Why does my music doesn't sounds as loud as other music?

[antarktika]

edit:
Yeah, and if you do a self-published release, just put a readme file in the download that says "make sure when playing my tracks alongside other beatport top 50 deadmouse electrohouse maximimized dubstep crap that you increase the volume significantly, and make sure that as the last track is ending, you reduce the volume before any mastered track comes on, otherwise it will blow out your speakers and possibly your hearing". Brilliant advice!

Dont expect the dj to actually listen to your music before playing it in a dj set!

why are you assuming that his library is full of excessively maximised stuff, do you know his music collection by heart?, I think he's saying he was having trouble getting his mixes just up to the standards of ANY of the mastered tunes in his library. I'm glad to see that by taking the advice of others on here (using compressors and limiting) that he is getting the results he was looking for! Also, having his music played out is presumably not the only way he hopes for people to interface with his tunes, and it would suck if you were sitting at home with his track in a playlist and boosted up the volume to hear it, and then the next track on the list was some crappy overmaximised Deadmau5 track and it blew your speakers and/or ears out.

[flowdesigner]

okay sure, I agree, but I want damce music to sound good, not especially loud.
I dont think a good mix made with a tr-909 and sh-101 needs to be run through C2.
I also prefer the sound of rock cds like beatles that is not remastered.
They make me want to turn up the volume.
I think the loudness war really fucks up the arts im into.
I understand people are not paying for this on cd.
I do howevers do master my own stuff sometimes, but not to get it loud, and I only use analog gear

[psyfi]

Time for this classic again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nlzwDfxVSg

You get me? 12....pounds....you get me though.

[flowdesigner]

Also, remember that (even on the original masters) old rock albums like those by the Beatles and old funk and disco records and such were all mastered with compression, limiting, EQ (maybe)

yeah, but they sound so much cooler.
And they did not use waves mastering - why should I?
There are plenty mastering houses around with vari-mus,tapes,tube eqs etc so there is no need to panic

[antarktika]

they also didn't live in an era where diy home mastering was coming into its own, not everyone can run off to a pro mastering house, especially with the ever diminishing returns on releasing music in the current economic/state-of-music paradigm.

[Tarekith]

I'm not saying all are, but those other guys you quote also have a lot of experience.

[flowdesigner]

A/B everything.

no, man

do you really think authechre a/b everything? or aphex twin? hardfloor? monolake?
was george martin a/b ing everything?

I think the loud mixes sound really annoying played on big good sound systems like funktion one.
The mix no longer make the system breath, there is no air between the sounds.
It sounds annoying if you are not wasted
This systems have 1000s of watts, they dont need a loud mix to make a pumping sound.
A kick drum made of a dropping sine wave and some whitenoise hats will sound as loud and pumping as
you like - if the mix is good

An artificially loud sound will date it to this excact era - it will sound like 2010 beatport

[Cool Character]

make the system breath

Haha, wow!!!!!!!!!

How do U make "system breath?" And do U store it after it's made?
U rly say all of the best advice, thank U so much for posting!

[trevox]

I can't believe no-one mentioned this, but check the EQ on every track. All too often you will have frequencies that you may not necessarily need or hear on tracks which take up space within a frequency range which adds to other instruments where those frequencies are prevalent. Firstly, this muddies up the mix. Secondly, you may be able to increase the volume (pre-mastering) of your track and get it even closer to "pro quality" using some of the techniques mentioned.

For example, let's say you normalize your entire track and the peak is when a snare and kick are played at the same time. When analyzing the frequencies of the snare, you see that the output is quite high around 100Hz, which is within the frequency range of your kick. Putting a high pass filter on your snare and setting the cutoff to 150Hz rolls off the lower frequencies in the snare and now you notice the overall volume (snare + kick) is lower while have zero effect on your mix. Then you can raise the level of your overall mix without clipping. (BTW, I just plucked these numbers out of the air as an example!).

Just trying to explain that the sound and volume of your track relies on a well EQ'd mix. It is very difficult to master a badly EQ'd or badly mixed track and increase the loudness while still sounding good. The whole process starts with mixing/EQing - actually, it starts with choosing instruments that don't all share the same frequency ranges, though I am guilty of that myself a lot just because they may sound good! Careful EQing and/or panning afterwards is necessary to get the mix right and ready for mastering.

Must say I really like Tarekith's tutorial though - very concisely put together and explains the process really well. I got slated for it before, but I don't really like Ableton's dynamic plugins - I use hardware and third party plugins, but the method is still sound.

[InfinityUnit]

So I was away for a few days and I read for half an hour, hehehe! This has been a busy post

OK I obviously don't quite understand yet how normalization works... Best thing to do will be to do some tests and take some notes of what I do... I had this misconception about normalization but however I'm still very much concerned about using it... Tests, Tests, tests!!!

To be honest, I'm a bit confused by this flow of information...

Trevox's post seems to make a lot of sense although it is a lot more advance than where I'm at... Still got a lot to learn....

My feeling tells me to do things with my gut. Or my ears for that matter. I have a complete trust in my ears and, while I'm learning the theory, I'll rely on my gut and what I fell sounds good... to me anyway...

Thanks for all your inputs

P.

[DPMachine]

My feeling tells me to do things with my gut. Or my ears for that matter. I have a complete trust in my ears and, while I'm learning the theory, I'll rely on my gut and what I fell sounds good... to me anyway...

Top Ten Small-Studio Myths--Busted

Trust your ears.

They may be all you've got to hear with, but if you're going to achieve pro-standard mixes then you should trust your ears about as far as you can stretch them! They will lie to you at every opportunity if you give them half a chance, and you need to stay vigilant to avoid being caught out. Ever had that "morning after" horror of realizing that last night’s great-sounding mix actually sounds like a wasp in a tin? Or have you ever carefully adjusted a mix effect for five minutes before realizing the stupid thing isn't actually plugged in? Those common experiences are just the tip of the iceberg, and it's only by learning to work around the fickleness of your own hearing that you can begin to get decent mix results reliably.

[flowdesigner]

I'm with you on hardware, I have a largely hardware based setup (though I don't have the cash to get the really nice stuff).

you dont need the expensive stuff, for electronic music cheaper stuff sound cooler imo.
The expensive gear is to good/perfect - it almost gets like software again

[Tarekith]

It's not the gear, it's the ears.

[Pitch Black]

I think the loud mixes sound really annoying played on big good sound systems

An artificially loud sound will date it to this excact era - it will sound like 2010 beatport

^^^that

[Tarekith]

Totally agree, it's just going to take time to make that view point the norm. Slowly we're getting there though I think.