Volume issue with my final cuts

[lyoung1101]

All of my final cuts (finished songs bounced to disk and burnt to cd) seem lower than the standard volume you hear on the radio or on a proffesional industry cd. I feel my recording discipline is pretty good for the most part, none of my tracks peak when I do sessions, and I leave very little head room on all my tracks as well. In final mixdown I make sure that the Master volume is as high as it can get without peaking, so I dont understand when I bounce to disk and burn onto cd, my songs, when played on any medium are a little bit lower than what you hear on professional recordings and on the radio....for example: if I am listening to my song in my car, and then I hit the (fm) button to go to the radio really fast, the difference in volume is highly noticeable. Numbers wise, if 30 is the midpoint for most stereo's or halfway up, mine are always about 5 to 7 lower. I used to have a problem with it being way lower but through my experience gained thus far in recording and engineering I've been able to bring my final cuts louder without peaking or distortion. Still, all my final cuts are a little bit lower....

Does anybody out there have any tips or remedies on how to get my final cut volume up without peaking or distortion? Is there something I'm missing that is an industry standard, or is this a common problem??


thanx, Lucas


Pro Tools 6.9.2/G-5 2.3G/Digi 002

[bradch00]

Without a doubt, read Bob Katz "Mastering Audio". Yes, some people will tell you just to strap a multi-band compressor over the master track and play with it and yes you can get it louder, but if you don't know the subtleties of sound you can ruin a good mix very quickly. (IMHO)

[albee1952]

Well said above. Ignore radio completely as they hit limiters hard on the way to broadcast transmission so radio is always slamming limiters. WHile you are getting used to boosting your mixes with a mastering limiter, go easy at first. The trick with Waves L2 is to never let it hit harder than 2-3db of reduction on the meter. f you still need more, insert another instance of L2 and let it add more limiting/boost. Don't get too crazy with it. If you want to make mp3 versions for upload, too much mastering limiter can make for crunchy sounding mp3's.

[albee1952]

Well said above. Ignore radio completely as they hit limiters hard on the way to broadcast transmission so radio is always slamming limiters. WHile you are getting used to boosting your mixes with a mastering limiter, go easy at first. The trick with Waves L2 is to never let it hit harder than 2-3db of reduction on the meter. f you still need more, insert another instance of L2 and let it add more limiting/boost. Don't get too crazy with it. If you want to make mp3 versions for upload, too much mastering limiter can make for crunchy sounding mp3's. Better yet, pay a real mastering engineer to do it right. Mastering is part art and part science and having the tools does not make one a mastering engineer.