What's wrong with the volume?

[shiner41]

OK, when I finish making a song on the computer (in WAV format) it sounds just as loud as a professional album, but when I burn it to a cd it isn't as loud as it was on the computer. Also, I have to turn the volume control up higher than I do with a professional album (note: on the computer it sounds just as loud). What can I do to make it louder on the CD? Is it the way to burn it or should be louder or what? Thanks ya'll.

 

[Robert D]

OK, when I finish making a song on the computer (in WAV format) it sounds just as loud as a professional album, but when I burn it to a cd it isn't as loud as it was on the computer. Also, I have to turn the volume control up higher than I do with a professional album (note: on the computer it sounds just as loud). What can I do to make it louder on the CD? Is it the way to burn it or should be louder or what? Thanks ya'll.

How are you comparing the loudness while it's still in the computer? Are you importing the "professional album" to WAV and comparing it to your WAV? It's unlikely that this is an issue with burning.
Regardless, this is a very, very common question, and you will find many discussions on it with a search. The short answer is that, for the most part, today's commercial releases have been compressed to the point of having no dynamics left, in the name of being loud. You should NOT attempt to get your recordings that loud. You can get them close though, and still maintain some dynamics. This is best accomplished by employing the services of a mastering engineer, but that's something you generally do with a finished CD. To get some volume now, you can use something like Endorphin, Waves L3 maximizer, etc (search), but go easy on it, and do it non-destructively so you can remove it if you decide to use a mastering engineer later. Even before that, edit your highest peaks to get some room, and then you can bring up the overall level to get your program peaks to just under 0db. Even before that, take care of extranious peaks at the track level so that those peaks don't end up on the stereo mix file.

Good luck.

 

[RAMI]

You just copied and pasted the exact same thread you started yesterday. It had quite a few responses to your query. It's still on page one. You could have just bumped that thread.