Inconsistency with volume

[soniad]

Hello everyone,

I am fairly new to Protools and a complete novice in relation to mixing/sound engineering.

I am using version 10.3.4 in a windows 7 environment.

I use this software to create hypnosis MP3 recordings - that is, voice recording with ambient music in the background.

I'm having a lot of difficulty getting the volume right in my recording, specifically the ratio of volume between the background music and the voice.

These are the steps that I take:

1) create a track (mono) and record my voice;
2) Import an wav or mp3 (using the highest quality setting) file containing ambient music into a second track (mono)
3) I then use the volume control on the mixer to adjust the volume of the music so that the voice is most prominent.

When I listen to the whole thing on my headphones, it sound great - so....I bounce to disk.

Then when I listen to the finished product, either in windows MP3 player or in iTunes, it sounds completely different!

Either the background music is way too soft or way too loud. I can't seem to get a good balance.

Also, the volume ratio varies greatly from device to device; EG: when I play the track on iTunes on my computer (I have good quality speakers), I can hardly hear the music at all, yet to when I listen to it on my iPod the music is quite prominent.

All the professional hypnosis recordings that I have sound exactly the same no matter what device I play them on.

Can anybody tell me what I might be doing wrong?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Chief Technician]

Originally Posted by soniad

These are the steps that I take:

1) create a track (mono) and record my voice;
2) Import an wav or mp3 (using the highest quality setting) file containing ambient music into a second track (mono)
3) I then use the volume control on the mixer to adjust the volume of the music so that the voice is most prominent.

Which volume control on which mixer?

[soniad]

Hi sorry, I'm not very good with the technical language.

To the left hand side of each track I see three boxes. The first box contains the record button and the mute button.

The second is the comments box.

The third box is a box that says I/O, which allows me to alter both the volume and the pan of each track.

I presumed that all of these were a part of the 'mix window views' but I could be wrong.

Does that make sense?

[soniad]

PS:

here is a screen shot

[EGS]

The screen shot is the Edit window. Switch to the Mix window.

[mikeyman]

kinda sounds like that problem I was having yesterday making an MP3..On the second screen after you choose Mp3 in the bounce to disk mode there is a setting called ''Constant Bit Rate ''..Make shure you are set to 256k

[soniad]

Hi mikeyman,

thanks so much for your reply!

I wasn't aware that you could bounce to MP3 - I thought there were only a few file types to select and I always chose a .wav file.

I will have another look at this and see if I can work out what you mean

thanks

[mikeyman]

top left click on file and then click bounce to disk and choose mp3
you must highlight your tracks and run your track to a master fader I think
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYQFtA2jFyY

[Drew Mazurek]

I recommend booking an hour of studio time at your nearest Pro Tools based studio and have them "tweak" your mix. You'll likely learn A LOT in that hour of careful watching and asking questions, more so than you could/would by yourself or on the net IMO.

[soniad]

Hi Mikeyman,

thanks for your suggestion and video.

Drew, I couldn't agree more. I have booked in with someone on Monday.