New demo CD and equal volume

[twjewett]

Hi. I've currently produced a 4 track demo cd and was wondering the best way to make all tracks of equal volume on logic pro 7? can someone please help

 

Thanks, Thomas

[Holger Lagerfeldt]

The best way is to get it professionally mastered.

 

Obviously there's a very, very long explanation in terms of how to do mastering yourself which isn't possible here.

 

So very briefly:

 

·The song with the lowest loudness potential will set the approx. limit of loudness for all tracks.

 

·Start by mastering the track that best represents your project sound, and aim for similar sound in the other tracks.

 

·Play the tracks in the right order from start to finish and notice if you think one track is audibly lower or higher in volume generally speaking. Correct this.

 

·Switch quickly between songs i.e. during choruses and notice if volume jumps.

 

·Listen to the tracks at fairly low levels when judging volume.

 

·You can also measure the volume by using a meter plug-in such as the FreeG from Sonalksis, available from their website www.sonalksis.com. Peak values say nothing about volume, so look at the RMS value and make sure all tracks have approx. same RMS. Don't get too hung up on numbers though, always use your ears.

[shivermetimbers]

Hi. I've currently produced a 4 track demo cd and was wondering the best way to make all tracks of equal volume on logic pro 7? can someone please help

 

Thanks, Thomas

 

I guess that if you have each track (song) mixed properly, then you want each track to be about the same level. So we can skip the Art of Mastering discussion and go straight to using a level meter to help view the output adjustment to your desired level. You can find them in the Mastering insert on the OUTPUT channel strip. You can compare the levels to a commercial music CD. Once all your levels are set, you have a few options on exporting each of those tracks to another media.

[Matt Mayfield]

Don't worry too much about making it as loud as current commercial CDs. Just make it sound GOOD and at a reasonable level (-14ish dB RMS). The louder it gets, the worse it will sound, and the listener will just turn down the volume anyway.