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CD volume level?

RadioactiveGuy4

RadioactiveGuy4

Feb 24, 2011
857
1,202
New Orleans
#1
Ok so my band has started recording our songs for our album. Our Current set up consists of Either mics or DI for me into mixer, then mixer into Presonus Firebox, then in to Garage band. We have never done any recording before and i have been kinda running the show. So far ( to our surprise) we have been getting some great recordings. Everything is clear and sits well in the mix. We made the investment into some Monitor speakers so that we can do our mixing and it was a very good choice. When we finished our first recording we played it back on the monitors to adjust levels. When we were happy with what we were hearing I said lets put it onto a CD and play it in my car and if it sounds good in there we are golden. We play it in the car and it still sounds great. The only issue we have is that the CD is on the quiet side. For example when I listen to a CD in my car and I want it loud the volume is set at 45. In order to get our CD to that same level I had to set the level to 55.

So my question is this. Is there a way to do a master level on Garage Band or to control the level at which the CD is recorded? :help:
 
#5
seamonkey said:
Normalization and Dynamic compression
The best way is to put your fingers on the masters while listening to the final mix. Keep it just kissing the red. You got 16 bits, use them, but use them tasteful
Click to expand...

Seamonkey, kissing the red, is it something which is recommended on every software? What are you recommendation on the mastering on GarageBand desktop version?
The clip in my sig is mastered in GarageBand on my Mac. Both me and Evnagelos (who done great job on the lead guitar) recorded our bass/ guitar in GarageBand iOS versions. We both used Jamup XT Pro for amp sim.
 
#6
For People using Windows Gclip is an awesome Mastering Clipping VST. I've compared it against clipping the Input of a Cranesong AD and it sounded very similar without the Price Tag. Unfortunately I have not found anything like it for mac.

I don't have Garage band installed in my MBP, But if it has a comp and a limiter you can do some pre-mastering.

On the Master channel Insert a comp and a Brickwall-limiter. Set the limiter's Ceiling to -0.1 dB and start playing with the Comp' ratio and threshold for Punch. The limiter's Threshold helps to increase loudness, make sure you don't clip the output. Digital Clipping sounds horrible.
 
#7
If you're doing your own recording and mixing in an untreated room with, presumably, cheap monitoring; I'd suggest that you pay for someone to master the material. Leave around 6db of room below 0dbfs when you send it off for mastering.

Until it's mastered, just live with the fact that it's not as loud as a commercial mix. Your master should be loud, not your mix.
 
#10
I have been reading up on the loudness War stuff. I personaly am not that worried about. The goal when we started this process was to get some good recordings that we would be fine giving to someone to listen to or to sell at our shows. But it is good to know how to do it. We might play around with it by my vote it to just have quieter recordings. thx for the help guys
 
#12
The only down side is that mastering would require money and we are currently broke... it is something that i would like to do in the future but right now is not possible.

I do have to say that for this being done by 4 morons in a basement it sounds pretty damn good even it the CD is a little quiet. If i get a chance i will post a clip for you guys
 
#14
Hey, where are you guys getting -6 from? I record mix and master bands and I may approach -6 in certain areas of the song, but not across the whole piece. There are a lot of ways to achieve PERCEIVED loudness and still have 10-14 dbs of dynamic range that do not involve compressing. It involves using saturation and harmonic distortion. 90% of my masters average -10 minimum dynamic range.
 
#17
the approach my masters sound best with:

- make it loud in the mix already, eg. cut lows where not needed (sometimes up to 600hz), use appropriate EQ, (multiband-)compression on most instruments ... volume automation to reduce levels of certain instruments in certain parts of the song.
some sidechain ducking on the bass (i never go past 6db of gain reduction), to leave kick and snare a bit more space.
mainly keep lows and average levels under control, don´t squash it.

- when you´re satisfied and it sounds good, render the project.
all that should be left to do is peak limiting (i use a tube comp emulator with very fast attack & release) and normalizing.
i always normalize to +0.5 db, you won´t ever hear it clip ;)


the result is just a tad quieter than Death Magnetic and the like, but sounds a LOT more pleasing and less squashed than 90% of popular music.
 
#18
The standard metering that is included in most DAWs is not necessarily as accurate as you might think. The metering used in the pro audio mastering process is much more sophisticated and accurate. If the mix level shows 0 dB FS as a peak value, you may still have clipping even though it is not indicated by the meter. By setting the maximum level of your mix to -3 dB FS you can be assured you are not clipping.
 
#19
magneezius said:
The standard metering that is included in most DAWs is not necessarily as accurate as you might think. The metering used in the pro audio mastering process is much more sophisticated and accurate. If the mix level shows 0 dB FS as a peak value, you may still have clipping even though it is not indicated by the meter. By setting the maximum level of your mix to -3 dB FS you can be assured you are not clipping.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. Inter-sample peaks can be missed so it is really important to track and mix with your peaks hitting -5 to -3 max. I personally track more headroom than that, usually a rms level ± -15 depending on where the peaks are hitting.

Normalizing to anything above 0 is wrong for the end-product. Even the old rule is to master to -.5 because older cd players could have issues with peaks hitting 0. Also encoders are not written to work with levels over 0, so you could be screwing yourself. I've been told that some mp3 encoders sound better with peaks that fall a db below 0. Flac also doesn't support levels over 0 afaik.

There is a belief of clipping dacs to gain level, but this is the way you do it: You clip YOUR dacs and record in from them. The clipping is now done and printed on the file. It should not be up to a listener's system to handle clipping. That, in my opinion, is utterly wrong.
 
#20
Champagne said:
Hey, where are you guys getting -6 from? I record mix and master bands and I may approach -6 in certain areas of the song, but not across the whole piece. There are a lot of ways to achieve PERCEIVED loudness and still have 10-14 dbs of dynamic range that do not involve compressing. It involves using saturation and harmonic distortion. 90% of my masters average -10 minimum dynamic range.
Click to expand...

I leave individual channels at 12-18db below 0dbfs, but the 2buss will usually end up around -6dbfs at the peaks. This is a common standard that mastering engineers request when you send them mixes. It's also what Izotope recommends for it's Ozone5 software.
 

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