HOW TO BOOST BOUNCE VOLUME?

[CRM-114]

Does anyone know a way to get a higher output volume when bouncing a Pro Tools session to a wav file? I've got all my session levels as loud as they'll go without getting in the red, but when I bounce down my song, the resulting wav file is really soft, at least compared to mp3s I have on my computer. Can someone help? I don't want people to have to crank their volume knobs to the ceiling to be able to hear my music!

[Kirkland]

This now brings you to the mastering side of things.........

[CRM-114]

OK. I know that PT has matering functions but I know nothing about them. Can you elaborate? What are the basic steps I would take in boosting the volume of my wavs?

[Kirkland]

This should provide a wealth of information on mastering:
http://www.studiocovers.com/articles9.htm

To my knowledge, none of these articles will address ProTools specifically, but it's the concepts you're after more than anything...
www.studiocovers.com is a great resource for all kinds of things too. Those of you who have'nt checked out the article links there are in for a real treat...

[CRM-114]

Thanks. I'll take a look. Does the PTLE manual explain mastering well? I haven't looked at that section yet, but I do know that some of the other sections do not do a very good job of explaining some things.

[CRM-114]

Anyone else have suggestions for me?

[sessiondude]

I don't know if this is even close to helping 'cause I'm still in diapers on this thing, but I ran into the same problem last night. Can you normalize the tracks? I know normalizing isn't such a great process so bite your tongue and forgive me it it's a stupid response. Trying to help. I'm going back to my crib and blankie now.

[Mark_Knecht]

CRM,
Basically the answer to your question lies in how you get the average power up without clipping the peaks. That basically comes down to compression and normalization.

Look in to the Waves C4/L1+U, or the Masters Bundle, for some really good RTAS plugs that run under PTLE. Try the Digi Compressor just for practice.

Cheers,
Mark

[CRM-114]

Mark,

Are the PTLE mastering capabilities not enough on their own?

[CRM-114]

OK, let me make it simple: I'm planning on bringing wav files of my songs to a professional studio anyway to be mastered for pressing CDs, so should I even bother doing any mastering at home, or would I be wasting my time?