Increasing volume and avoiding clipping.

[AntiRellik]

Hey people,

Well I've tried a few things to avoid this, but I just can't get my overall mixes as loud as any commercial track.

My tracks in general have a low volume... I work in FL Studio and master everything in Adobe Audition.

I've read other threads related to this subject but it just didn't work out for me. I'd like to get a louder, powerful sound out of my mixes but I'm not sure where to start.

It all sounds good and neat but the volume is just too low.

I just hope FL and/or Audition are enough to be able to pull out some more volume out of my tracks.

I tried Audition's multiband compressor and a few other things, but I wasn't able to pull more than 1db out of my track without clipping or distortion. I assume I just have no idea how to use compressors right

I don't know where to start right now, any kind of advice is greatly appreciated!

[dannthr]

Hey people,

Well I've tried a few things to avoid this, but I just can't get my overall mixes as loud as any commercial track.

My tracks in general have a low volume... I work in FL Studio and master everything in Adobe Audition.

I've read other threads related to this subject but it just didn't work out for me. I'd like to get a louder, powerful sound out of my mixes but I'm not sure where to start.

It all sounds good and neat but the volume is just too low.

I just hope FL and/or Audition are enough to be able to pull out some more volume out of my tracks.

I tried Audition's multiband compressor and a few other things, but I wasn't able to pull more than 1db out of my track without clipping or distortion. I assume I just have no idea how to use compressors right

I don't know where to start right now, any kind of advice is greatly appreciated!

First, start with normalizing. Start by normalizing to a peak dynamic and set that peak to -0dB. Listen to that. Then you might try out normalizing to an RMS average. Play around with different settings. A good normalizer will be able to scan and tell you the average and peak dynamics of any file, so open up your commercial reference and scan it, catch some of the numbers, and start matching to it.

Also, remember that it's not always a good reference, though I understand what you're trying to do, it's a fine line. Even top commercial releases can clip--check out Pirates of the Carribean I OST. Clipping all over the place. You won't notice it on radio play, but you will on decent cans or speakers.

If you feel like you can't get it "loud" enough overall, then you want to go back (normalization is destructive, so make sure you save before trying stuff out) and try some light compression first or a limiter/maximizer. Compression just narrows the dynamic bandwidth of your track. The danger is that you might have a bunch of instruments playing inside the same frequency range getting compressed together and combining to clip. So you might want to look into that if your compression isn't working. That's mixing and EQ, which you generally want to come before in your chain. If there are some instruments that are combining in a certain frequency range, that might be making your track get muddy and clippy in that range. Try carving out EQ space for the individual instruments, then compress, then normalize, etc.

[Rozovian]

To avoid clipping, use a limiter as your very last effect in your effects chain. Any peaks that would otherwise clip will then be limited. Also, use short attack and release on it to avoid noticeable volume pumping.

With a limiter as your last effect, you can throw some more volume into it, but once it starts to limit other things than just the peaks, you're giving it too much. Check to see if it shows when it limits stuff - if it limits stuff when there aren't any hard transients (like the attack on drums) you're doing it wrong.

That said, a lot of newb mixing (something I'm trying to get out of too) involves having too much bass. The bass needs to be loud before you notice it, that's just how our ears work. You don't need to mix it like that tho, once ppl turn up the volume there'll be too much bass. Dropping the lows by 5-10dB means you'll have so much more room to work with, and the limiter won't be protesting at barely audible bass.

Subbass should definitely be cut from most instruments. You can't hear it, and you've got no control over it. See the bass paragraph. Kick and bass are the two instruments where you should keep it, possible some deep pads depending on what you're mixing. The rest you should cut it from.

There's some pointers for what's worked for me, but it's still not the same as a proper mastering suite and the volume tools it has.

[AntiRellik]

Thanks a lot for your responses! Greatly helpful, I'll be playing around with my stuff now and see what kind of results I get.

I've noticed a lot of commercial tracks that clip a little around everywhere! Thats why I always have Winamp a little equalized and at 75% wave volume to get rid of that clipping in some commercial tracks.

I don't think I would have any problems with the bass and drums, all of my tracks turn out very shiny, trebly and most of them at a low volume.

Thats what I'm trying to fix right now, have the drum beat a little bit more present and the bass higher than usual, the snares not so shiny and ear cutting, etc. A few "small" issues I'm trying to get rid of

As for my effects, some of my instruments have a little compression, reverb, a harmonic exciter, little things here and there... but in general, I basically have no big master effects chain. It's all volume, panning and effects in individual channels.

This is my track as of now: http://www.mediafire.com/?wpaf2a0bw5lpi28

Maybe after a listen you guys could point out some stuff I haven't noticed.

Anyways, thanks again for the responses I'll be tweaking this track and see what turns out.