issues with bouncing down in protools and volume level

[bert]

is there a way to make songs as loud as a mastered CD when boucing down in protools? I have a mac g4 and the digi001, and forgive me for not having such a pro set-up, but i use itunes to burn cd's. Any suggestions?

[contrabanman]

Make tunes as loud as a mastered CD? First you must understand that the loud-as-hell hypercompressed CD master jobs you hear on the radio are a real downer to most mix engineers. These guys work really hard so you can hear subtle details, depth, and space - not to mention establish a dynamic range to set the mood of the song - you know, the build before the Chorus, the triumphant boost on a pedal point... This is all done only to hear their work get walled by a couple of 1176's. Ok - Down from the soapbox...

I'm Not familiar with Itunes, but I'm fairly sure you can use your ProTools as a mastering suite? Right? OK, After you have a finished tune, Mix it down to a stereo track. Open that track in Pro Tools again (as a new project). Adjust the gain upwards until there is less headroom, then use one, or more types of Compression (expirament - try limiters, Tube saturation, miltiband compressers) to sort of squash the life out of your tune - and make it louder. Maybe cut, maybe boost the EQ, Take care not to overcompress, as you will definitely know this when you hear it... This process will eliminate the tendency for clipping to occur when makeup gain is added - it'll kind of level off the peaks, so you can turn it up more. Use a reference song (something pro mastered) to compare your song to, until you get a sound you like. Process can be repeated if there is any audible dynamic range left. Pretty much Compress - add gain, compress - add gain...

That's a start... I guess.

[seeabove]

I concur. The compression on modern CDs is astounding. An easy method for volume is 1) limit out any "out of the normal range of the phrase" spikes in the waveform 2) add gain 3) compress. This can all be done with Audiosweet plugin's in ProTools or (better yet) RTAS plugins or (best) external gear. Practice makes perfect.

Then take your mastered waveform, import a couple of other similar tracks off CDs you think your song sounds like, and visually look at the differences. That's modern mastering.

A really good non-compressed modern recording? Check out Rachel's "systems/layers".

[I'm Painting Again]

another way that a lot of people get loud tracks is to mix down to a nice 1/4" or 1/2" 2trk..then to cd..You can probably score a nice 1/4" 2-track for less than 500 bucks..just something to consider..you can get so much hotter so much more naturally this way..levels, natural compression, 3rd order harmonic distortion..its sweet..