Bouncing A Loud Enough Song

Loud=Better?
If you want your songs to match the industrial standard loudness-war-type-squashed-brickshaped-waveform-type-of-noise then apply lots of Multicompression and maximizing to your bounced files until you have gotten rid of any dynamics within your music. If you want to get into the art of Mastering read some books by Bob Katz.

Painted Sky wrote:
My logic files aren't very loud even when I've maxed out the master volume before bouncing.

Maxed out?
you are talking about master fader at +6db?

what about overloads?
I think that you use Normalize Bounce in order to avoid overloads

.... But when i bounce to iTunes, the song is quieter than recordings i've done on garageband.....

iTunes Maxed out level is 0dB
(So if your mix is made by using +6dB in the mixing phase you will loose 6db in iTunes)

in Digital recording you never maxed out the Master Level

Master fader Must be set to 0dB!!!
this is the primary rule for digital sound engeeners (also analog suond engeeners)

you can use adaptive Limiter in Logic...
you can find a lot of mastering preset in the master out Channel.

*BUT MASTER FADER MUST BE ALWAYS SET TO 0dB!*

G

fermusic wrote:
Master fader Must be set to 0dB!!!
this is the primary rule for digital sound engeeners (also analog suond engeeners)

This is a very misleading statement to make and not at all accurate!

Another "how do I make it LOUD?" thread... Sigh.

Forget loud. Make it sound GOOD. Then if you want it louder, turn up the volume.


If only more DIY recordists could take this to heart... But I know I'm preaching to the deaf. Mostly coz everything they listen to is so freakin' LOUD.


🙂

Leave the master fader at 0. You can pull it down, if you want to, although this is sloppy mixing, I sometimes do it.

You need to understand the difference between mixing and mastering. You are bouncing a final mix of the song, as long as everything sounds corrects in relationship to the other tracks (in the song itself), then it's good. Do not concern yourself if it is "loud" at this point. The goal here is to make it sound like what you want it to sound, that is, the vocals are where you want them to be in relation to the guitar, the piano is panned and as loud as you want it to be in relation to the bass and drums, everything is where you want it to be in relation to everything else. This is your mix. Bounce that.

You'll be wanting to have more information than that, though. Here is what I suggest:

http://www.amazon.com/Mixing-Audio-Concepts-Practices-Tools/dp/0240520688

Alright, so now you've bounced your final mix of a few songs. But they seem a little quiet. This is when you will be mastering- putting those tracks where you want them to be in relation to each other. You will want to apply EQ and compression, here, maybe. You may want to do a lot of things, that's up to you. You can normalize at this point as well, if you want to. This is when you complete the tracks- make it ready for commercial release is the goal, even if you are giving it away. Wave Burner is the Logic Studio software designed to make this easy.

You'll be wanting to do some reading!

http://www.digido.com/vmchk/shopping-cart/mastering-audio-by-bob-katz/flypage.tp l.html

Both of these areas are something that a person can work on for a lifetime. Do your reading. Good luck, L

fermusic, once again, is confused. the "industry-standard" ceiling is usually -0.4.

He wasn't referring to where the music should peak. He was referring to leaving the master fader- the "Output 1-2" where it is at, at 0 dB.

I was thiking about +12 dB is better 😀

(on Analog Tape)
But this is related with the ART of Mastering...

When Mixing the Master fader must stay always at 0dB...
if you need tu turn UP and Down the Volume of your Control room monitoring you Must use the Audio Card Volume Knob as Control room Knob!!!

There is a very good device for this: Mackie Big Knob... it also allow you to switch speakers and Talkback button for Recording Room cominication... but you can use the full Dynamic of your D/A Converters...

As you know the D/A converter works better near 0dB in order to minimize the jitter and Digital distortion

G

Loud is better...
Loud is Analog Sound...

in the Digital conversion much low is the level much higher is the distortion... (digital distortion)

is the opposite as Analog... (but Analog distortion sounds good... fabulous in some Class A Pre and Power Amplifier) (LA2A is one of the best Analog device)
But Digital distortion is very BAD... grain sound... crisp.. crackles... sounds
the best range for converter is stay away from the low level... (forget -80 dB and lower levels)
So: if you dont stay near 0dB you will loose the best side of the Digital converters sounds
😉

timkertoy wrote:
Another "how do I make it LOUD?" thread... Sigh.

I agree with you in this.. but a little bit different thinking...
just to avoid misunderstanding

if the sound is recorded like as... little size sound... small sound... not solid.... you cannot do anything..
of course you can use Limiters and compressors but the sound will be Loud and BAD... because if the recording track is with a small sound... this will never can be changed...
it will remain a "Small-LOUD sound)

I use La2a hardware as input device...
or other Solid State Pre and Valve Preamps

I don't need to make loud... My recorded tracks are perfect...
I never use Limiter on the Master OUT...
(also after mix is done... and only if needed I go to Mastering studio.. that is also located in my studio 😉 )

the sound must be "loud.. Big... solid" from the begin... when recording
If sounds good, you don't need to use additional Limiters!!!

G

Good posts for the most part. Louder isn't always better. Mixing and mastering are two different processes with similar but different goals. I'm a record/mix engineer. I would have a really hard time mastering my own stuff. However, I have found that when burning reference CDs for clients, it helps to do a little mini-mastering in WaveBurner. I usually use the Adaptive Limiter plug-in on the mix, as opposed to region. I try to add as much gain as I can without affecting the sound of the mixes. This usually won't get you to "professionally mastered levels" but it'll be close enough that you can listen to it along side mastered CDs and get a sense for how your mixes translate.

I am not an expert but I may be able to help you. I had been having the same problem. After looking through the PDF manual for Logic Express - I found that you have to make sure when you are bouncing to a wav format, be sure to choose 16-bit resolution, 44100 sample rate, interleaved and select 'dithering'.

I will be doing more reading to fully understand all these parameters, but for now this should solve your problem and your bounces should be at a nice volume.

Hope this helps, anyopne who has any useful advice to add to this, please feel free.

Since I don't think there's enough chaos or confusion in this thread yet, I would just like to add that choosing AIFF rather than WAV would be a good move. No need to inform me about the so-called identity of content; there are still sound practical reasons for preferring that people get out of the habit of choosing WAV all the time.

Forget loud. Make it sound GOOD. Then if you want it louder, turn up the volume.
If only more DIY recordists could take this to heart... But I know I'm preaching to the deaf. Mostly coz everything they listen to is so freakin' LOUD.

I completely agree with you.