Thread: How to make your track loud

I often see on forums people asking questions like, "How do I make my mix kick" or "How do I make it as loud as..." or "Its peaking at 0dB and still not loud enough as..."

Well the reason why people ask these questions is because they don't understand the term "Dynamics" let me explain what usually happens in this situation. People make their tracks and use EQing, effects, mix it blah blah and then bounce it to a WAV or mp3 format. What happens then is if they use a different program to "normalize" it. The software will look for the highest peaks in the waveform and bring them up to 0dB, so say for instance you look at the waveform and the kick drum has the highest peak, and its peaking at -2db, its only gonna get brought up and extra 2dB. That does not mean the rest of the instruments or sounds also get brought up to 0dB...how could it when the kick drum is blocking them from doing so?

This is a common problem it seems. So how do you "fix it"?

Well you crush the dynamics and try make it as flat as possible. So for those new to this or who might need to visual what i am saying...Picture a waveform that is flat with no peaks that stick up out of it, got it? good. Now if you have this flat mix and do as you did before in above paragraph..."normalize it" now because its all flat with no large peaks the entire mix will be boosted up to 0dB thus giving you a louder mix like how you always wanted.

Now your thinking "ahh yes! great, this is fantastic now I can do this with my next track" Its sounds easy and simple and you get what you wanted...but wait! there is a trade off. any ideas??? Well essentially all the dynamics are squashed and crushed in order to do this. But anyway that's how you do it.

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And how the 'Loudness War' was born.

I prefer to have the beats kick out louder than the rest of the other stuff - gives it more impact, but alas, to make sure your tunes compete with other modern stuff, everything has to be amp'd up to the max - and yes, the problem can be everything sounds like it's at the same volume.
You got one bit going on & then the bass, beats kick in & it's almost like there's no change in volume... Pointless as far as I'm concerned.

You still need to have a good few Db of difference between the tune part & the bass/beats otherwise it's just like a wall of noise.

Originally Posted by RenegadeGenius

otherwise it's just like a wall of noise.

So you've heard Puffa on Renegade then?

Originally Posted by Thrash

So you've heard Puffa on Renegade then?

very complicated subject which I have read alot but still understand little. stick a waves ultramaximiser on it

If you want your track LOUD and to sound good simply mix it the best you can whilst referencing against some well produced music

Then send it to a professional mastering engineer. Good ones will tell you if you have made any mistakes and how to correct them too

Originally Posted by RenegadeGenius

And how the 'Loudness War' was born.

definitely not a good thing