Hey Guys, I'm about to cut an EP for a band I've been recording and have never done this. Is there an easy way or some kind of technique you guys use to make sure all the tracks are matched in volume? Some are noticeably louder than others. Do you have to import them all in sonar and automate? Sounds like there must be a better way. And how much of a gap do you put between the tracks? Thanks for any help, Andy

To equalize or balance (probably a better term) the tracks in a tune, you will need to have the individual tracks to the project and load them into your DAW. If you have recorded them, you should have the tracks already to go. 

One of the first things I do is to insert a volume envelope into every single track..all of them.  Then I will use the envelope to do level changes. I use the insert node function and will zoom in as needed to make surgical level edits up and down. I will post a picture in a few minutes of the project I'm working on. 

I balance the guitars, and everything else by starting at the bottom with drums and bass and adding one track at a time from there. Usually acoustic guitar is next and then it pretty much doesn't matter after that.

Everything is in a state of flux.... kind of like controlled chaos as the mixing proceeds. I can usually get the balance in the mix pretty accurate in an hour or so.  I save it and shut it off. I come back the next day, and crank it up and run it though with a note pad and the important tracks expanded. 

With guitars, a few db up or down will make all the difference in the world, but you gotta have the individual tracks to be able to balance the mix. 

I find too that grouping things into busses is a real handy tool. If the lead guitars are bit too loud but essentially in balance with each other, a slight decrease of the buss level is sometimes all that is needed.  I have a new project that I'm working on and to get it into proper balance I needed to put everything into a series of 5 sub busses so I could pull the levels down to where I needed them. It is probably the first project that I have had everything bussed and nothing is going straight to master. 

But in the end, it worked fine as frogs hair. 

THIS IS CALLED MASTERING.

you will want to hire a mastering engineer to do this for you.

Herb, I think Andy means how to achieve a similar volume from a number of different songs/projects.

The only way I know of is to bring them all into one big Sonar project - on separate tracks - and drag/move them out on the timeline so that the start of song #2 coincides (nearly) with the end of song #1

Identify the loudest song - where does it peak? What's the RMS?

You then need to adjust all the other tracks so that they line up to your reference point.

Or not.

You might want a ballad to be at a lower volume than a thrash metal song.

Gaps between songs are artistic decisions. YOU have to decide how much of a gap and nudge the following track accordingly.

This is mastering Andy - whole books and websites are devoted to it.

Arm yourself with a copy of this and have a good read.

It's a HUGE topic which can take decades to master (pun intended)

Man, I'm torn now. Do I try it myself or fork out the cash for a couple hours of studio time? I've worked so hard on these.

pay a pro.

you'll be glad you did.

Bristol_Jonesey


Herb, I think Andy means how to achieve a similar volume from a number of different songs/projects.

 
  

Yeah... sorry ... I can see that now.   I thought... "tracks" and thought inside of a project.   misunderstanding..

andyriggle


Man, I'm torn now. Do I try it myself or fork out the cash for a couple hours of studio time? I've worked so hard on these.

Try it yourself by all means, nothing to lose. If you don't like the results I can recommend Danny Danzi of these forums, excellent ME.

As far as matching the volumes of songs, I  import them into a fresh project, all songs in a row on one track, then use clip gain envelopes to adjust each one. With regards to the gap between songs, it's really a matter of what sounds right. My method there is to get the gaps how I want them, insert markers between each song, bounce all the songs to a clip, then split them on the markers. That way I can burn a CD with 'no gap between songs' and the gaps will still be exactly as I want them.

While nothing is a substitute for a ME who knows what they are doing....  you can go the "roll your own" way and use it as a good excuse to pick up Ozone. 

I use Ozone to (small "m") master or I prefer to say polish my own mixes.  

If the release is to try to garner the attention of radio, managers, and record companies, by all means spend the money on a professional job. 

If the release is to sell at gigs as a revenue source, have a shot at it first yourself, depending too on the schedule. On the web site>>>  http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/ozone/  be sure to go to the support page to download and READ the guides. They will help you understand the process of Mastering and what you are doing as you work through the process. 

As was said... if your attempts are less than expected, you can always hire it out. 

andyriggle


Man, I'm torn now. Do I try it myself or fork out the cash for a couple hours of studio time? I've worked so hard on these.

It depends what your end result will be. Here are a few things to consider and what I tell people that ask me "why should I go to an ME?"
 
Pro's of doing it yourself:
 
1. You can learn a lot
 
2. save some money
 
3. have fun with it
 
4. feel good that you did everything yourself
 
Cons:
 
1. You've listened to this stuff how many times now? You *could be* too close to the material to spot the obvious issues that may be lurking within your material.
 
2. When you pressed the "export audio" button in Sonar, weren't you done with the mix to where you wouldn't have pressed export if you weren't happy with it? How do you even know what to fix or alter at this point?
 
3. You tracked and mixed the stuff on a set of monitors. Mastering on that same set won't reveal as many imperfections. Even when I track and mix, when I master, my material goes on another system with different monitors.
 
4. The extra set of ears you get from an ME (if he's good and isn't just in it to make a buck) is the key. The right guy can make all the difference in the world just in the way he listens to your material and how accurate he is with his decisions or communication with you. I can't even tell you how many times I've saved people's butts due to them not noticing something or because they were just too close to hear something that was actually blatantly obvious.
 
5. If you are decent at basic home remodeling, you don't open up a business and start building houses instantly. The same with mastering. If it's not something you know about, you can literally degrade or ruin your material. I hear it all the time when people post up songs. I'd rather hear them unmastered because they usually crush the living crap out of everything and the first thing they lose is their snare drum crack. Then the whole mix just sounds too squashed and lacka dynamics. Someone that knows what they are doing will take care of all this the right way.
 
6. When you master yourself and don't really know how it's supposed to work, you can sometimes touch things that don't need to be touched. There's a reason to touch something and a reason to leave something alone. Don't just do something for the sake of listening to another or reading a book. What you learn may not apply to your material and your situation.
 
7. If you are selling your material people have the right to get the best quality you can deliver in this economy. If you feel you've done a great job up to this point and don't know enough about the finalizing process to do it correctly, just don't go there and hire someone that knows.
 
8. First impressions: Sometimes you don't get a second chance at a good first impression. If you are shopping for a deal at THIS time, the more polished and professional you are, the more impact you have on those that are screening your material. Years ago you could get away with a fair demo. These days, labels don't have the money they once had or the support unless you have such good songs and presentation that they make a mega star out of you due to them being a major label.
 
But for the most part, most Indy labels will try to use/salvage the material you send them with as little out of pocket expense as possible. A good enough product could land you a deal on the spot that gets you money faster as the label will not have to spend loads on you just to get your album done.
 
That's the conversation I have with anyone who has ever asked me "why should I use you?" or "why should I send my stuff to someone that specializes in this field?" If your goals are different than the stuff I've listed above (or are non-existent from my list) chances are you can do the master yourself. Best of luck to you with whatever way you choose.
 
-Danny
 
James G: Thank you for the plug brother. Much appreciated. :)