Volume too low after bouncing to my iMac's disk

J

Jim Digby

New member
Hi, hope someone can advise me.

I am using an MBox 2 Pro with my iMac. The sound is very nice and loud during the mixing process, but after bouncing the final song to disk the vol sounds way too low and the mix is a little muddy in both the finder and iTunes. When I then upload to Myspace, it still sounds low.

Other people's tracks, also the previous ones I did on my old PC with Cool Edit, sound a good volume in finder and iTunes.

I have tried applying compression/limiters to the master fader but this doesn't seem to work.
 
So you create the master fader and you have the volume at a decent level on it and it still comes out low?
 
That isn't normal. Is your computer's audio output (ie. what finder & iTunes uses) going thru your mbox?

Download digidesign's free PhaseScope plugin if you haven't already got it. Insert the plugin on your master fader. Set the meter to show you RMS level. What level does it show?
 
"So you create the master fader and you have the volume at a decent level on it and it still comes out low?" Yeah, I think so, it is occasionally touching the red, sometimes just shy of distorting.

"Is your computer's audio output (ie. what finder & iTunes uses) going thru your mbox?" I have listened to it thru the inbuilt and thru the Mbox.

"Download digidesign's free PhaseScope plugin if you haven't already got it. Insert the plugin on your master fader. Set the meter to show you RMS level. What level does it show?" Thanks MessianicDreams, will try this tonight... does this work fine with version 7.1.3, and where I can download?
 
Thanks!

OK, now I've downloaded it (it seems to be a really exellent tool) and my last mix is peaking at -10 RMS. If I push the vol up much more, it starts to distort. What is the optimum RMS peak?
 
well if your RMS is averaging around -10dB that's fine. However, this doesn't solve the problem.

When you say the volume is way too low, what are you comparing it to? It is normal that commercial releases are louder than what you do at home, but if your RMS average is -10dB, the difference shouldn't be *HUGE*.
 
"When you say the volume is way too low, what are you comparing it to?"

I suppose I have largely been comparing the overall vol with commercial CDs, yes, but also with previous songs of mine, mixed with Cool Edit on my old defunct XP (Creative Audigy card). They have been languishing on Myspace for a year or two, and they play thru my Mac's finder significantly louder than the new tracks I've been doing on my Pro Tools. Most people's tracks on Myspace seem to play louder than mine thru my finder.

So, I have been experimenting, and curiously, when I import into Pro Tools a WAV of a final mix which was done long ago on my old PC, it distorts (if the monitor is up a reasonable amount), whilst its RMS goes all the way up to -8db.

I never heard the distortion when mixing them on my XP. Hmm.. Trying to work out what this might imply. Does it mean that the sound card on my old PC didn't show what this new, more unforgiving, Pro Tools set up does; or that my Mbox's monitor distorts at higher levels and needs fixing/tweaking; or does my new set up need calibrating?
 
An RMS of -8 is blisteringly loud. If you managed to get that volume without mastering, you probably were distorting the crap out of it and just never heard it.

What is your myspace? We can see if we hear it...
 
The vocal is distorted, not badly but it is compressed to death. According to my meters, you are sitting between -14 and -12, which is an incredible feat when you take into account the fact that the music is so sparse and mixed so quietly behind the vocal.

You are really going to have a hard time getting this stuff very loud just because of what it is.
 
That was gonna be my next question, what are you comparing your mixes to? Because if it's commercial cd's or products that have been mastered it is going to be lower.
 
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