how do you make your final mix louder

[chas51]

would you guys please tell me how you would do this?:

imagine you have 1 track. 1 microphone.
you recorded yourself singing, accompanying yourself on acoustic guitar.
Reaper meter peak levels are around -15 dB.

how would you make your final mix louder?
I know this has been asked many times. but possibly not in such a stripped down simple scenario?
also, I think I could spend the next few days searching and reading.
instead I am hoping that you guys will please help me, and tell me how you would do it.
I have plenty of plugins.
and maybe I just put a limiter on the Master channel and set it to -.1 dB?
I want to know how to do this, and not hurt the quality of the recording.


I like the way it sounds on playback through monitors. (which I am able to turn up and its plenty loud enough.)
its just that, its not loud enough when I render it, and listen to it through, for example headphones on my cellphone.
any help, greatly appreciated.

here's a thought:
can I just raise the Track fader and/or the Master fader, and thats totally ok?
or is that not a good way?
and this is all just for fun. I am an amateur. this is not going to be on the radio.

update:
I raised the Track fader all the way.
rendered it. I think it sounds alright.

[Magicbuss]

You can use the normalize function. This will raise the loudest peak in your song to a predetermined level like -1db. The will raise the whole song up without having any peaks go over zero.

If you want it even louder then you will need to use compression and limiting.

[Dr Bob]

Try putting Limiter No.6 on the master channel - should do the job - then you can learn how to fine tune the various compression and limiting options contained within it.

https://vladgsound.wordpress.com/plugins/limiter6/

Then read up on how to use EQ, compression, limiting, side-chaining etc on individual tracks to enhance your music.

Hope this helps,

dB

[chas51]

you guys are sooooo awesome!!!
thank you very much, both of you.

[stratman]

I like Voxengo Elephant as a master limiter.

[Judders]

Originally Posted by chas51

update:
I raised the Track fader all the way.
rendered it. I think it sounds alright.

Yeah man, just do that!

You don't need compression and limiting on your master. If the dynamics sound good to you as they are, just turn it up! As long as you don't clip at the master, you're golden

Only compress or limit if you want the sound of compression or limiting!

If the fader doesn't give you enough gain, use the JS Volume plugin that comes with REAPER to add more gain.

[chas51]

thank you very much, guys.
and yes Judders, it sounds excellent with the Track fader up all the way. and its not clipping.

[aliou1900]

In general, if you want to make something louder
use a compressor.
that's especially useful when only a clip or a track
lacks loundness
just put a compressor

[chas51]

thank you.

[serr]

Originally Posted by chas51

would you guys please tell me how you would do this?:

imagine you have 1 track. 1 microphone.
you recorded yourself singing, accompanying yourself on acoustic guitar.
Reaper meter peak levels are around -15 dB.

how would you make your final mix louder?
I know this has been asked many times. but possibly not in such a stripped down simple scenario?
also, I think I could spend the next few days searching and reading.
instead I am hoping that you guys will please help me, and tell me how you would do it.
I have plenty of plugins.
and maybe I just put a limiter on the Master channel and set it to -.1 dB?
I want to know how to do this, and not hurt the quality of the recording.


I like the way it sounds on playback through monitors. (which I am able to turn up and its plenty loud enough.)
its just that, its not loud enough when I render it, and listen to it through, for example headphones on my cellphone.
any help, greatly appreciated.

here's a thought:
can I just raise the Track fader and/or the Master fader, and thats totally ok?
or is that not a good way?
and this is all just for fun. I am an amateur. this is not going to be on the radio.

update:
I raised the Track fader all the way.
rendered it. I think it sounds alright.

Alright on the "alright" then.

My 2c anyway...

Was the initial max peak level of -15db an intentional target or where the raw recording happened to peak?

Try this.

Get your bearings with your monitor level with various commercial releases. You should notice that CD and mp3 are usually 4 - 10db louder than most 24 bit masters (HD downloads or bluray discs) for starters. That's kind of the thing these days. I recommend turning the loud stuff down and treating it like the exception. You can always take your final master and limit and boost it to do that.

Got your bearings with your system?

Now back to your mix.

Put the level where you think it should sit.
Red lights going off on peaks? Then compress or limit them. No red lights? Then no problem!

Same deal if -15 db max peak was your target for whatever reason. Peaks hitting above when at the level you want? Then compress them. Otherwise you're good.

Always shoot for a finished mix. Don't fall into this "fix it in the mastering" bs. Try to avoid the business of running your final mix through multiple distortion boxes too (eg. "tape saturation"). It's just a placebo from hearing it louder after the distortion.

Next level:

Are there elements in the sound that poke out where they shouldn't? Like some rumble or boominess for example? Or maybe a note or two too loud? Start finessing that. It's usually stuff like that (especially low end) that takes up headroom for no good reason. Fix that and your overs usually go away with it.

[Dr Bob]

Originally Posted by serr

...
Are there elements in the sound that poke out where they shouldn't? Like some rumble or boominess for example? Or maybe a note or two too loud? Start finessing that. It's usually stuff like that (especially low end) that takes up headroom for no good reason. Fix that and your overs usually go away with it.

This is very good advice. Fix any "issues" on the individual tracks which give you "overs/redlines" on a per track basis and also watch the master meter too. Fix them, and it'll all be good. If you want that "compressed" sound (very common these days on many commercial releases), then stick a compressor/limiter on the master but use it "sparingly" to get the sound you want, without destroying the overall dynamics of your track. Note: it's very easy to completely unbalance a mix by applying a comp/lim to the master and over pushing it!

You might also find that putting an EQ on the master can help tone down things to give a more balanced sound overall - in other words this time you are making fine adjustments to the final mixed sound (where each track has probably had some EQ applied already). Note the word "fine" - treat as a way of sweetening the mix, guided more towards just what you want to hear.

HTH

dB

[chas51]

serr and Dr Bob, you guys are very generous. thank you very much for all you wrote.
a couple thoughts:
- I do indeed always strive to get the best recording I can, so that its already finished when I press stop. that means no fixing it afterwards, in the mix, nor master.

- I have heard and read many times, to aim for my peaks to be between -12 and -18 dB.
so at least some of the time, thats what I do.
other times, I record a little hotter.

ok, as I wrote, so now I know raising the Track fader all the way up, before I rendered, works good. sounded just fine. and it was plenty loud enough.
can anyone please tell me, if its just as acceptable to turn the Master fader up, when I render?

[Judders]

Originally Posted by chas51

can anyone please tell me, if its just as acceptable to turn the Master fader up, when I render?

Yes, that is perfectly acceptable.

As long as it sounds good to you, and you are avoiding going above 0.0dBFS (no red clip lights on your master output), then pretty much anything you do is acceptable!

[Studiodawg]

Quick and dirty (very effective) method to get your mix hotter is to use ReaComp's preset "stock - Master Bus NY Comp" -or- "stock - Master Bus Glue". Then in that make sure to check "Auto make-up" and "Limit output". This will put anything you're mixing on steroids. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but if you edit hours and hours of multi-track audio this is a way to bring up a mix that has good headroom to begin with. It breaks down if you try to slam already crushed audio.

[Judders]

Again, I would say that you should only use a compressor if you like the sound of compression.

If you are happy with the dynamics of your mix, DO NOT COMPRESS IT!

[beingmf]

Originally Posted by Judders

Again, I would say that you should only use a compressor if you like the sound of compression.

If you are happy with the dynamics of your mix, DO NOT COMPRESS IT!

This – if you want to use a bus compressor, mix INTO it.

[Dr Bob]

Originally Posted by beingmf

This – if you want to use a bus compressor, mix INTO it.

Absolutely - this is even more important if you use a multiband compressor - if you just slam it on then you will almost always unbalance the mix.

Simple rule - if you like your mix and you have distributed your instruments on each track into their frequency domains (EQ), applied reverb via a reverb buss (to get everything into the same "space"), you can possibly apply some mild compression on a per track (or buss) basis, to help the overal dynamics along. If the mix dynamics are OK then you most likely do not need a compressor on the master track (buss), a limiter though might help you not overcook the master channel when you come to render.

At least you are able to experiment to get the sound you like - and your life or livelihood doesn't depend o getting it absolutely right!

dB

PS I find this interactive tool very useful when applying EQ to individual tracks:http://www.independentrecording.net/...in_display.htm

[Pinknoise]

Rasing the master fader is ok if you are at the end of the mix. But during mixing, if you have a couple of tracks it can fool you into thinking you are clipping while you were not. So for most people AFAIK, at least it's the way I learned it, never touch the master fader so you get the real reading of all your tracks output.

I prefer to use a js volume plugin that I can bypass and see the real story.

Also as an option wich I use on every mix, I send all tracks to one track, muting masters on every tracks except this one, wich I call aux master before hitting the original master. This allows me to automate the final mix.

[Dr Bob]

Originally Posted by Pinknoise

... Also as an option wich I use on every mix, I send all tracks to one track, muting masters on every tracks except this one, wich I call aux master before hitting the original master. This allows me to automate the final mix.

Another byproduct of doing this is if you put any "mastering FX" on this aux master you will find that your cpu hit will drop a lot compared to putting them on the master track. Basically as far as I recall, all fx on the master track will all go on the same cpu, but on the aux master they will be distributed amongst any cpus you have on the system.

I'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong or things have changed ...

dB

[serr]

I label my mix bus "MIX". Pretty creative, I know.

This is SOP. The master bus has various limitations and is really best used as only a master hardware send.

[beingmf]

Originally Posted by serr

The master bus has various limitations and is really best used as only a master hardware send.

I always forget about this – and then wonder why the Nebula heavy master bus would bring my CPU to its knees. Thanks for the reminder!

[Neenja]

I turn my final mixes up to 'leven, which makes them louder.

[chas51]

thank you to all you excellent people who replied.
Judders, thank you sooooo much!!!!