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Author Topic: Why is my music still so quite after limiting and maximizing?  (Read 9616 times)

Zios

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Why is my music still so quite after limiting and maximizing?
« on: April 21, 2017, 02:49:56 pm »
Hi.

So I've been struggling for many years to achieve a higher RMS level and loudness in my productions. I have noticed that a lot of music that is perceived louder than mine has an RMS reading of roughly -2db. Although when I apply a limiter and loudness maximizer on my final mixdown, the highest RMS I can achieve (before distorting the audio) is around roughly -6db to -7db. I am always leaving -6db to -3db of headroom before applying the master chain processing.

Here is an example of a recent remix that I have uploaded to soundcloud. As you can hear, it is still reasonably quite in comparison to most music that is released.

https://soundcloud.com/ziosmusic/chameleonziosremix

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.
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hennyhuisman

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Re: Why is my music still so quite after limiting and maximizing?
« Reply #1 on: April 27, 2017, 05:58:21 pm »
RMS doesn't really say anything, you could check loudness through a LUFS meter as well.
LUFS meters show the ''perceived loudness'' of a sound.
(Perceived)Loudness is created by a lot of factors (Freq Balance, Stereo Balance, RMS and probably a lot more)
Fact is, if you work on your mixing your tracks will get louder along the way.
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Bobby Vermillion

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Re: Why is my music still so quite after limiting and maximizing?
« Reply #2 on: April 27, 2017, 11:01:18 pm »
I had the same/a similar problem until fairly recently. I mix everything low so that I get some headroom for the master. I found that no matter what I did with my mastering chain, the track still came out low. My solution to this: I turned up the volume of my interface. It was probably sitting on less than 30% at all times. I turned the volume up but continued to mix low. I think (emphasis on think) this gave me a more accurate representation of the final volume when all was said and done. Maybe you can try something similar?
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Suddy34

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Re: Why is my music still so quite after limiting and maximizing?
« Reply #3 on: August 28, 2017, 05:06:47 am »
I know exactly where you are coming from, and it is a huge bummer  when you mix, export and upload a track onto your phone or device only to find it is super weak :(

Something I learned from a Soundprank (Colin Fischer) mixing tutorial was that he uses the technique of putting utilities on all of his bus channels. Then goes in and turns them down and creates his starting point with his kick around -18db.

I am sure some will read this and say wtf?! However after having tried it, it def works.

I do the same now and do my mix down with my interface maxed out while still keeping my track at a level I can have a conversation at. On my master chain I first have a utility and then turn it up on my master. I follow that with my master chain to simulate a mastered effect, and tweak where needed. Releasing music as a bedroom producer, this technique really has helped me translate my mixes onto all systems, not just my studio monitors and headphones, but laptops and Bluetooth speakers as well.

Hope this helped, good luck!
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