have really good mixes and want a good quality master then send it to a pro. If your not concerned about that then learn how to use a limiter.

This is what I use but there are many others out there and Waves L2 is very popular, but expensive.
http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/ozone/maximizer.html
 
Turn up your speakers. Does it sound good then?

Good! Thats all you need to worry about. If you want, you can take it to a mastering lab or destroy it yourself if you want it louder.

You don't need any sort of skill or experience to make a loud master, just a desire to destroy the song. In order to make it sound sort of ok and sort of loud at the same time, THEN you need some skills
 
Well you do need skill to do "loud" well. Not only in mastering, but in mixing. It takes less skill to just leave it alone. Of course it takes even more skill to know when to do either.
 
I learned about "normalizing" when I began restoring & archiving LPs to CD.
The one thing I came away with (& which has stopped me from normalizing when I record) is that clicking that button made all the noise, clicks, pops, hiss, rumble & crackle "louder" as well as the music. I used inverted commas around louder because I know it's not right but it's what's generally understood.
 
Comity for Abnormalization

One thing very unique about normalizing. It is the one process where, even when not understood, the questions 'what or 'if get skipped. 'How jumps to the head of the line.
I tell you guys, it's that name. It's natural enough. Everyone wants' it. Normalize sounds so nice and ..'Done.
 
mixsit said:
I tell you guys, it's that name. It's natural enough. Everyone wants' it. Normalize sounds so nice and ..'Done.
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LOL, who wants abnormalized sound? Abbie Normal?

images
 
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