Making Music Fill Speakers

Optimize your system for ultimate performance.

Moderators: MattKingUSA, khz

Post Reply
aeb105
Established Member
Posts: 196
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2012 10:38 pm

Making Music Fill Speakers

Post by aeb105 »

Hi all. I have done the recording using Ardour for guitar and bass portions. I use the meter to get the sound to about -3 or 2. But when I play the song in my car or in stereo it doesn't appear to have the same volume or fill that stuff on the radio does. When I turn up the Master mix it usually clips. Is there a way get your recordings to really fill the speakers. I record the guitar tracks in Mono as I was told and the vocals in Stereo. I am using the Sapphire Pro interface which provides for good sound.
User avatar
AnthonyCFox
Established Member
Posts: 393
Joined: Mon Apr 22, 2013 3:50 pm
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Making Music Fill Speakers

Post by AnthonyCFox »

This is really a producing/recording engineering question but what you are talking about is loudness. I'm pretty much a newb at these things but I'm pretty good with Google and this tutorial is well recommended on the subject http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar12/a ... udness.htm. If nothing else it can give you some ideas for your own searching of the web.
War, crime, disease, starvation, extreme poverty; these are serious things.
Music? Not so serious. Have some fun! :D
User avatar
Ricardus
Established Member
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2013 11:29 pm
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Making Music Fill Speakers

Post by Ricardus »

aeb105 wrote:Hi all. I have done the recording using Ardour for guitar and bass portions. I use the meter to get the sound to about -3 or 2. But when I play the song in my car or in stereo it doesn't appear to have the same volume or fill that stuff on the radio does. When I turn up the Master mix it usually clips. Is there a way get your recordings to really fill the speakers. I record the guitar tracks in Mono as I was told and the vocals in Stereo. I am using the Sapphire Pro interface which provides for good sound.
Record all tracks in mono, except for stereo pairs (like an X/Y drum overheads). Although I record those in mono (2 mono tracks) usually, anyway (which is a habit leftover from recording analog).

Is it loudness you want? Is that what you mean by "fill the speakers"?

If youre trying to get your mixes to sound like the CDs you buy, I don't think you are going to be able to do that easily. Particularly if your mixes are not mastered.
Mastering/Mix Engineer
Available for hire
aeb105
Established Member
Posts: 196
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2012 10:38 pm

Re: Making Music Fill Speakers

Post by aeb105 »

It sounds too low. I push it almost too clipping like instructions say stay just below -1. I then usually crank the Master track all the way up which makes the mix clip. When I get into my car the volume is already low compared to the radio or other cds. So is that something Mastering will do for me. Boost the volume without making it clip??? And if I were to use JAMin to master the song, would I have to record it again?
User avatar
Ricardus
Established Member
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2013 11:29 pm
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Making Music Fill Speakers

Post by Ricardus »

Mastering typically raises the perceived volume of the material, in addition to doing some other things. So if it is volume you want, sure, a tool like Jamin will do that. It has a 3-band, multi-band compressor in it, an EQ, and the ability to add harmonics.

But if you don't know how to use a tool like Jamin, you will probably do more harm than good to your mix.
Mastering/Mix Engineer
Available for hire
aeb105
Established Member
Posts: 196
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2012 10:38 pm

Re: Making Music Fill Speakers

Post by aeb105 »

Can I use Jamin on already recorded tracks? Would I just export the mix I have now to a WAV and import to JAMin?
User avatar
Ricardus
Established Member
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2013 11:29 pm
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Making Music Fill Speakers

Post by Ricardus »

aeb105 wrote:Can I use Jamin on already recorded tracks? Would I just export the mix I have now to a WAV and import to JAMin?
Yes, you can use Jamin on already recorded tracks. Since it is essentially a mastering tool, it is often used on already mixed stereo tracks. I import the track I want to master into a new session, then patch Jamin into a stereo insert on the master bus (using JACK), and then go to work.
Mastering/Mix Engineer
Available for hire
aeb105
Established Member
Posts: 196
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2012 10:38 pm

Re: Making Music Fill Speakers

Post by aeb105 »

I have tried to open Ardour exported .wav 's of my mixed tracks and it doesn't see them in JAMin when I go to open nothing shows up. Is there a certain file I need to pull from Ardour? Like a special session file instead of the .wav?
User avatar
English Guy
Established Member
Posts: 525
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2012 7:28 pm
Location: England
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 7 times

Re: Making Music Fill Speakers

Post by English Guy »

Ricardus wrote: But if you don't know how to use a tool like Jamin, you will probably do more harm than good to your mix.
Does any one know of a good Jamin tutorial?
User avatar
Ricardus
Established Member
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2013 11:29 pm
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Making Music Fill Speakers

Post by Ricardus »

aeb105 wrote:I have tried to open Ardour exported .wav 's of my mixed tracks and it doesn't see them in JAMin when I go to open nothing shows up. Is there a certain file I need to pull from Ardour? Like a special session file instead of the .wav?
Jamin is NOT a standalone app that can import audio on its own. It is a JACK app that you need to patch into another JACK aware app that CAN import and play audio files. Like ardour.

So you create a new session with Ardour, import the stereo mix into ardour, and you need to create an insert on the master bus and patch in Jamin. Then you use it kinda like a plugin.
Mastering/Mix Engineer
Available for hire
User avatar
Ricardus
Established Member
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2013 11:29 pm
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Making Music Fill Speakers

Post by Ricardus »

English Guy wrote:
Ricardus wrote: But if you don't know how to use a tool like Jamin, you will probably do more harm than good to your mix.
Does any one know of a good Jamin tutorial?
Search for some mastering tutorials. I have seen a ton of them on the tube of you. The programs will be a little different, but they are all essentially the same... ie they have multi-band compressions, and EQ built in.
Mastering/Mix Engineer
Available for hire
User avatar
Capoeira
Established Member
Posts: 1321
Joined: Tue May 12, 2009 1:01 pm
Location: Brazil
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: Making Music Fill Speakers

Post by Capoeira »

English Guy wrote:
Ricardus wrote: But if you don't know how to use a tool like Jamin, you will probably do more harm than good to your mix.
Does any one know of a good Jamin tutorial?
http://jamin.sourceforge.net/en/tutorial.html


BUT, Jamin isn't realy neccessary
User avatar
Capoeira
Established Member
Posts: 1321
Joined: Tue May 12, 2009 1:01 pm
Location: Brazil
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: Making Music Fill Speakers

Post by Capoeira »

aeb105 wrote:It sounds too low. I push it almost too clipping like instructions say stay just below -1. I then usually crank the Master track all the way up which makes the mix clip. When I get into my car the volume is already low compared to the radio or other cds. So is that something Mastering will do for me. Boost the volume without making it clip??? And if I were to use JAMin to master the song, would I have to record it again?
a compressor is what you want, perhaps a limiter, too (if badly recorded)
User avatar
Ricardus
Established Member
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2013 11:29 pm
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Making Music Fill Speakers

Post by Ricardus »

Capoeira wrote:a compressor is what you want, perhaps a limiter, too (if badly recorded)
Jamin has both of those, plus an EQ.
Mastering/Mix Engineer
Available for hire
luster
Established Member
Posts: 221
Joined: Mon Mar 05, 2012 10:03 pm

Re: Making Music Fill Speakers

Post by luster »

Have you checked for any DC offset?
Post Reply