why are my recordings so quiet?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Denzel85
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Denzel85

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even if i get my mix to the highest level before it distorts, it is still much quieter in comparison to any other song, what could i be doing wrong? I use logic express.
 
If you're comparing your mixes to a commercial CD that's almost always going to be the case. Most of this "loudness" you hear is accomplished by using expensive mics, amazing pre-amps and the knowledge of decades of recording. If that weren't enough, today's mixes are compressed to make them as loud as possible before they even go to master, which compresses them even more.
Compression can certainly allow you to raise your overall level, at the expense of the dynamics of the performance itself.
Don't be too worried about how loud your mix is, if it sounds good, it is. If you want it loud, send it to a Mastering House with instructions to make it as loud as you want, but be prepared for a very different sounding outcome.
Search this forum for "compression". SouthsideGlen will have hundreds of very informative topics on the subject. Loud is not good, good is good.
 
Denzel85 said:
even if i get my mix to the highest level before it distorts, it is still much quieter in comparison to any other song, what could i be doing wrong? I use logic express.
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This is what I do to my mixes. I guess this is my mastering process. :p
Your final mix 1st of all shouldn't be at full volume. Mine usually hover around -13 db when all is said an done. This leaves room for stuff like EQing the final mix incase you have some holes or spikes, compression etc.

Usually in my mixes, the spikes in DB level are from snare hits, even after I use a multi band compressor and limiter in the mixing process. I take a hard limiter on the final mix, and limit at -6 DB. If the mix never reaches that point, I slowly increase the gain until the song starts to sound like crap. Then I stop and start reducing the gain a little at a time until it starts sounding good. Once I get to maximum gain without ruining the quality of the recording, I stop and press ok.

Now your audio should look more even. I would say try getting spikes no bigger than 6db. Once you reduce the severe spikes in volume (which I am assuming is why you cannot get it to normalize to a decent volume) take the normalizer and normalize to anywhere you like. I like to usually go anywhere from -3db to -1db. It should sound louder and you shouldn't notice any loss of sound quality if you did it right. If you cannot hard limit the spikes you should probably go back to your mix and fix it there because that would be a major problem with the mix, and not just something with a quick fix.

Keep in mind I only finally learned enough about this stuff to even give minimal advice about it last night, so take it for what it worth :D
 
NTK88 said:
even after I use a multi band compressor and limiter in the mixing process. I take a hard limiter on the final mix, and limit at -6 DB. If the mix never reaches that point, I slowly increase the gain until the song starts to sound like crap. Then I stop and start reducing the gain a little at a time until it starts sounding good. Once I get to maximum gain without ruining the quality of the recording, I stop and press ok.

Once you reduce the severe spikes in volume take the normalizer and normalize to anywhere you like. I like to usually go anywhere from -3db to -1db. It should sound louder and you shouldn't notice any loss of sound quality if you did it right. If you cannot hard limit the spikes you should probably go back to your mix and fix it there because that would be a major problem with the mix, and not just something with a quick fix.

Keep in mind I only finally learned enough about this stuff to even give minimal advice about it last night, so take it for what it worth :D
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So, if it's not loud enough, squish it three times and then normalize.....ROFL. Sorry, I know it's rude, but that was funny!
 
NTK88 said:
This is what I do to my mixes. I guess this is my mastering process. :p
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Don't Normalize. Normalizing is baaaad news for your mix, it'll ruin it. Your better off mixing at a comfortable level then putting a master limiter on the mix down track.
 
TelePaul said:
Don't Normalize. Normalizing is baaaad news for your mix, it'll ruin it. Your better off mixing at a comfortable level then putting a master limiter on the mix down track.
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Why is it bad?
 
NTK88 said:
Why is it bad?
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It's just obsolete. It's a redundant method, and it'll offset any of the subtley you have (hopefully) worked hard to create. A master limiter, if I'm right (which is questionable) will preserve most of that subtlety and still increase the overall volume.
 
Normalizing will just raise the volume relative to the highest peak. If you have an average (RMS) volume of about -18, but a peak at -1, and you normalize, your average level will only go to -17.

If you compress it or limit it to get rid of the peak, then you can get much better average volume.

I don't imagine it's very uncommon to just get rid of the peaks and then normalize. But most people usually use a limiter instead.
 
Controlling dynamics is a complex subject. If you control levels skillfuly both during recording and in the processing of each track of a mix, you can get very good levels in a final mixdown without distorting anything.

But all the tiny little things add up to overall quality. There's only so much you can accomplish with compressors and limiters on the 2-bus. The real work is in controlling dynamics in the individual tracks.
 
Timothy Lawler said:
Controlling dynamics is a complex subject. If you control levels skillfuly both during recording and in the processing of each track of a mix, you can get very good levels in a final mixdown without distorting anything.

But all the tiny little things add up to overall quality. There's only so much you can accomplish with compressors and limiters on the 2-bus. The real work is in controlling dynamics in the individual tracks.
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What he said ;)


F.S.
 
Normalizing simply raises the volume of everything in the track, including the noise floor.
 
thanks for the advice. i'm going ask a really stupid, basic question here.

before you record each individual audio track i've read it's best to get your level to peak at around -12db, but i'm a bit confused when using logic.

logic.jpg


when i set the levels, should the fader always be at 0.0? and the 2.0 is where the level has peaked? so by this picture, it would mean i've set the gain/level too high?

when i record so it peakes at 12, it just seems a little on the quiet side, and when i add compression, the levels go up to about 2.0db anyway? this was a bass guitar track.

sorry it seems such a trivial question, i'm just a bit confused.
 
The tracks are supposed to be quiet when you record and mix them. Once its mixed and soudns good, the master track is usually given a boost in volume.
 
I don't want to argue semantics, but let's not call it "quiet" - We're talking about "perfectly normal" here.

A track that's recorded at around -20dBRMS is normal.

A mix that rides around -20dBRMS is normal.

What's NOT normal is the final volume that bands are trying to squeeze out of their recordings and the amount of damage they're willing to inflict for the sake of that volume.

Years ago, a finished production master that crest of 18dB or so was normal. Although it's not exactly "normal" anymore... But no doubt, for a mix to be able to handle the "abuse" that it'll need to get to what's considered "loud" currently (as crappy as it tends to sound) it'd better be able to handle it.

Rant aside: In any case, recording and mixing hot is a wonderful way to screw that up.
 
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