Hi,
I’m a novel sequencer and I want to understand how can I get a good sound from all tracks in my song.
When I render my song, I get always some tracks gone too low level volume, and if I try to increase the volume for the instrument or for the track, I get some distortion (override of the level).
How can I maximize the sound without distortion? Some guide or source would be appreciate.
thanks
Have some headroom when mixing - some margin. After rendering, maximize your rendition. I’m not sure it’s any more complicated than that.
Thanks for your supply. What do you mean when you say “some headroom when mixing”? Do I need to add some reverb on Master track?
instead of putting more volume on the sound that should be louder, lower the volume of everything else, to avoid clipping you can put the maximizer fx which also has a limiter function (you would set a appropriate volume ceiling). then, when you have a balanced mix, you could put more volume (gain) on the master bus again.
Mixing and mastering often get confused. I am not saying you are confusing them, but I’d like to start off my post this way, for others users who might also have your same question…
Mixing is the stage where you balance your track. Mastering is the stage that comes after rendering your mix, where you apply, “post production processing.” ( I am aware that this is not a wikipedia quality description )
To get a good master, you must have a good mix. You may use google to research the veracity of this statement if you wish, “a quiet mix, will produce an audio waveform, that can handle more aggressive processing during the mastering stage.”
It is good practice to: Not record too hot. Not create samples that peak too hot. Have peaks balanced in the mix by using a combination of volume fader automation, and compression. When you are satisfied you mix is tight, than it is time to go to the post production stage of mastering. ** I believe, “mastering,” and what we are doing here at home are two different things. “Mastering,” professional mastering, takes place in a Mastering Studio, by an engineer with the knowledge and abilities to create the proper audio wave. ** Take note, by this I do not necessarily mean, the latest bundle of jackasses who are pumping out Justin Bieber’s records, or any major label stuff as of late. What I have affectionately come to call the process of what we do here at home is, “home brew master.” Home Brew Mastering can be as simple, or as complex as you would like it to be.
To master with only Renoise and no extra vst’s, would be to master without any multi-band dynamics. I am not going to argue whether this is good or bad… For years I did not have a multi-band dynamics vst as these are quite expensive… So I made do with what I did have.
Reverb on the master track is not a must… sometimes it works at like, “1 or 2%,” I am not a huge fan. I like a really simple Home Brew Mastering chain.
Compression —> EQ ----> Limit
You may like an example Renoise Project file… ***** https://www.box.com/s/8bdf7b62ebad31a98f0b
*** Note! The setting of the processors completely depend on your track. The settings in the project file are definitely not, “presets.” Just an example. I am sure, you have many advanced users, using the multi-band send function, to split there wave form, so they may do multi-band compression, or eq, and also stereo widening. I do not… I just happen to master with different plug ins, in a different daw… Although, I have, “home brew,” mastered in Renoise before regardless… not my fave workflow, as I’ve got some multi-band compressor vst’s now, and some other stuff for stereo widening, an some other eq’s that I really like…
Dear 2 daze j,
You cannot imagine how much you are been useful for me! Thanks a Billion lot!
Now, I’m studying the Mastering and place a good balance for my tracks… Thanks so much!
I always thought this was tedious as hell. I suggest to just boost the volume on everything as much as you like, but lower the input volume on the master channel.
Currently on my masterbuss
psp noble q
cytomic the glue with a gentle setting
But most important ,; make sure your mix sounds good without anything on the master , even levels anything added on the master is just polishing /
And please forget about the loudness limiters , they fuck up the dynamics
Things to try out:
always make sure your tracks don’t go in the red for long
like noby said, lower the >input< volume of master track if needed
it’s not a shame to put gainer devices (as fader) in between some stuff, i have them on master track sometimes after a Bus Compressor or a Exciter
the best thing for any starter is to use the auto-gain button a lot - it doesn’t just make sure you don’t render very distorted wave files, it also gives you a feeling for volume / gain while mixing.
and the best tip of course, is make sure it sounds good already before doing any of that ‘home brew’ mastering.
if you have a track on solo and the master fader ducks to -30 you can safely say you’ll have to turn the post volume down more than 30 dB. if you have sends in it you will want to put a gainer just before a send… but with that comes more complicated stuff as the routing in renoise is still a little difficult to ‘visualize’
ps sorry bout the ‘brainstorm’ way of typing