Not Loud Enough! - ???

A

Aquanaut

New member
hey, i'm using SONAR, though i had the same problem with pro audio 9. i'd have the drum levels on my mackie up to just under clipping, and just under 0db in the computer, but the tracks wouldn't be as loud as mp3's that'd i'd made from cd's or from napster.

i normalize too.

anyone else have this problem?

or have a suggestion?

thanks
 
I rarely use compression on the computer.

or are you saying compression will make it louder...cuz that seems a bit contradictory.

thanks? - michael
 
Compression will tame/reduce the peaks, which will allow you to increase the rms volume. Why does that seem contradictory?
 
that doesn't. i thought you meant that just compression would make it louder. i don't have an outboard compressor, could i compress on the computer, then run the compressed signal out to my mackie, do some slight eq, then record it again? or is that no a good idea?

thanks! - michael
 
Yes, there are several DirectX software programs that can do compression. Most of them will also allow you to increase the overall volume with a setting within the program.

Sound Forge's Wave Hammer is one example. Waves Ltd. Ultramaximizer is another (although I believe this is actually a limiter rather than a compressor). Cakewalk's Audio FX1 package also includes a compression/dynamics processing program. Wavelab has a compressor/dynamic processor included in it's toolkit. I'm sure there are dozens of others as well.

Normalization simply raises your highest existing peak level to 0db. If the highest peak is already at something like -1 db, the most you will gain is 1 db of volume.

Compression will lower those peaks and give you more headroom to raise the overall mix volume. Overused, however, it can also flatten out a song and drain it of dynamics.

You might want to do a search of this BBS on compression. You will find a lot of information and learn a lot. It's a fairly complex subject.
 
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