Why is it so hard to get Louder Recordings?

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barry c

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If you follow the leds and dont go into red, you can only get a certain level of volume.

Even ez drummer wont get much louder without trying to push it with a limiter but it starts to lose
it's sound as like a fried toast kind of sound takes over. gradually from each step to louderness.

Anyway, if you stay within the levels, why does it always sounds so low in volume compared to other say, popular recordings.

Even some online people who record their own demos seem to get a much louder sound than my recordings. And when I say louder, I dont mean just loud for sake of being loud, but a loud larger, bigger sound, Where you have to turn their demo down without hurting your hears, but your own, you have to crank it to get a halfway decent sound

How are they doing it?
 
Gotta use an sr22 quad tap gate expander, that's inside info so lets keep that on the down low, (like your recordings), word gets out that I gave away a secret I'll probably lose my grammy voting privilege.
 
dreib said:
Gotta use an sr22 quad tap gate expander, that's inside info so lets keep that on the down low, (like your recordings), word gets out that I gave away a secret I'll probably lose my grammy voting privilege.
Click to expand...

So your saying that it's not the direct ins that make it hot, but an expander after the fact? I dont hear that to be the case, I have tried a few plugins that dont really do much, like classic's limiter and others, they dont seem to do shit
 
Gotta use an sr22 quad tap gate expander
Click to expand...

I use a retro-blaster w/dual audio pipes.

Give me a sound file.....and I'll make it hurt your ears if that's what you want.
 
miroslav said:
I use a retro-blaster w/dual audio pipes.

Give me a sound file.....and I'll make it hurt your ears if that's what you want.
Click to expand...

SWEET!! The old dual audio pipes!! Wish I could afford the dual unit!!
 
miroslav said:
I use a retro-blaster w/dual audio pipes.

Give me a sound file.....and I'll make it hurt your ears if that's what you want.
Click to expand...

As I said, I dont want loud just to be loud, but loud so that the volume of the computer speakers doesnt need to be cranked to the right to hear a decent volume,
 
barry c said:
So your saying that it's not the direct ins that make it hot, but an expander after the fact? I dont hear that to be the case, I have tried a few plugins that dont really do much, like classic's limiter and others, they dont seem to do shit
Click to expand...

Going in hot will kill your headroom in the digital world, and sound like shit.
 
dreib said:
Going in hot will kill your headroom in the digital world, and sound like shit.
Click to expand...

right, that is why I dont do it. But I find im not able to make big leaps in volume without distorting. How do you get software like ez drummer to get louder? I dont know how much these top expanders cost, but im pretty sur emost people doing home recordings are not using them, but they still sound louder than ,ine
 
A commercial recording is using more compression in more different stages of the process.

Most drums are compressed, at least as a group. most of the other instruments in rock are compressed individually.

All commercial mixes are mastered, where the mixes are compressed and limted to achieve the final loudness.

uncompressed mixes of uncompressed instruments are very quiet in comparison.
 
Farview said:
A commercial recording is using more compression in more different stages of the process.

Most drums are compressed, at least as a group. most of the other instruments in rock are compressed individually.

All commercial mixes are mastered, where the mixes are compressed and limted to achieve the final loudness.

uncompressed mixes of uncompressed instruments are very quiet in comparison.
Click to expand...

Dood I compress everything, on each track, and on the master as it goes to streo wav. Then I take that and put it through a mastering suite which adds more compression limiter/expander.

Doesnt do a whole lot
 
Schtick: Ask loaded inflammatory question. Argue with answers. Lolz all around.


But I'll play along: It's easy to get "louder" recordings. Just squash it and boost the make up gain. Done. Will it sound good? That's up to you.
 
barry c said:
How do you get software like ez drummer to get louder?
Click to expand...

Hmmmm.....I find a lot of the EZ kits are actually on the loud side, and I end up turning them down to match my own recorded tracks.

barry c said:
Dood I compress everything, on each track, and on the master as it goes to streo wav. Then I take that and put it through a mastering suite which adds more compression limiter/expander.

Doesnt do a whole lot
Click to expand...

No wonder.

You don't need to make anything extra loud during tracking and mixing. Just follow proper gain staging and tracking levels, and then work with that. If you crank up on your tracks, then they may not match up with the samples in EZ, which were most likely recorded at proper levels.
Once you have you tracks recorded and your mix done....if you really need more level for the mix, that's best done at the mastering stage, and there are plenty of plugs/apps that will let you create ear-bleed final masters. However, going back to the tracking/mixing....if you over cranked stuff at those early stages, then whenh you try to boost the loudness during mastering….you could end up with excessive distortion and a crappy sound....which is why everyone always says to leave some room for mastering.

Without knowing what you are doing from step 1 though final mix....it's hard to suggest what's wrong and/or what needs to be done.
Post up some tracks so we can hear what you are hearing.
 
Greg_L said:
Schtick: Ask loaded inflammatory question. Argue with answers. Lolz all around.
Click to expand...

Not sure how this is inflammatory. Getting answers telling me how greenday might get so loud, im trying to figure out how Joe Greenday from
boring mp3 site, does it.
 
You're doing it wrong then.... We use Sonar X2's Concrete Limiter on the Master Bus and it gets really loud really fast. We aren't mastering as such but it does make it louder.
 
miroslav said:
Hmmmm.....I find a lot of the EZ kits are actually on the loud side, and I end up turning them down to match my own recorded tracks.



No wonder.

You don't need to make anything extra loud during tracking and mixing. Just follow proper gain staging and tracking levels, and then work with that. If you crank up on your tracks, then they may not match up with the samples in EZ, which were most likely recorded at proper levels.
Once you have you tracks recorded and your mix done....if you really need more level for the mix, that's best done at the mastering stage, and there are plenty of plugs/apps that will let you create ear-bleed final masters. However, going back to the tracking/mixing....if you over cranked stuff at those early stages, then whenh you try to boost the loudness during mastering….you could end up with excessive distortion and a crappy sound....which is why everyone always says to leave some room for mastering.

Without knowing what you are doing from step 1 though final mix....it's hard to suggest what's wrong and/or what needs to be done.
Post up some tracks so we can hear what you are hearing.
Click to expand...

I never record hot levels, im always trying to get louder with software. Exdrummer was probably recorded at perfect levels, but I tell you what, they dont get very loud without distorting either. I mean I use computer speakers, and headphones to mix, but still that shouldnt have anything to do with the overall volume of a recording.
 
I have started going about it just the opposite (based on screwing up), I now turn everything down at least around the middle track volume settings, put the gain on the master to bring up the volume. I have found it gives me much more options. At first I had everything near 0 then had to fix clipping, go back and adjust, use too much compression, you guys know the story. As I start my next batch, I find starting around middle volume settings, I get much more room to work.

My apologies for stating the obvious.
 
ido1957 said:
You're doing it wrong then.... We use Sonar X2's Concrete Limiter on the Master Bus and it gets really loud really fast. We aren't mastering as such but it does make it louder.
Click to expand...

I found that most free plugins and mastering effects dont REALLy make it louder, they kind of squeeze it by it;s balls and you can hear this.
it starts to sound very electric, if you can know what i mean, when you try to boast it with limiters
 
DM60 said:
I have started going about it just the opposite (based on screwing up), I now turn everything down at least around the middle track volume settings, put the gain on the master to bring up the volume. I have found it gives me much more options. At first I had everything near 0 then had to fix clipping, go back and adjust, use too much compression, you guys know the story. As I start my next batch, I find starting around middle volume settings, I get much more room to work.

My apologies for stating the obvious.
Click to expand...

i've tried that too, but the end result is, it has to get up there in volume eventually, and once it does it clips
 
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