I have absolultey no idea what you mean. Sorry. Could you explain in more detail and with using Vegas Video/Audio on what I should try?

Thanks!
G

BTW - I also have Sound Forge as well. Maybe theres something there I need to do that Vegas can't do?

master your mix. simplifying mastering to the extreme, this means adding a final stage of compression and gentle eq to the stereo rendered mix you have created. Most comercially released music is dynamically limmited to less than 12 db, releases in the last decade often have less than 6 between the quietest parts and the loudest. classical and some jazz being the exception. Yes this is going to kill most of your dynamics, but if you wish to have your mixes at the same volume as commercial releases this is the route you will be looking at. rip a few of your favorite songs and compare their dynamics to your mixes. The perception of dynamics you hear in pro recordings has an awful lot to do with properly mixing and mastering. This is what makes the big boys in this field as expensive as they are.
a great song + good ears + years of experience + attention to detail + great gear = a great mix. If your serious about your music consider having competent people mix and master at least a few of your songs. This will get you going in the right direction as you work on your craft.

Play with Wave Hammer is Sound Forge on your mixed down song.

Good advice guys.

I may want to add that most rock\pop stuff out there will have a fair amount of compression on the individual tracks as well. The mix bus may be compressed some and then further compression and limiting applied during mastering. The bad thing is that some of the newer music is so heavily compressed\limited that it has the *life* squashed out it and will fatigue your ears after a short time of listening. I love *loud - in your face* rock music, but some of the recent stuff being released is just too much.

On the other end, I often hear music posted by people here that is way too dynamic IMHO. It usually sounds like they used little or no compression during the entire recording and mixing process. Vocals can be extremely dynamic without compression and will not 'sit' in the mix well in most cases. The trick is to have the right compressor and know how to use it (I also often hear badly over-compressed stuff too). I own some high-end analog comps that I will often track with (the bad thing is that you commit the compression to 'tape' which cannot be undone) and may compress the track again when mixing. I do not compress everything when tracking, but usually the vocals at least.

Recently I've been using SoundForge's Normalize using average RMS power to -12dB which applies dynamic compression to prevent clipping and have been quite pleased with the results. Probably not quite as loud as commercial mixes but on the other hand the life isn't squeezed out of the music.

Regards

M

Thanks all! I really appreciate the advice. I will try some of the techniques. One thing our band hates is the ultra clean, impossible clarity of the music today. THere are NO mistakes, no fuckups, everything sounds tracked. We want to bring back alot of the raw sound. A sound so that when people see us live they say "WOw you sound like your CD!" We dont want anyone let down by a squeaky clean sound.

Anyways, thanks again and i will give it a shot and let you know how it goes!

Perhaps I'm missing something here. My main interest, musically, is classical music, although I just completed the recording, mixing, mastering, and final print of a folk song CD with which I am fairly pleased (client is pleased, also).

I recorded using an approach for signal level that I've used since my analog days,, simply selecting a level that puts the loudest passages safely within 0db, and, then, simply keeping that level steady throughout the session.

Of course, if one selection were to vary widely from the rest in terms of dynamic range or top dynamic level, I'd probably have to make adjustments for that selection.

I view (and use) normalization to maximize signal strength in the final output (I know that as the s/n ratio) while preserving the relative loudness/softness within the selection(s) (dynamic range). Is not this what the original poster is trying to accomplish?

I know that loud rock is a different genre, but, is not all that loudness (and softeness when it occurs) part of the creative effort, and should not the final recording be faithful (relatively speaking) to the "live" performance, or, is mastering (and compression as the word seems to be used here) an integral part of the "composing" process, itself?

Not trying to be heady or cute, just curious.

Caruso

For classical music, no compression (or very little, depending on how purist you are) should be used. Simple peak normalisation, so the loudest bits go, um, as loud as they can.

However with diverse pieces of music it can get more complicated, rather that just one whole performance...

geoff

I am experiencing the same problem with voice over & talking heads tracks. Every time I render a segment, the audio level drops by about 30%. It is not to much of a problem when dealing with music tracks, I just bump up the volume in Sound Forge but with talking heads, it leaves me with a track with too much noise.

Can anyone explain why original audio tracks drop so much in levels when rendered in V.V. and in Sound Forge??? and what is the best way to fix it!!!

Thanks

MoBetta

Mobetta, When you audition the tracks in vegas (before rendering) what are the master meters peaking at ? Should be the same level in the resultant file, in Vegas or SForge.

geoff

Geoff,

Thanks for getting back to me. The meter peaks at 12 from the time line, when I render, it peaks at 18 to 20. When I play the master files directly from the from V.V. "Explorer" window, it peaks at around 10. I can understand a slight drop from the original track, but from the timeline to a rendered version... I don'y get it!!!

MoBetta

Do you render with the master bus set below zero? Then play it back with the master still set the same way? This would create the drop your talking about.
Steve S

"Do you render with the master bus set below zero? Then play it back with the master still set the same way? This would create the drop your talking about."

Steve,

A major oversight on my part, you are right: I have been mastering with settings below zero and playing it back with the master still set the same way.

What are the best settings when rendering and when printing to tape?

MoBetta

Actually I miss a visual key (or right-click reset) to where the master fader should be for 'flat'.

geoff