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Subject: making tracks uniform volume

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Original Message 1/22 27-Aug-03 @ 11:18 AM - making tracks uniform volume

dubmunkey

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i have around 8 old tracks id like to put on a cd for mates, there all recorded at very different times and as a result (and due to me getting better at recording with each track) the volumes of each are quite different- and the first burn i did had me reaching for the volume dial between each choon...

so was wondering the best way of getting these to a more uniform volume....

would something like the RMS detector on Sound forges Normalizer be good for this- if i set up a default template, ive heard many fors and againsts for normalizing...what else could i perhaps use? ive found using compresssion often resulted in songs that looked liked square waves and wasn't good for keeping volume in check between tracks...

so what would you lot do? there all finalised (ie i don't have the constiuent parts anymore) so it really is a question of treating the 8 tracks as a whole....am a bit stuck....

cheers

greg

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Message 2/22 27-Aug-03 @ 02:00 PM - RE: making tracks uniform volume

R.A.T.

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Normalisation should do the trick, just set them all at the same level.

You might want to give them all a litte of the same EQ and compression to make them sit together on the CD but its not essential.

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Message 3/22 27-Aug-03 @ 05:51 PM - RE: making tracks uniform volume

queasy00

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doesn't normalization just boost the volume throughout uniformly?

if you're track has one really loud spot while the rest is really quiet, normalization might not do the trick.

you might have to compress that really loud spot a bit and expand the rest... try sound forge's 2:1 compression preset as a starting point and then lower it from there.

-j

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Message 4/22 27-Aug-03 @ 07:45 PM - RE: making tracks uniform volume

Influx

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normalization aint gonna do it.

and fuck me if I have advice for ya..cuz Ive never done this!

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Message 5/22 27-Aug-03 @ 10:28 PM - RE: making tracks uniform volume

R.A.T.

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Still.... its better than volume adjustments between tracks.

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Message 6/22 28-Aug-03 @ 04:24 AM - RE: making tracks uniform volume

Influx

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maybe a little tho, but it still only is relative within each track

the idea is to get each track uniform...so you have to master them in relation to each other sorts

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Message 7/22 28-Aug-03 @ 07:10 AM - RE: making tracks uniform volume

psylichon

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what i would do (and this is me, here)... I would load all the songs into a DAW on separate parallel tracks so if you hit play it will sound like one big mess.

Put your best EQ and limiter on each channel (I use Waves REQ and L2). Pick your best sounding, relatively loudest track and work from there. Mute and unmute the other tracks one at a time, adjusting their EQ and limiter settings until they match (it probably won't be exact if your mixes vary widely in quality, but you can get close enough). Having the tracks in parallel in a multitrack DAW environment will fascilitate A/Bing. Then just export each one and burn it.

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Message 8/22 28-Aug-03 @ 07:12 AM - RE: making tracks uniform volume

psylichon

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oh yeah, for extra geek points, you can do what i do and assign MIDI controllers to your track mute buttons. I assign note ons so I can play chords and switch between different sets of tracks, easily A/Bing.

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Message 9/22 28-Aug-03 @ 08:53 AM - RE: making tracks uniform volume

dubmunkey

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all excellent ideas, i take your point about normalization...ive been using rms detection but it hasn't done what i thought it might- plus the noise floor on one of my tracks is now horrible (but ill fix that, the rest arent so bad)

im really bad at this mastering/finalising but may try and set up a plug-in chain which i can use on each track after the volumes are settled- thinking low ratio compression and a bit of eq- but i always fall down when it comes to eq..anyhoo its all food for thought- cheers

greg

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Message 10/22 28-Aug-03 @ 10:01 AM - RE: making tracks uniform volume

Influx

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wow psy. good ideas, man. danke

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