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How to make really quiet instruments louder?
Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 3:31 pm
by Italus
I'm looking for a way to make instruments that are really quiet louder without losing quality. Some of my instruments sound quiet but on the meters they look like they would be quite loud. Lets use one of my pianos in Kontakt for an example, it's peaking around -6 db which is louder than the rest of my mix, but it sounds quiet, why? If anybody had an answer to this it would be great.
Re: How to make really quiet instruments louder?
Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 3:35 pm
by fragments
Get out a spectral EQ and see if there is a bunch of low freq noise you can cut out.
Re: How to make really quiet instruments louder?
Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 3:50 pm
by Italus
I already did that. I cut a little more out and seems a tad better. I'm trying to get Zeta+ with a noisy lead to fit in my track. But it just sounds so quiet! It's basically almost clipping on the plugin.
Re: How to make really quiet instruments louder?
Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 4:11 pm
by Fat Person Torturer
Did you try panning and adding stereo width to your instruments?
Re: How to make really quiet instruments louder?
Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 4:12 pm
by VirtualMark
It may be peaking at -6db but its rms value is probably a lot lower. Try compressing it and raising the volume.
Also, it may be clashing with other things in your mix - try using eq and stereo panning to mix it better. If there's another instrument with clashing frequencies then they could be drowning each other out. Panning each part L and R slightly can work wonders, as can cutting frequencies from each part.
Re: How to make really quiet instruments louder?
Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 4:13 pm
by mthrfnk
Are these instruments competing with other things - white noise, pads, chords, percussion etc?
If you really want to simply boost the volume you could use this carefully:
http://loudmax.blogspot.co.uk/ alternatively (and probably the better method) you could compress it and boost the gain.
Re: How to make really quiet instruments louder?
Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 4:22 pm
by Aufnahmewindwuschel
Re: How to make really quiet instruments louder?
Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 4:54 pm
by Italus
Alright, It's all EQ'd and compression helped a bunch. It's definitely not clashing with other instruments, but I think it might be clashing with my "windy" FX because there is a lot of high end on those. I'm also going to use the stereo panning next and that should definitely help the mix. I'll post when I finish.
EDIT: Thanks BudSpencertron that plugin looks very useful.
Re: How to make really quiet instruments louder?
Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 5:21 pm
by Italus
@BudSpencertron That plugin is awesome, thanks!
Everything's all fixed, thanks guys.
Re: How to make really quiet instruments louder?
Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 5:49 pm
by Aufnahmewindwuschel
no problem man you should get your hands on all the plugins on that site literally the best freeware atm
Re: How to make really quiet instruments louder?
Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 5:56 pm
by mthrfnk
BudSpencertron wrote:no problem man you should get your hands on all the plugins on that site literally the best freeware atm
+1
At least one of those plugins features in all my stuff.