Same level for all my songs at mastering

[corbel]

I just finished mixing my songs, I was recording the songs to a CD using JAM and when I played them back, I noticed one of the songs was a litle more LOUD than the rest
without distorting.
What is the best way to set it to the same level as the rest..?
-Go back and Mix all again with a lower level?
-Go back and lower the master maybe lower some of the waves L1 effect?
-Some compression?
-Or just lower the level of the song on the JAM program?

Thank you people for your sugestions and opinions.

[DFatz1]

I'd look at some mastering hardware/software. (i.e. Maxim, T-Racks, TC Finalizers, etc.) I'm actually buying the Behringer DSP 9024 Ultra-Dyne tommorrow. If you've got a grand or two I'd look at the TC stuff or maybe the Focusrite stuff. Just some thoughts... & $0.02

[DanXx]

Ah,

My method with levels:

I start mixing and use aux sends post fader only. Then when clipping occurs on one of the channels I lower all faders. When clipping occurs because of a tweaked filter, I slide it's fader slightly up, remember gain increase and decrease the gain on the plugin with the same amount. Then when I end up with the finished mix, I put up the master until just before clipping. That way i have a 0 dB song.
In 24 bit-session, keep it 24 bit.

When all songs are bounced I import them in Pro Tools again for mastering. Then some songs need mastering, like some EQ or gain, so that they all sound like one CD. Most important is that listeners don't have to adjust volumes themselves, they will be annoyed by your "difficult" CD. Also in Pro Tools it's easier to compare songs, like louder areas and stuff. In Masterlist you always have to wind and rewind..

Then I bounce again to 16 bit, with dither. I also make spacing in between songs right and bounce that too. Now toasting is a piece of cake.

Maybe you already know all this stuff, but the order in which you perform them is important. Have a method of doing it and stick to it!

Okay keep it up, greets from Holland, Dan.

[corbel]

Thank you guys I have to admit that some of the stuff is new for me.
Thank you again.

[CCash]

Corbel, Jam has a fader for each track. Just lower that track by the right dB (previewing in Jam) and burn a new CD.

[slotools]

Yea- I am selling my finalizer in place of
software- I dont feel most software can compete, however it is a time savings.
I was going to update the finalizer to the latest version software, however I will go the complete all in one computer solution route.
I do not like the Behringer unit at all, I
will say you do get alot for the money for
a proletariat processor.

Mike

[oscarr]

are you sure that all the songs are meant to be LOUD?
if you have a song with acoustic guitar and vocal at the same max volume as one with a full band, the first will probably sound louder
in fact i find listening to the level of the vocal a good staring point for compiling tracks
oscar

[dBHEAD]

I have to agree with oscarr. You don't want radically different levels from song to song because that can be a jarring (and annoying) experience for the listener. However, there will usually be some differences in the loudness level depending on what the band is playing. So make sure it REALLY IS too low. That's a subjective judgement on your part; there are no real tests to determine whether or not you have the "right" level...only whether you have the right PEAK level for the song overall (close to but less than 0dB on Pro Tools).

Two things. One, The Finalizer from TC Electronic is one of the most useful pieces of gear you can buy. It offers multi-band compression and is incredibly easy to use. I've found that using the same presets can usually result in a very consistent level from song to song as long as you've processed and mixed each song roughly the same. Yeah, it's expensive, but guess what? They make a budget version of it for about half the price called the "Finalizer Express." You can pick one up for about 1500 bucks and you'll get pretty close to the quality of the Finalizer 96k. The only drawback is that it has no de-esser and compresses only 3 bands instead of 5. BUT that's quite adequate for most projects.

Two. Try mixing to a split stereo pair and then use the Normalize plug-in from the Audio Suite. As long as you choose the same peak level (DON'T use 0.0 dB as you'll get clip lights almost for sure) that should help bring about more consistency. I usually go for negative 0.2 dB as the peak.

One more thing. Don't worry too much about very slight level differences from song to song. Oh, and one more thing: Don't forget your Fletcher-Munson curve (the ears are more sensitive to midrange freqs) because that could actually be the culprit here!