Need your advice: master CD level

[Fieryjack]

But just ask yourself, is this what you want to use as a reference

I'm definitely not in the "big, washed-out guitars that sound are so fried out they've got no guts left at all. Triple-delayed, auto-tuned, over-processed vocals that not only could never be replicated live but don't even sound human" camp.

I just want my CD audible, in line with reasonable standards that DO EXIST (not Mick Guzawski if you know what I mean, squashing the piss out of everything). Surely this can be achieve whilst retaining musicality and good dynamics. I think we all agree that we hate "loud-sounding" discs...and this is certainly not what I am after to clarify.

Thanks

[Mark Alan Miller]

I just want my CD audible, in line with reasonable standards that DO EXIST

If there are published standards that have been agreed on by some governing body, I sure have never heard of 'em (which deosn't mean they don't exist, but you get my point.) Besides, even though we can statistically look at the peak and RMS levels of a piece of audio, and make two tracks have those same characteristics mathematically, that does not assure us that they will sound even remotely like they are dynamically the same! So a "standard" per se is not really possible, IMO.

Use a good brickwall limiter if needed, to see if it will allow you to get your CD as loud as you think it should be without destroying the clarity and punch of the transients. A/B this for perceived level against whatever source you decide makes a good reference for 'standard'.

[wwsm]

If you feel your Mix sounds great, then putting a limiter on it to increase the loudness of the disc is a simple thing to try, but will change the dynamics that you love. Try a couple dB at first and live with it, don't get carried away. Definitely do it from your DAW and not the Masterlink. This is a procedure that definitely sounds better with more bits. Maybe try compressing some specific elements of the mix a little harder instead of hitting the limiter harder. Just remember to keep a version of the mix without the limiter... In a few months you may like it better.

CD's that are loud and sound good, normally start sounding loud in the mix. You can't create the insane CD levels that some commercial CDs have in mastering alone (and especially with a plugin) without seriously altering the mix. I know, people ask me to do it too often. Many discs that are abusively loud have another agenda, and aren't really concerned with overall quality, so don't play their game. If you think people will adversely judge your music because of the volume of your CD, then there's no turning back...

Alan Douches

[oxfist]

i will second what most people are saying here, and perhaps offer some insight into what other non-engineer types think about "mastering".

i work at a record store (with a single disk player), and i listen to at least 8 albums a day, if not significantly more when everyone plays nice and stays away from anthologies and compilations. at the beginning of every album the volume knob is constantly getting turned up and down til everyone is happy, and nobody seems know why, except maybe the engineers.

point being is that knob turning is kind of expected between albums, not between tracks. so make sure that your album is consistent from start to finish level wise, and the average listener won't know the difference.

i spent weeks trying to get my label's first release up to volume, and i couldn't do it without totally trashing the album. i eventually got it to where i was happy with it (a balance between loud and dynamic, which was really hard for a downtempo electronic album) and even the artist couldn't really tell all of the work that i had done, much less any of the other listeners.

if people are into the music, then the mastering truly is secondary, if not tertiary (that means third, right?).


will.

[andyg666]

you can raise the volume without getting rediculous with limiting and slamming the transients into submission... try normalizing to -0.1 dB. that should ensure that the absurdly quiet thing doesn't happen and won't lessen dynamic range. or if you prefer to use brick-wall limiting, set it so that the highest peak in the song doesn't trigger more than 3dB or so of gain reduction. that should ensure that you don't squash the balls out of it...

if we add up all of our 2 cents, can we get a pack of gum and split it?

[subspaceplatform]

I agree with Andy... if normalization doesn't do it, the -3dB rule with the Waves L1, L2 or similar should get you there. Just make sure it isn't distorting.