boostin volume..compression ? limiter? in which tk to put ?

[tteo]

hi, been on live for yrs now... but i'm still preoccupied with the way the tx sound.. i cant get vol. compared to most other productions i hear on myspace etc... so 1 am wondering what i'm doing, or NOT doing...

few things to know :

I have no hardware gear or external mixing board, just an M-Box with a PowerBook running LIve 6 ...

what I usually do to boost up the vol :

i put either a limiter or compression onto my master tk... is that OK ??

often i also end ep putting 2 compression or limiters as 1 only isnt givin me enough of a boost...

ANY SUGGESTIONS MUCH APPRECIATED !! Peace

[AudioRuso]

Uhm it really depends on the track... I used to like to add some very mild saturation which bumped up the volume drastically... also limiting is probably the best....

What I usually do is I have all my parts playing right below red line (well depending on the part).... but I saturate my drums by a bout 5 db, and my bassline I usually limit. Then on the master channel I have a utility plugin which brings the volume down by 7 db and a limiter. My method does not produce super loud tracks but you have to realize that if you have to limit or compress your track to make it louder you are drastically altering its sound. Why not just have the random peaks limited and have the track sound great ?

[josephjobling]

Why not just have the random peaks limited and have the track sound great ?

+1

[tteo]

hey, than for your reply !

what are "random peaks" ?

You suggest I put a limiter on to the random peaks so the track will sound great ?? is it it

[josephjobling]

hey, than for your reply !

what are "random peaks" ?

You suggest I put a limiter on to the random peaks so the track will sound great ?? is it it

First the point being made here is that heavy use of a limiter destroys the dynamic range of your sound. so gentle use of a limiter (a limiter is a compressor set with a ratio higher than 15:1)(there are some good articles about compressors on wikipedia[while your at it an article on there about the loudness wars demonstrates this point well].
you risk destroying the dynamic range of your sound if you use a limiter to make you track "louder".
lower your levels on your audio channals and you will notice on your master that it can sometimes still creap above 0db (this will make the meter go red) if it happens right through the track turn your channels down. if it happens sometimes these are the random peaks refered to, you can use a limiter to stop. - hope that makes sense, i have been at work all day - the brain isn't functioning

[tteo]

hey thanx again... WOW now i'm really worrying about it... been adding compressions on the master tk ...often putting 2 as 1 didn't boost vol.. the thing is I'm always comparing to the leverls of all the music I hear... even "unmastered" tx I hear are musch louder than my own... especially when i listen to stuff on myspace...

ussually I bounce tx and play them in a couple of different system in my crib... most of the time I have to go back and fix the way the low end comes though ..usually it is always too much !!

I'm also wondering about this "granular like" effect I get in some channels... I hear it when isolating a particular channel and there it is... almost like a digital, dirty , dusty thing right after the end of the sound... It's annoying particualrly when I need it clean !!

Thanx I'll check the wiki pieces , M

[yur2die4]

That granular sound might be the sound of having some of your clips warped by Ableton Live? Is the tempo of the clip different from the master tempo? and What type of warping algorithm do you use depending on the sound source?

As for getting extra volume, I am far from pro and am actually pretty sloppy about putting tracks together but some easy tricks are:

EQ everything so that only the sound you Want from that particular sound is coming through. Every single element adds sound. If you are making a beat milkshake and you want bananas, take the peel off the banana, you don't need the peel, and it would just make the shake more gross. (sorry for the fucked up analogy )

Also the Saturator is an evil beast. It can easily be abused but can also really give you a lot of sound. One Saturator in your master might sound warm as shit (like kind of clipped and distorted) but cranking up that Drive knob really gets a lot of sound out haha. There is a "Soft Clip" button too to prevent you from surpassing any volume. Just keep in mind that the Saturator is for lazy people that want quick results (me haha) and could very likely sound like total ass (although it can make beats and piano quite deliciously crunchy!!). Another thing i do w/ Saturator is just throw it into a channel that has a sound that i just can't get sound out of, I crank the Saturator and turn the volume way way down, because the sound is now much louder.

In all honesty, I hope you get better advice than this, but it is worth experimenting with!

[tteo]

In all honesty, I hope you get better advice than this, but it is worth experimenting with!

thannx bro , appreciate it I will experiment !!

[danny2sday]

One thing to always start with is to always leave your Master Bus at 0db, and adjust the volumes of the other tracks so you don't redline the master bus! A lot of problem with an unmastered project is bad mixing! Bad EQ, and compression can kill your mix, and kill the volume! When i am working on a song, i like to do a fast mix, and then turn my monitors way low, and see if you can hear everything evenly, then make a copy of it, listen to it in on a super nice system (not your studio monitors) and small shitty speakers, you will hear lots of mix problems! Number 1 problem is too much bass! I have learned that less is more, and the more low end you put in your tracks, the more "boomy" your mix will sound, and it steals some much needed db's from your mix! Get your mix sounding super clean and tight, and try pulling out some low end, then the best thing to do is get yourself a maximizer! I have used a Waves L2 maximizer, and also the Izotope ozone 4 maximizer! They both sound great, if you use them correctly! Too much compession makes your shit sound squashy and cheap, you just have to be carefull not to over do it, and either of those two plug-ins will get your songs plenty loud! Watch out for compression distortion! You need a good mastering plug in, nothing that comes with ableton is going to give you the results you want!