Nero

[CRM-114]

As I've posted here before, the WAV files of my final mixes from PT are much softer than the average CD volume. I haven't found an effective way to remedy this in PT. But a friend of mine who also does home recording says he's had the same problems with low final mix volumes, but he was able to fix that using the WAV editor in Nero. Has anyone here done the same? How does it work for you? Is it worth buying an $80 program? Seems like it would be if it works.

[storm-01]

You really don't need Nero to do this. There are several things that you can do to boost the overall volume of the cd. Put a limiter/comperssor on the master fader and give it a few dB boost. That will help. Also, crank your master fader up all the way. Even though it is peaking in the red, you will be okay as long as there is NO audible distortion. You can also bounce the session down as a wav, then import it into another program such as sound forge (which would be a great investment anyway) and then boost the signal a little more.

Remember, louder is not always better!

Stormy

[CRM-114]

I've tried putting a limiter and/or compressor on the master fader, but it just makes the overall mix sound jumpy (I can't think of a better word right now). Boosting the master fader into the red still doesn't give me the volume I want either. I'm not looking to create the loudest mixes on Earth, but I do want them pretty close to the level of a typical CD.

[fredsparky]

nero works fine using the wave editor. Also, I use an outboard finalizer in the master fader.

Hope this helps.

[CRM-114]

Nero and Sound Forge cost almost exactly the same. Which one would be a better purchase (taking into consideration I already have Pro Tools for audio recording and wouldn't necessarily need that portion of Sound Forge)?

[nukmusic]

buy both if you can. Pro Mastering is the process that boost final mixes to the standard cd volume(about -12db RMS). Sound Forge(with Plug-ins) would be your wave editor and Nero would be for your cd burning program(if you want CD-TEXT). If you just want to boost the mix a little just to burn the song to cd for a quick listen, patch-in the WAVES L2 (or L1) on the master fader and boost the level.(lower the threshold to about -4db or so.