Poor sound levels on my 001 bounced wav's - please help

[aprice88]

So i've recorded something in protools on my 001. i "bounced" it as a .wav file, but the volume is extremely low. im obviously no pro... what did i do wrong? please help!

thanks,
aaron

[basschair]

How is the level compared to your original multitrack project? Also, how are you playing it back?

[Mr_Seven]

Setup up a master fader and push the levels of your tracks up to get the master fader level to close to 0. If that's not enough then throw a limiter on it. Pref a L1 or maxim.

[aprice88]

I so wish i knew about how to use pro tools and master faders and all that...

listening to it with the headphones volume ALL THE WAY UP it sounds fine on pro tools. but, the sounds levels on the tracks are fine, not really quiet. how do i playback louder, and how to i bounce to a normal level?

any and all help GREATLY appreciated.

[doylemusic]

Originally posted by aprice88:
I so wish i knew about how to use pro tools and master faders and all that...

listening to it with the headphones volume ALL THE WAY UP it sounds fine on pro tools. but, the sounds levels on the tracks are fine, not really quiet. how do i playback louder, and how to i bounce to a normal level?

any and all help GREATLY appreciated.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Mr_Seven said it all....

You need to add a Master track (just like you added the other tracks).

Then you need to add a plugin on the master track such as the L1 or maxim (if you have any of those) and increase the volume by increasing the parameters on that plug in. They basically boost the signal/volume (and in this case the signal of the entire mix).
You can probably do the same thing with the limiter plugin that comes stock.

Good luck!

[basschair]

Don't beat yourself up about it, we all started somewhere [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

You'll need to create a new track. In the file menu, you'll have the add a track option, and you'll need to create a master track. Then nudge up the volume on the master track in the mix window (the window that looks like a mixing board). Do you have any plug-ins other than the digirack ones?

[aprice88]

don;t i need to somehow feed these tracks into the master track? this is where i start to really screw things up...

is this the same thing that you would do to run an effect on 1 channel to use on other tracks, so you don't have, say, reverb running on every track but just on 1 master track that you use to control the others? and this uses less system resources i guess?

[aprice88]

basschair - looks like i was writing while you were too. currently i don't have any plug-ins other then the stock ones. and that does lead me to - should i upgrade some? are there any good free (or not $100 +) ones?

[aprice88]

still having the volume issues. its driving me crazy. how do i assign all of the tracks to a master track and then boost the volume? also, when i "bounce" the track how do i tell it to use the right track (with the right volumes) as the source?

help! :-/

[Chris Cavell]

The master fader controls an output, so you don't need to assign the audio tracks to the fader, you need to assign the master fader. You do this by setting it to the same output as your audio tracks. Then control click the master fader volume indicator (at the bottom of the channel strip) until it shows a peak indicator. Click on the indicator to reset it and play through the tune once. The indicator now shows the peak level of the bounce, so you can boost either your master fader, or your mix to correct the low level. If your peak level is pretty hot but not clipping, and your mix still feels weak volume-wise, add a comp to the master fader. The plugs on a master fader are post fader, it is therefore very important to make sure that you don't clip the fader before adding plugs. I hope this helps some. A little tip, if you can't boost the master fader enough to get a hot level, choose the ALL mix group and boost everything while preserving the mix, then ungroup and alt-click the master fader to reset its postion independently from the mix and check for peaks all over again.