I have recorded an album of my own work and I am hoping to make an impression with it. My problem is that the album is still not sounding as loud as any of those in my CD collection, even though I have used compression on every track and also on the stereo mix, run the mixes through an Aphex Aural Exciter, and mastered them at the highest possible level (without clipping).
I've taken care to get everything right and my mixes are not unusually peaky — actually most people have said that they are well mixed. I know the answer is something to do with mastering. I've taken my CD to someone else who edited everything on computer and then put it through a TC Finalizer Express, but the difference was disappointingly small.
How do you recommend I solve this problem? Even though my budget is limited, I'm prepared to spend a bit — I just want to get my money's worth.
Niall Purcell
Editor Paul White replies: I do a lot of mastering myself so I've run into this kind of problem before. Many commercial recordings are overcompressed to make them sound very loud, so don't feel that you're doing something wrong if yours isn't quite up at that level — it may still be musically better. What's more, when you hear a song on the radio, it has usually been compressed, yet again, by the transmitter's end‑of‑line limiter.
If you do want more of everything, then a multi‑band compressor and multi‑band limiter will make the job easier, though I have got great results with just a full‑band limiter. Gentle overall compression at a low ratio (less than 1.3:1) and a low threshold (around ‑30dB) helps, followed by peak limiting set to trim around 3 to 6dB from signal peaks. Generally I use a Drawmer 2476 and a bunch of Waves plug‑ins, though there are innumerable other processors and plug‑ins that you can also try. Used with care, you should be able to get good results from the Finalizer Express too. TC Electronic have a useful free booklet by mastering guru Bob Katz (in conjunction with Bob Ludwig and Glenn Meadows) which you should download from their web site immediately if you don't have it already. It's very helpful, whether you're using TC's gear or not, and it's available as a PDF file from the Service and Support section of www.tcelectronic.com, at the bottom of the list of Product Manuals.