consistent volume control on songs

[jimsmith]

i've been looking at the site (new here) and haven't found exactly what i'm looking for. i'm trying to figure out how to get all of my songs to the same level (volume-wise), so that when i bounce and burn them, one doesn't have to turn the volume on the cd player up or down for each song. just fiddling with the master fader doesn't seem to do it. am i doing that wrong? should it be enough? compression on the master volume fader within protools? should i do something in peak (i have it on my computer, but don't really use it much at all). any suggestions? thank you! and go easy on me, i regret to inform that i'm not the most technically savvy person here.

[AverageJoe]

Unfortunately there is no easy answer to this-

Essentially, leveling (making all your tracks the same aparent volume throughout your CD) is something that is done in the mastering process.

If you have Masterlist or Jam, you can have the program auto-normalize each track, so the peak loudness will be at the same point, but this still may not make your tracks sound the same volume.

You can also use a plug-in like the L1 or L2 UltraMaximizer on the master fader to slam your levels, but you still may not achieve consistency.

Ultimately, all of this is done by proper and good recording, overdubbing, and mixing.

It's more of a general recording quesiton than something specific to Pro Tools. You might want to check out some recording books if all of this is greek to you.

However, the above mentioned ideas will move you closer to this goal.

If you are confident you have good mixes, you can also seek a profesisonal mastering engineer, one who can and will do things a simple plug in never could!

[Akino]

Import all pieces that you want to burn on a CD into a track in PT, adjust the track, and devide it. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Ben Jenssen]

It has been, and is being discussed all the time:
Go here!

[CCash]

Jim, here's how I do it (the really basic version):

Import all of your songs into one session. Line them up one after the other on a stereo track with a little space in between. Now go to File>Duplicate track.

I do this when mastering to have a before and after. Solo either one for the before and after.

You'll have to find "the least common denominator". In other words, you have to quickly click around on various songs and see which one SOUNDS the quietest. Meters won't necessarily help you here. We're talking about apparent volume.

Once you determine the quietest, try to match all of the other song's volumes to this one. "Lock it in" with volume automation: Hold down Control+Command and click on the volume button in the edit window. Now you'll see a line representing the volume. Adjust each song by highlighting the song and using the trim tool ([). Keep jumping around song to song until they all seem to have the same volume.

In this simple example, I'd now put a limiter on this track to boost the overall volume of the songs. The effect is that they will all raise by the same apparent volume now.

Highlight each song and bounce them to disk one at a time. Hope this helps.

P.S. If you want to take this a step further and be more technically correct, determine how much headroom the quietest song has. Can you turn it up at all without clipping? If so, turn it up first and then match the others to it.

[jimsmith]

Thanks for all the help everyone. It's been very useful!