Getting it loud without compression
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Posted on Feb 05, 2008 04:16 pm
TipMcVenus
Member Since: Feb 05, 2008
Hey Guys,
I wanted to know if you all had any tips for mastering for increasing the volume of the track without the use of compression.
The best way, i'm sure, is to take care of that in the mixing process. My dilemma is that these aren't tracks that I mixed and they are on the quiet side. I'd love to amplify the track but I have reservations about over compressing.
Normalizing? Amplifying?
thoughts?
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TadpuiI am not a crook's headMember
Since: Mar 14, 2003
Feb 05, 2008 04:32 pm Compressing. Period.
Normalizing will only take the highest peak in a track and make it 0 dB. Then the rest of the track is scaled accordingly. So its no different than adjusting the slider for the track to where it hits 0 dB at its loudest part.
Amplifying does the exact same thing as using the slider on the track...adds gain or attenuates.
Neither of these will buy you anything that a volume knob wouldn't. You can turn it up to a point, then it'll distort any time a peak pushes the signal overboard.
Ideally you want to EQ each track so that it has its own little notch in the EQ spectrum. Then when several tracks are all playing, they're not piling up the volume at each frequency where they overlap.
But when it comes to making your final mix louder, compression is the only way. There are ways to compress without necessarily "over" compressing but without compression, your tracks are destined to be quiet when compared to music that has been compressed.
Normally what I'll do is set up a compressor on the master bus for some gentle compression. 2:1 ratio, maybe 3:1. Then set up a threshold that only activates the compressor intermittently, not constantly. And set the attack and release pretty slow. This should tame the peaks and allow you to turn up the makeup gain by at least a few dB.
Then after that I put a hard limiter on it and limit to about -.3 dB. Now you can push the makeup gain until you achieve your desired amount of compression/loudness.
But seriously, you're not going to get far without using compression of some sort.
CptTrippsCzar of Turd PolishMember
Since: Jun 20, 2006
Feb 05, 2008 04:34 pm Technically, when using a compressor you don't have to "compress" the signal havily to get it louder. Follow instructions above.
Or just use a minimizer\maximizer, once again set the threshold at what you like and boost the gain until it barely registers.
Edited because he said it better :)
Feb 05, 2008 04:41 pm I thought that Limiting was the way to make something louder not compression. I guess limiting is a form of compression and volume maximizing but technical terms are important right :)
TadpuiI am not a crook's headMember
Since: Mar 14, 2003
Feb 05, 2008 04:49 pm Right Tony. Limiting IS compressing. Just with a very, very high ratio.
CptTrippsCzar of Turd PolishMember
Since: Jun 20, 2006
Feb 05, 2008 04:52 pm Yeah, I have used a compressor with a 20:1 ratio and a -0.3 threshold. Same concept. I crank the gain until my compressor barely starts working so it does not squash the signal.
Feb 05, 2008 11:26 pm wow, GREAT advice!
i'll definately work at the eq of these tracks and see if i can't make it shine.
i use waves and would love to know people's personal plugins and parameters (especially if you use waves too!)
CptTrippsCzar of Turd PolishMember
Since: Jun 20, 2006
Feb 06, 2008 12:20 pm I get my mix around the -3 to -6 range at it's peak. Then I harbal it, next I use the waves L2 to get the volume up.
On specific parameters there is nothing I can tell you because each song is different.
Here are my steps for maxmimizing though...
I use the "High res CD master" setting from the "load" menu. All options should be perfect (dither\shaping\quantize) and it will set the "out ceiling" at -0.03.
The "threshold" on the far left is your incoming signal. Slide the threshold down until you start to see activity on the "Atten" bar. When you see the orange bar on "Atten" that is compression kicking in. As long as it's not a constantly solid bar you should not be over compressing. With it kicking on and off constantly you will be leaving some room to breath yet have good volume and not to much in the way of major volume fluctuations.
This is just my process, which I got from reading the walk throughs on this site :) Hope it helps.
