Getting the Most From RiffWorks II - Gator Bait

[bluesydude]

Getting the Most From RiffWorks has to be one of the most informative and educational topics on this forum. And I thank all those that participated in that thread.

Now that we have been armed with all of this mixing knowledge for individual song, I'd like to know how all of you superior mix masters normalize levels for multiple songs to get an even mix for a compilation for a CD. I have downloaded several ogg files from RC, and created an audio CD so I can listen to all my favorite RC artist while cruising around town. It's better than anything you can get on the radio these days. I am constantly adjusting the volume from one song to the next. Any and all advice you can give this old man is greatly appreciated.

Keep the great music coming!

[Wedgebill]

Hey Bluesy,

If you have some CD Burning software like Nero, for instance, it will do the volume normalising for you during the burn procedure, if you set it that way prior to the burn.

I would hate to think you might possibly be listening to a CD and my big gob appeared and did you a mischief

Uncle Bill

[bluesydude]

You and the Mrs are Track 6 (Summertime) on the CD in my player as we speak. Listened to it on the way in to work this morning. And I always have to crank it up!

I'll check on that. Because I do use Nero, must be a setting I'm overlooking.

[GuitarSlinger]

This can be done with windows media player too. Under tools and options and on the burn tab there is a little box that says, "apply volume leveling across tracks on the cd". Check it.

[gatorjj]

Normalize will get you to a point, usually where each track is brought up so it peaks at or just below 0db. If that gets you to the point you are happy, that is good.

If some of the songs are very dynamic or have a spike somewhere it may not get you where you want, and then we'd have to start talking a little bit about mastering (which technically, if you are trying to get a bunch of tracks to sound consistent across a CD...is the definition of mastering). Then you'd have to look at each track and work on matching them up, which in the case of just volume is not all that hard, just takes some time especially if they are not consistent to start with.

FYI Hogs make great Gator Bait!

[bluesydude]

Yeah - mastering! That is the term I was looking for. So I just need to bring each song into a program that will allow me to examine and manipulate the levels?

And I understand all too well about gator bait. I'm recovering from the last gator attack!

[gatorjj]

I almost feel like I'm a Gator being baited Okay I'll take the bait, but slowly so everybody can follow along.

So yes, something as simple as Audacity can be used to start with. Here's how to set it up with Audacity (complete with pictures!).

Choose "Import Audio"


Select your tracks (I've done 2 for simplicity)


and they will look like this:


Use the Time Shift Tool to move the tracks in a playable order


Go back to the cursor, and highlight the track you want to mess with. Mess with them (we'll discuss what later!). Then "Export Multiple" and save the tracks back out in whatever format you desire (WAV for CD's).


Next question from BD should be "okay, what should I do to the tracks?"

[mickeymix]

You GO GATOR!!!!!!!!!!

I always master my tracks in either or a combination of Audacity, WaveLab 5, Cubase SX, or Cubasis depending on what needs to be done...........Normalize or use a Master Limiter, EQ, Compression, Fade In/Out, or or even add some more to the recording.............but I should step back and let Gator go back to front and center if you would good sir!
Audacity is always used by me........nearly 100% of the time for file converting (OGG,MP3, ETC) and is usually my last step.........

[ShredRex]

With a title like that who could resist reading this one......lol

I am going to try Gator's suggestion this morning! Always informative Gator man!

[bluesydude]

Next question from BD should be "okay, what should I do to the tracks?"

okay, what should I do to the tracks?

[gatorjj]

So lets try this a little differently this time around...

A lot of you (like my good man Mickey!) already do this step. What do you find works well? What do you find difficult to achieve in this step?

[bluesydude]

Just kidding!

Thanks for info.

Take the day off.

Enjoy life.

Forget about us.

[camaro24gold]

I generally never use normalize as it can at times bring up parts that I don't want brought up.
In doing mix downs out of the DAW of the songs I try to get them generally as close in volume at that stage. The songs I have posted on myspace are at this stage.
When it comes time to do a CD these are all brought into WaveLab Essential where the waves can be further worked with and all levels ".00"
In WL this can then be added to what is called a "CD Montage" window where you can set it up to burn a Redbook Standard CD. It is in this window and stage of the project that you can add the titles of the songs as well as the artist to the tracks (for the players that will show this information).
It is a bit overwhelming but worth reading about what the Redbook Standard means in reguards to burning CDs if you want your CD to be playable on all players. If your CD doesn't meet the Redbook Standard there is a chance the CD won't play on all players.


Now back to Gator

[gatorjj]

Just kidding!

Thanks for info.

Take the day off.

Enjoy life.

Forget about us.

I'm a Gator, I always enjoy life but never forget my friends!

One little nugget for Audacity users is to Amplify. Highlight the track and choose "Amplify" under the Effect menu. If you click "allow clipping" it appears that it acts like a limiter, and you can raise the average volume of the track beyond what Normalizing will do.

Now we get into the subjective voodoo part...how loud is loud enough? How much clipping can we stand before it doesn't sound good any more?

[scott]

I generally never use normalize as it can at times bring up parts that I don't want brought up.

In Audacity I tend to use the 'Amplify' and 'Equalization' functions in preference to normalizing. Equalization has a few presets which certainly aim at specific areas of the audio spectrum. You can boost or reduce as necessary. On the other hand, you can create your own pre-defined EQ curve. I've found (through much trial and error) the one I like which adds a bit of extra bass and a bit more mid. I tend to drop the high frequencies out as I think RiffWorks sometimes highlights these enough.

I'd recommend dropping your fav track in to the likes of Audacity and seeing what it looks like. It's surprising just how 'full' the signal appears compared to something straight out of RiffWorks.