Dubstepforum.com

Damn, after a few months of working on this tune of mine, I've completed it.

The only problem is that I have to turn my volume up ALOT. Now I know loudness isn't everything(I've seen the loudness wars videos and everything) and my track has a lot of dynamic to it but its just not loud enough!

How can I make my tune louder but not brick wall the shit out of it!

hm do you have a link to the tune? sometimes it works to sidechain some elements so you can raise them in the gaps by a few db

limiter? just don't over do it

What's wrong with turning the volume up? That's what those gain knobs are for. Is it up all the way but still too low or what? If you must, then a little limiting would do fine. You don't have to kill the mix if you take it easy...

I assume your DAW has a limiter/compressor/both already but if not check out Thrillseeka: http://varietyofsound.wordpress.com/201 ... out-of-it/

TLS Maximizer or Pocket Limiter are also nice free ones.

^ Thrillseeka is sick, got it the other day and used it on the master for the mix i'd finished and not only did it bump the volume up, it gave a lovely warmth and abit more fullness to the mix. Definitely worth checking out.

Parallel compression! Make a totally smashed version of your song and then mix that in a little with the original. lol Or just learn to use compressors/limiters and/or subtle distortion tastefully. Get the compression just right for every instrument that you feel needs it and you should be set.

wormcode wrote:check out Thrillseeka

everything on this site is pure gold

antman wrote:How can I make my tune louder but not brick wall the shit out of it!

Volume control on your speakers.

wub wrote:

antman wrote:How can I make my tune louder but not brick wall the shit out of it!

Volume control on your speakers.

And have all the dj's load it in Traktor where the autogain messes it up. Or did you mean turn the volume down when
producing the tune?

Checkout a VST by Sonnox called the Oxford Inflator. It costs some money, but it's great for adding a couple DBs without smashing your mix. I don't know exactly how it does it, but I think it has to do with harmonics... and it sounds amazing. Just throw it on at the end of your mastering chain.

hudson wrote:Checkout a VST by Sonnox called the Oxford Inflator. It costs some money, but it's great for adding a couple DBs without smashing your mix. I don't know exactly how it does it, but I think it has to do with harmonics... and it sounds amazing. Just throw it on at the end of your mastering chain.

Usually not a good idea to "throw" something on your mastering chain... I've never heard of the Sonnox Inflator but I'll definitely check it out.

OfficialDAPT wrote:

hudson wrote:Checkout a VST by Sonnox called the Oxford Inflator. It costs some money, but it's great for adding a couple DBs without smashing your mix. I don't know exactly how it does it, but I think it has to do with harmonics... and it sounds amazing. Just throw it on at the end of your mastering chain.

Usually not a good idea to "throw" something on your mastering chain... I've never heard of the Sonnox Inflator but I'll definitely check it out.

Stop reading things and taking them so literally.
Edit: @OfficialDAPT

Sinestepper wrote:

OfficialDAPT wrote:

hudson wrote:Checkout a VST by Sonnox called the Oxford Inflator. It costs some money, but it's great for adding a couple DBs without smashing your mix. I don't know exactly how it does it, but I think it has to do with harmonics... and it sounds amazing. Just throw it on at the end of your mastering chain.

Usually not a good idea to "throw" something on your mastering chain... I've never heard of the Sonnox Inflator but I'll definitely check it out.

Stop reading things and taking them so literally.

Guarantee he meant it literally, I'm not sure why you think he was not being literal.

The inflator is a neat plugin, it adds and enhances harmonics so it's pretty much an exciter.
If done right it will make your tune seem louder without actually turning it up.

I've heard it should go on before any limiting is applied.

OfficialDAPT wrote:

Sinestepper wrote:

OfficialDAPT wrote:

hudson wrote:Checkout a VST by Sonnox called the Oxford Inflator. It costs some money, but it's great for adding a couple DBs without smashing your mix. I don't know exactly how it does it, but I think it has to do with harmonics... and it sounds amazing. Just throw it on at the end of your mastering chain.

Usually not a good idea to "throw" something on your mastering chain... I've never heard of the Sonnox Inflator but I'll definitely check it out.

Stop reading things and taking them so literally.

Guarantee he meant it literally, I'm not sure why you think he was not being literal.

Yes, I literally would like you to buy the plug-in, burn it to a disc, then throw it at your computer.
You need to revise your definition of the word "literally".
The plug-in doesn't have very many controls, there's, like, one or two knobs that you have to worry about so you can (figuratively) throw it on the master and it'll do what you want pretty much right away.

just mix louder, compress the master with a low ratio (~1.5:1), and soft limit . You can then ride the compressor's output into your limiter until it distorts. Then it's up to you to balance between loudness and quality, weighing your priorities in order to produce the best master you can.

Mixing louder won't do anything for your master, in fact, the more headroom the better. What you want to do is mix better. Make sure your levels are right, your bass isn't too loud (super important) and try to keep as much space as possible in the mixdown. That way you can crank up the volume in your mastering chain with no problems.

hudson wrote:

OfficialDAPT wrote:

Sinestepper wrote:

OfficialDAPT wrote:

hudson wrote:Checkout a VST by Sonnox called the Oxford Inflator. It costs some money, but it's great for adding a couple DBs without smashing your mix. I don't know exactly how it does it, but I think it has to do with harmonics... and it sounds amazing. Just throw it on at the end of your mastering chain.

Usually not a good idea to "throw" something on your mastering chain... I've never heard of the Sonnox Inflator but I'll definitely check it out.

Stop reading things and taking them so literally.

Guarantee he meant it literally, I'm not sure why you think he was not being literal.

Yes, I literally would like you to buy the plug-in, burn it to a disc, then throw it at your computer.
You need to revise your definition of the word "literally".
The plug-in doesn't have very many controls, there's, like, one or two knobs that you have to worry about so you can (figuratively) throw it on the master and it'll do what you want pretty much right away.

No I meant you shouldn't literally throw things at your mastering chains. They have feelings too.

hudson wrote:Mixing louder won't do anything for your master, in fact, the more headroom the better. What you want to do is mix better. Make sure your levels are right, your bass isn't too loud (super important) and try to keep as much space as possible in the mixdown. That way you can crank up the volume in your mastering chain with no problems.

i been trying both ways, as i get better at writing in general it's become easier because i don't crowd ranges of the spectrum as much while neglecting others during sound design/composition.
Sometimes i get a better balance mixing low and driving the gain on the master, but more often i get better sounding, louder mixes by driving stuff really hard into the master bus and letting my comp./limiter catch the peaks. None of my individual channels clip but the summed signal's peaks would clip the master if i bypass the limiter. Been getting some loud and clear mixes this way [edit] obviously i'm self-mastering and don't intend to send off the track for mastering

AxeD wrote:

wub wrote:

antman wrote:How can I make my tune louder but not brick wall the shit out of it!

Volume control on your speakers.

And have all the dj's load it in Traktor where the autogain messes it up. Or did you mean turn the volume down when
producing the tune?

autogain? why would a dj need that?