Hi Guys,

How can I make my song sound louder - Post mix?

Cheers.

Have you tried a "mastering limiter"?

You have to think about it all the way, from arrangement through tracking and mixing.

To make it simple: You need to use (EQ and) compression subtly on many tracks, then do a finall compressing/limiting to the finished mix as the final "mastering" move. It's also very good to do manually volume envelopes to even out the biggest jumps in volume, so to make compressors task easier.

If you just throw a limiter in the mixdown track with very strong original dynamics, you will most likely destroy your sound if you aim for "near commercial" loudness.

If your ony option in this case is post mix editing you could try: Volume envelopes> EQ > Compressor > corrective EQ > Limiter.

Izotope Ozone is an excellent mastering tool.

Roey Ishakis book "Mixing Audio" is a good book about these things. It includes a CD with examples of different edits.

Turn up the amp.

Exactly, stop trying to make it faux loud. It's done nothing to help music, and at this point NOT being loud would make you stand out from the crowd instead of just being another wannabe trying to create music with zero dynamics. Don't become part of the problem, become part of the solution and stop contributing to the destruction of music for the sake of an illusory advantage.

smash it with a limiter.

+ya

If you are trying to make it, I would say that having your original track at commercial loudness rather than not will have a better impact and pull factor on people, certainly at people who listen to the current radio charts. I am aware of this and try to get my stuff as frickin loud as I can without mashing the song to pieces(I have yet to achieve it fully though especially on dance/pop tracks).

Kalle's post I think nailed it  (albeit very briefly!) the typical route to achieve this.

Kalle Rantaaho


You have to think about it all the way, from arrangement through tracking and mixing.

To make it simple: You need to use (EQ and) compression subtly on many tracks, then do a finall compressing/limiting to the finished mix as the final "mastering" move. It's also very good to do manually volume envelopes to even out the biggest jumps in volume, so to make compressors task easier.

If you just throw a limiter in the mixdown track with very strong original dynamics, you will most likely destroy your sound if you aim for "near commercial" loudness.

If your ony option in this case is post mix editing you could try: Volume envelopes> EQ > Compressor > corrective EQ > Limiter.

Izotope Ozone is an excellent mastering tool.

Roey Ishakis book "Mixing Audio" is a good book about these things. It includes a CD with examples of different edits.

Correct..  Loud tracks start in the mix..   You have to have a very tight volume balance...  and than during mastering stage you can get a banging master...

The OP also needs to answer the question WHY does he want it louder?