How to Maximize Volume in Audio Recording?
There are a lot of ways to increase volume in audio recording, take note the following before you increase volume :
a. Maximizing volume is only done in the mastering process.
b. Maximizing volume in the mixing process is not advisable.
c. It is not only reaching maximum amplitude but by having a well balance mix.
OK.You need to make it loud? In my experience, before you make it loud make it sound pleasant first. This can be done by properly mixing those tracks and keeping it well balanced.
As a rule, it is best to have maximum amplitude of around -3 dB to -0.5dB during your mix down. This means that after mixing, there should be no peak louder than -0.5dB. The basic reason is to give some space during the mastering process. The mastering process involves the following important processes :
a. Track Trimming and Noise Reduction
b. Equalization
c. Compression
Those 3 major processes affect the quality of your overall tracks particularly equalization and compression process.
Honestly it is the compression process the sets the volume loud. Aside from compression, normalization also makes the sound loud. Normalization is different from compression in a sense that compression makes the track silent parts loud while normalization is not.
Normalization is a fairly easy process; the overall goal of normalization is to attain maximum track volume without compression. This preserves maximum sound quality compared to compression because of the absence of distortion. Compression can distort the tracks if overdo and tend to lose track dynamics. Normalization is a classic technique to make sounds loud and is commonly applied during 60′s and 70′s. Have you noticed that when you compare Led Zeppelin tracks and Green Day tracks? The Led Zeppelin tracks tend to sound less loud than the Green Day tracks, but sound cleaner and clearer. It is because Led Zeppelin mastering engineers uses less compression and relies more on normalization.
The rest of the techniques illustrated below apply best to mastering process. Although you can individually boost each tracks during mixing but only normalization is recommended not compression. Compression is best done during mastering process.
To do normalization in Adobe Audition 1.5:
1. Using Edit view, highlight the parts of the audio wave you want to normalize.
2. Go to effects—->amplitude
3. Then in constant amplification tab, Find “calculate normalization value” then click “calculate now. This will give the amount of boost in dB needed to reach maximum amplitude of 0dB.
4. Then click OK. It will then normalize the tracks to 0dB.
See screen shot before normalization :
See screen shot after normalization:
See the difference??? Normalization only amplifies the whole wave in such a way no peak will be louder than 0dB.In other words it will not sound as loud as using compression but it sounds absolutely clean.
Below is a screen shot of the same wave using compression :
Tools/Settings: Waves L2 Plug in, -8dB threshold, Out of ceiling= 0dB
By looking at the wave, this maybe the loud sound that you like, but it may distorted at some point in the wave.
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October 8th, 2008 at 1:50 am
I agree with you… but the fact of the matter is that compressed audio looks more like a long rectangle with a few dents in it
February 1st, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Absolutely! Those long rectangle are distorted wave and will sound horrible at louder volumes (by turning up the volume of a monitor or audio player). Thanks for comment Jim.
June 26th, 2009 at 12:42 am
very helpful, thanks for this.
August 2nd, 2009 at 1:37 pm
I’ve got a lot of hardwares, compressors, big bottom aural exciter, vitalizer jack and big mixing boards. Do i master with this or am i better with softwares? However, thanx for your tips.
August 2nd, 2009 at 8:48 pm
If you start with hardware gears, better master it first as the principles of those are mostly the basis of those used in the softwares. In fact, those in softwares are said to “emulate” the features found in the hardware.
August 23rd, 2010 at 2:54 am
I have a question please, how can I make sure that others will feel the same loudness on their speakers (mp3 players, car audio systems, …etc) that I produce in my home studio? Does using Wavelab (as an example) for measuring audio characteristics give a good indicator that I can refer to ? If not, is there any useful tool that I can use to assure a stable (or equal) loudness among different types of speakers? Knowing that I use Shure headphones for critical listening. Thank you..
August 24th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Hi Kareem,
“how can I make sure that others will feel the same loudness on their speakers (mp3 players, car audio systems, …etc) that I produce in my home studio?”
Answer:
The numerical way to measure the average sound pressure level of the audio. This is in dB and most recording has this feature. So for example, if you measure the audio and it provides -13dB average SPL then it should sound the same with other monitoring systems except if the wave has been substantially altered or some effects are introduced.
“Does using Wavelab (as an example) for measuring audio characteristics give a good indicator that I can refer to ?”
Yes, any reputable software provides good indicator for measuring audio. Its all up to your ear.
February 23rd, 2011 at 11:23 am
In response to the article’s last picture, Waves L2 is not a compressor, nor does it use compression at all. It is a Brickwall Limiter. Brickwall limiters take any peaks past the threshold, in this case -8db, adjust them back down to the threshold, and then raise the overall audio up to the given output ceiling. The imagery you can use would be that of someone controlling the master volume knob on your mix. If it gets too loud, he turns it down and then back up once it is quiet again.
Mastering usually uses a variety of compressors and limiters to achieve an overall competitive volume. The compression is usually done with hardware compressors and then a final limiting is done with a software brickwall limiter. Hardware limiters are slowly fading out of use because, simply put, they are not as effective as software limiters. With hardware limiters, the hardware cannot perceive a sound level above threshold until it has actually happened. This is a weakness because it cannot react as quickly or as effectively. With software limiters, you can have a lookahead feature that knows when the higher levels are coming up. Waves L2 is an incredibly popular plugin, and it is used in many high end mastering studios for this purpose. As you can imagine, the transitions between analog and digital requires some pretty important conversions, so top of the line A/D converters are used also.
Along with equalizers, reverb, and a few other tricks, mastering is a necessity for taking any recorded music and putting into a happy consumer’s hand.
December 30th, 2011 at 6:00 pm
I really love this post, I master my tracks with wave plugins.. My tracks sound loud compare to commercial track, but not as wider as commercial one…what can I do?
December 30th, 2011 at 6:09 pm
Anytime I analyze other commercial tracks in wave lab, the maximum and minimum value is always 0 and -144, but my own is not like that, what is the problem?
January 2nd, 2012 at 1:01 pm
You have two options here:
a.) Apply stereo widening during mastering. Do that before EQ, Compression and Limiting. I would write some tutorials on stereo widening in the future but I believe Waves has some stereo widening plugin, you can read first their manual.
b.) Make your mix sound wide, this is not in mastering but during the mixing process. This is done by careful panning, application of reverb, etc. This would make the mix sound wide which also translates to mastering.
January 2nd, 2012 at 1:02 pm
What is the unit? Is that in dB? Probably you either set the limiting maximum to below 0dB or you are not recording in 24 bits that results to lower dynamic range.