Increasing overall track volume

ham_n_mustard

Hi Lads, im fairly new to home recording. first off, im using cubase se3. any tracks i've recorded seem to be very low volume when played on itunes. when recording and playing back in the DAW they seem fine, but when imported to itunes etc they lose a lot of volume. is there a way to boost the overall volume of a track with either a freeware vst or something on cubase itself that doesnt cause massive clipping?
cheers, and sorry if the question doesnt make sense
alan

drumdrum

ham_n_mustard wrote: »

Hi Lads, im fairly new to home recording. first off, im using cubase se3. any tracks i've recorded seem to be very low volume when played on itunes. when recording and playing back in the DAW they seem fine, but when imported to itunes etc they lose a lot of volume. is there a way to boost the overall volume of a track with either a freeware vst or something on cubase itself that doesnt cause massive clipping?
cheers, and sorry if the question doesnt make sense
alan

Hi man,

Achieving "loudness" is a tricky thing as often new people to home recording tend to unintentionally overdo it (I know I did!). Essentially its very easy to give your track loudness at the cost of quality and track clarity. Music these days is far too loud, but unfortunately to remain competitive you often need to match these loud volumes!
Just to note: I am NOT a professional sound engineer. This is just my process that I use at the moment, for all its benefits and short comings.

So, to help you out, heres what I recommend what you could do in the short term.
1) Mix your track to a maximum output level of around -6db. That is, your track should average a fairly constant level and the loudest parts should peak at around -6db. It might sound "weak" in your ears, so turn up your output speakers on their hardware, NOT from within your DAW (Cubase, Logic, etc etc).
Basically this means to turn everything down. Its very easy to be tempted to crank things up, but dont. You will get your "loudness" later!

2) when you are happy with your mix, bounce it to a stereo file and import it into a new session within your DAW. Next we will be doing a VERY basic "mastering" session on it.

3) Professional recordings that we listen to everyday are mastered. To think of things a different way, if you've just created a vase with your mix, with your master you will be smoothing and polishing its surface to attain a sellable product.
In terms of audio mastering, it is a HUGE field in and of itself, and there are tons of things that the pros can do. There is not one set way to do things (as with practically everything in audio recording) so I advise you experiment and see what works for you.

Anyways, in your new mastering session I suggest you add in this order a parametric EQ, multiband compressor, Stereo imaging plugin, and finally a limiter. You can add a reverb plugin somewhere between the EQ and the stereo imaging plugin if you want it. Whatever plugins you use, the limiter must be last.
A metering pluging wouldn't go amiss before the EQ and after the limiter just to check for phasing and for reference. The stereo imaging plugin can be used to widen the apparent stereo image of your mix, but be careful when using it as they often use sample delaying algorithms to achieve this which can cause phasing. Often you wont want this...its a personal taster thing.

How you set these plug-ins is up to you and I suggest researching online how to use each one. You dont necessarily have to use each one either. The multi-band compressor I find can really even out your tracks dynamics if used right. Logic has great versions of these plugins available with it. I'm not a Cubase user so I dont know what plugins come bundled with it (or how good they are) but sure research and experiment with them if they do. Waves do fantastic versions of these plugins that are used by professionals, but they have a "professional" pricetag!

To get the loudness that you want, what you use for this is the limiter plugin. To use it effectively, basically I set the output ceiling level to around -0.3db and then crank down the threshold level until the output bars stop moving. At this point your track is getting crushed and if you move the threshold down further you will start hearing the distortion on your track. So when you find this point, I suggest bringing the threshold UP a db or two.

This will usually bring your track to "competitive" levels. Just be careful if you are comparing this to modern or commercial based artist tracks. Unless you have the know-how (and the thousand and thousand of euros worth of gear!) getting to recreate their sound exactly is nigh-impossible. Just be fair to yourself and don't expect a banquet from a loaf of bread....unless you are Jesus or something!

As I said before, I don't call myself a sound engineer, but rather a big hobbyist. All I know is that this works for me, so hopefully it might work for you as well.

ham_n_mustard

thanks a million lad, that should improve things no end. and even if it doesnt, it gives me an excuse to get out the missus' way for a few hours and experiment, nice one!

drumdrum

ham_n_mustard wrote: »

thanks a million lad, that should improve things no end. and even if it doesnt, it gives me an excuse to get out the missus' way for a few hours and experiment, nice one!

No problem mate!

Another "quick fix" that I forgot to mention is Izotopes Ozone 4 and IK Multimedias T-Racks mastering "all-in-one" plugins. (There are others, but these are the ones I've tried... you can download a free demo of Ozone to try and I think you can do the same for T-Racks...)

They are grand for quick "masters" of your tunes, and you can even get some decent results with it. Personally I prefer loading the plugins separately and learning how to use them properly but they both have their pros and cons.
Again, this depends on your track, recording quality etc....and as always, YMMV with these things!

Best of luck!