How do I make my mastered track louder?

1. Make the mix loud.
2. Balance EQ.
3. Take it easy with bass.
4. Work to retain dynamics – by hand.
5. Use multi-band compression.
6. Use low ratios and avoid short attack times.
7. Use multiple stages of compression, with low gain reductions.
8. Don’t overdo the limiting.

Should you put a limiter on the Master?

You don’t NEED to use a limiter on the master channel. Just drop your levels in the mix and ensure you have lots of headroom. When mastering the track (which is different from mixing altogether), then you can apply EQ, Compression (often Opto) and then a brickwall limiter to ensure nothing gets past 0db.

How many dB should my master be?

How loud should your master be? Shoot for about -23 LUFS for a mix, or -6db on an analog meter. For mastering, -14 LUFS is the best level for streaming, as it will fit the loudness targets for the majority of streaming sources. With these targets, you’re good to go!

Should I mix at dB?

So long as your mixes give the mastering engineer room to work, and cover your noise floor, then you’re in a good range. I recommend mixing at -23 dB LUFS, or having your peaks be between -18dB and -3dB.

Should I put a limiter on every track?

You only limit tracks when there are peaks you want to limit. If that is on every track then so be it! The more limiting you do, the more distortion you have. Compression will distort a little, but far less than any aggressive limiting.

What gain should you record at?

You should record vocals at an average of -18dB for 24-bit resolution. The loudest parts of the recording should peak at -10dB and be lowest at -24dB. This is to keep an even balance on the level of the vocals without distortion.

Should I gain stage my vocals?

Whether you’re recording or mixing, gain staging is a crucial step to making your song sound professional. Turn up an instrument that was recorded too quietly and you’ll get a lot of extra noise with it. It’s super important for getting a professional sounding sound.

How do I control the input and output of signal processing plugins?

There are also usually equivalent ways of controlling the input to and output from most signal processing plugins. To determine if they are set correctly, simply put the plugin in and out of bypass.

Can I display Vu and ppm for all my mixer channels simultaneously?

Some plug-ins, including the pictured one by Zplane, enable you to mimic the more useful analogue VU and PPM meters — but there’s no practical way to display these readings for all your mixer channels simultaneously! The good news is that all of these problems can be avoided if you work with audio at sensible levels in the first place!

What is gain staging in audio production?

The name “gain staging” sounds fancy, but it’s actually very simple. Gain staging is just making sure the volume of your tracks is set well. You’re looking at all of your instruments and making sure there loud enough to be heard clearly, but not so loud that they’re distorting.

What is a good dynamic range for a mixer?

In case you’re unconvinced, let’s compare dynamic range in the digital and analogue realms. A top-notch analogue mixer has a noise floor around -95dBu, or maybe a little better, and clips at around +24dBu, giving it a total dynamic range of around 119dB.