Quiet Recordings

[Inc]

So, i've recorded about ten live gigs so far and my recordings have come out excellent in my opinion. The problem is I now want to get these recordings onto my comp. When I record the shows and listen back they are awefully quiet. Ive set the volume at max on my player and also on my recording program (Audacity).

Anyone know how I could boost the volume or if I have some settings I need to change on my minidisc player?

Regards, Rich (Inc)

P.s. I've added a sample mp3 of a recent "The Frames" gig I went to, take a listen, you'll need to turn youre speakers way up!

frames_new_mp2.mp3

[javertim]

Try to normalize your recording. I usually tend to Normalize at 99%, because even though 100% is supposed to amplify everything to the ultimate level without distortion, I sometimes find that a little bit of clipping can find its way in.

After you have normalized, look at your peaks. A lot of times -- at least in my case -- the peaks are moments of applause. Since no one cares about the full dynamic values of clapping and hollering, go ahead and "hard limit" the stuff. Be careful, however, only to hard limit to a point where you aren't affecting the music.

If certain parts are still too quiet, you can try to run a compressor. I do this frequently because I attend a lot of musical/play events where the softer parts are of a *much* lower volume than the loud parts. If you need to do this just ask and I will be more than happy to type up my compression settings for you.

Of course, all of these suggestions are based on Adobe Audition -- the program I use. I'm not certain whether or not all of these features are integrated into Audacity. Someone else may be able to help you, there.

:-)

[greenmachine]

I think the end result is not too quiet (peaks at about -3dB). Maybe you think it's quiet because you listened to too many compressed recordings before (google for "loudness race"), you've simply managed to capture the original dynamics.

If you are using your microphone(s) through the line in of your player and it turns out too be way to quiet, you propably need to use a microphone preamplifier (either built-in or external). But as I don't hear much noise, it's propably ok this way.

Believe me, you don't want to cripple the original dynamics by compression just to make it somewhat louder, rather turn up the volume afterwards on your amplifier.

By the way, are you recording mono or is it just a wrong encoder setting?

Edited May 11, 2005 by greenmachine

[A440]

Under "Effects" in Audacity is Amplify. You can amplify up to 400%, which should be more than enough. Just Select All, go to Effects and Amplify. That way you'll preserve the original dynamics, whereas Compression will make the louds less loud and the softs less soft.

[greenmachine]

...whereas Normalize ... will make the louds less loud and the softs less soft.

I don't think so, normalization is the process of increasing (or decreasing) the amplitude (volume) of a digital audio recording. Typically normalization increases the amplitude of the audio waveform to the maximum level without introducing any distortion into the recording. It doesn't do any dynamics processing.

Under "Effects" in Audacity is Amplify. You can amplify up to 400%, which should be more than enough. Just Select All, go to Effects and Amplify.

But you have to be careful not to introduce clipping, normalization should be a more convenient way.

Edited May 11, 2005 by greenmachine

[A440]

I always thought Normalization was a way of evening out the volume of selections taken from various sources, and thus a form of compression.

This is from Digital Domain (www.digido.com)

"The Myth of "Normalization"

Digital audio editing programs have a feature called "Normalization," a semi-automatic method of adjusting levels. The engineer selects all the segments(songs), and the computer grinds away, searching for the highest peak on the album. Then the computer adjusts the level of all the material until the highest peak reaches 0 dBFS. This is not a serious problem esthetically, as long as all the songs have been raised or lowered by the same amount. But it is also possible to select each song and "normalize" it individually. Since the ear responds to average levels, and normalization measures peak levels, the result can totally distort musical values."

I'm assuming Amplify just pumps up everything equally. You can see clipping immediately in Audacity, and simply undo the Amplify and use a lower level.

[ozpeter]

Normalisation doesn't compress the dynamic range of the material normalised. But I guess if you normalised two sections (or more) to different maximum levels, you could say that you were introducing compression of the dynamic range of the whole.

In Audition btw there's a "group waveform normalise" function which seeks to adjust tracks so that they sound the same level to the ear.

"Inc" - when you look at your recordings in the editor's display, does the level ever reach the maximum? Are you saying that you can't get the recording to reach zero even when you turn up the recording level in your minidisc recorder? If so, exactly what equipment are you using? Just trying to establish whether this is a case of the recording sounding too quiet or being too quiet.