Mastering Volume

Hi.  X3 user here.
 
When I listen to my songs on my car radio I always have to boost the volume up much higher than the radio or other CDs I have, yet the mastering volume on the project seems to be very high (it even clips in some spots) and the master WAV graphic looks very full and wide.  If I try to up the master volume on the final mix any higher it would distort.  How can I get more volume into my master project without adding more clipping and distortion?
 
Thanks
 
John B.

Thanks guys.  I guess I don't really mean I've "mastered" the mix per se.  What I mean is the volume on the MASTERING bus in the project.  This even hits a bit into the red but is still much lower than radio broadcasts.  Thanks for the tip on the RMS level.  I will research this.
 
JB

Good Day,
Im no expert but you may want to insert a loudness meter or (CW Adaptive Limiter displays LUFS) as last in signal chain before main to see what kind levels your actually outputting, although Im uncertain of what standard level to use, probably no "higher" (closer to zero) than around minus -11.5 LUFS (integrated/average) would be a higher standard currently being suggested, a lot of stuff seems to be around -20 LUFS. There was a post here a few weeks ago with a link to a calibrated (-11.5 LUFS) pink noise wave file, import it into a track and you can somewhat calibrate your output meters.
 
Cheers  

Thanks.  This is all stuff I've never really gotten into before.  Thanks for all your suggestions.
 
JB

The key is understanding the difference between level and volume. Level is an objective measurement, but volume is subjective. Perceived volume is a function of average levels rather than peaks. "Loud" mixes have a low peak-to-average ratio, also known as "crest factor". Lowering the crest factor (decreasing the ratio) raises the perceived volume, even if peak levels remain the same.
 
Having too high a crest factor (high average-to-peak ratio) isn't good, but having too low a crest factor is worse. Mastering engineers get paid for what they do because they've learned how to strike the best balance for a given genre and target distribution medium. Fortunately, meters exist that will show you perceived volume in LUFS. Pick a target and adjust your average level to hit that target, and you're good to go.
 
Your best friend is the mastering limiter. Upgrade to SONAR Platinum and you'll not only get a good one in the bargain but a LUFS meter thrown in as well (the Adaptive Limiter mentioned above). In the meantime, there are free or inexpensive limiters and meters that will fit the bill.
 
For free, grab Limiter No. 6. It's not the easiest limiter to use, but once you figure it out it's quite good. Another one that's also free but easier to use is Meldaproduction's MLimiter, part of their free bundle that has lots of other goodies too.
 
Also for free, get a copy of Voxengo SPAN. It's not a LUFS meter, but it does support the K-14 scale, which is close enough. Choose "K14" as the meter and adjust the limiter until your song hovers around the 0 dB mark, going up to about +4 dB on the loudest passages. That'll sound pretty fat in your car.
 
You still might have to turn up a little louder than your commercial CDs, but that's because they are probably overcompressed, which was the norm until very recently. If you don't want your mix to sound dated in 10 years, use the K-14 target and turn the volume up a tad.

Good Day,
I've seen TC-Electronics has a process plug-in/software that apparently automatically does some kind of automatic Loudness correction "normalization", I haven't tried it yet, but maybe the demo would allow you to do some kind of comparative calibration with Sonar meters, they also have a whole suite of other loudness software and hardware products at a price.
http://www.tcelectronic.com/lcn/
 
Cheers 

mrpippy2
Wonderful info here, thanks in particular to Bitflipper for the explanation of crest factor and LUFS metering. Bookmarking this thread for sure!

I agree!  Much to ponder and many options.  Thank to all for your help.
 
JB

mattburnside
Adding a side note here, a lot of the overall volume can also be deceptive. 

A really good mastering engineer (like one I've just used, not myself) can actually make a track stand out a hell of a lot and almost bring an air of loudness by simply reducing and balancing frequencies and shifting them in the stereo image. The actual volume of my track has changed very little in terms of a number but the track itself sounds huge in comparison. 

I'm sure you're right, but my problem is that I'm just a little amateur and cannot afford the services of a mastering engineer.  I can hardly afford $100.00 to upgrade from x3 to Professional, but I thank you for your input.
 
JB