Making All My Songs The Same Level

[Rob James]

Hi Mae, I don’t know what software you are using to write music,(I use Nuendo 3.0) But the key to making all your songs the same level is firstly mix them one after another without changing your volume level. Then in the Mastering stage, use a good compressor to squash the valleys and peaks. If you are using Vegas, the same applies. I believe a compressor is included in the Sony plugins, with the Vegas install. Not certain though, as I don’t use it. Personally I really like the URS and Waves VSTplugins! Both have excellent compressors. Hope this helps a bit?

[Mike Smith]

While Rob’s approach is no doubt great for him and may be for you, the compression thing remains both a personal choice and a big influence on your eventual sound.

I’d strongly agree that your starting point is to record and mix the songs to consistent levels – which you can check both by ear on your speakers and by eye, checking the level meters on your audio mixing software (or Vegas if you’re really using it for this).

Levels: it’s probably fair to say that most people reckon it’s good to go for the loudest recorded signal you can get before you reach clipping or distortion. Since some peak signals can come and go very fast and are not shown on all types of meter, some people reckon to leave 6Db or more “headroom” above displayed peaks to prevent distortion when such fast peaks get clipped.

Compression: you may have a big range between the loud and the quiet parts of your finsihed tracks. Compression in this audio context will bring those loud and soft parts to much more of an even volume – good for low-fi playback, car stereos, whatever, but not really a faithful record of the music, nor so appealing on a hi-fi playback set up … so it’s a choice for you.