Loudness war: the answer.

**Aderito** · 08-11-2012

I discovered the perfect solution while mastering one of my tracks the other day. People usually go all out with limiters and compressors to get their tracks louder and it can easily end up in a mess if you don't know what you are doing. The solution to getting your tracks louder is not always cranking up the volume knobs on your instruments, but rather you need to balance all of them out. Frequency boosting is the solution and carving out spaces for individual instruments. This is a job for the EQ, which is easily overlooked. FL Studio and Reason offer the perfect EQs for loudness, namely: the Parametic EQ 2 and the MClass Equalizer. Especially these two because they have the capability to 'sweep'. So here is a hint the next time you go and try to make your music louder:

For every instrument in your song you will need an EQualiser. This is important because you willl be boosting, cutting, 'sweeping' to harness the best qualities out of your instruments/VSTs. The wonderful thing about graphic equalizers is that they show you in which frequency range a sound is playing so you can immediately add a high-pass/low-pass filter to the quiet area. Here is a guide to show what to expect:

Kick drum....20-150Hz
Bass......20-250Hz
Piano.......80-4500Hz Snare......100-200Hz
Cymbal... 300-600Hz

The next step is to play your instruments indvidually and then boost frequencies in the equalizer that make your instruments sound nicer. This way you also ensure that you will be having that instrument dominant in that frequency spot alone and it won't sound muddy with all the others. Now 'sweeping' is a wonderful tool. This is done to find the right spot on the bands that really give your instruments character. If you 'sweep' a kick, you will find that one part has the thump that you are looking for.

---------- Post added at 07:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:18 PM ----------

I hope my article brought you a bit closer to mastering your tracks @ a commercial value

Get $$$ for your songs @ kasimp3.co.za

Aderito - Imitations - Aderito

**xXx_Dugan_Fire_xXx** · 08-11-2012

Originally Posted by Aderito

I discovered the perfect solution while mastering one of my tracks the other day. People usually go all out with limiters and compressors to get their tracks louder and it can easily end up in a mess if you don't know what you are doing. The solution to getting your tracks louder is not always cranking up the volume knobs on your instruments, but rather you need to balance all of them out. Frequency boosting is the solution and carving out spaces for individual instruments. This is a job for the EQ, which is easily overlooked. FL Studio and Reason offer the perfect EQs for loudness, namely: the Parametic EQ 2 and the MClass Equalizer. Especially these two because they have the capability to 'sweep'. So here is a hint the next time you go and try to make your music louder:

For every instrument in your song you will need an EQualiser. This is important because you willl be boosting, cutting, 'sweeping' to harness the best qualities out of your instruments/VSTs. The wonderful thing about graphic equalizers is that they show you in which frequency range a sound is playing so you can immediately add a high-pass/low-pass filter to the quiet area. Here is a guide to show what to expect:

Kick drum....20-150Hz
Bass......20-250Hz
Piano.......80-4500Hz Snare......100-200Hz
Cymbal... 300-600Hz

The next step is to play your instruments indvidually and then boost frequencies in the equalizer that make your instruments sound nicer. This way you also ensure that you will be having that instrument dominant in that frequency spot alone and it won't sound muddy with all the others. Now 'sweeping' is a wonderful tool. This is done to find the right spot on the bands that really give your instruments character. If you 'sweep' a kick, you will find that one part has the thump that you are looking for.

---------- Post added at 07:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:18 PM ----------

I hope my article brought you a bit closer to mastering your tracks @ a commercial value

Get $$$ for your songs @ kasimp3.co.za

Aderito - Imitations - Aderito

Actually i have to disagree with you sir, i think this is bad advice. Soloing instruments and boosting frequencies independently of the mix could potentially create more problems with clashing freqs. (Just about every EQ has the ability to "sweep" : boost a band and move up and down the spectrum) It is also not ideal to sweep freqs independent of the mix bc again once you glue everything back together that awesome boost you added to your kick is now clashing with the bass you also boosted. Not to mention "sweeping" should be done with a side of caution. That's the quickest way to cause ear fatigue. If you do sweep, it should be done at low volume levels with a broad Q. Narrowing the Q not only adds an unnatural timbre to the sound but also diminishes your judgement quicker.

These techniques are also generally done at the mixing phase. Mastering is balancing one track against many. You could "master" your one track however you like but ideally its done with other tracks as well. Also to include checking phase, mid-side processing, and balancing to produce the most accurate mix that will translate well across all mediums.

Now some techniques can be justified. Boosting a sound with a narrow Q for artistic reasons is always justifiable. Sh*t at the end of the day its really all about what you like anyways. There really isn't a right way or wrong way to go about this. If it sounds right then its right. I do have to say that this information you've provided is among many of the most common mistakes discussed by ME's. Just google it.

I know your intentions are in the right place but misinformation isn't helpful to anyone. Then again, who the f*ck am i anyways . . . just my 2 cents.

**Aderito** · 08-11-2012

Thanks for your input, Dugan-Fire. Perhaps I was lucky and I just so happened to balance out my mix properly with the technique I displayed. I'm not a professional, but I do know a thing or two. I guess if you want the perfect mix you might have to endear earaches till you find what's suitable - maybe it's passion. I stand corrected on soloing instruments, though.

Aderito - Imitations - Aderito

**xXx_Dugan_Fire_xXx** · 08-11-2012

Originally Posted by Aderito

Thanks for your input, Dugan-Fire. Perhaps I was lucky and I just so happened to balance out my mix properly with the technique I displayed. I'm not a professional, but I do know a thing or two. I guess if you want the perfect mix you might have to endear earaches till you find what's suitable - maybe it's passion. I stand corrected on soloing instruments, though.

Aderito - Imitations - Aderito

no doubt. It's very easy to push yourself especially mixing. A lot of times even just working on the beats i make, i forget to take breaks. I'll leave a track alone that i spent a few hours on and revisit it a few days later thinking "WTF was i shooting for . . ." lol. I think ear fatigue is one of the most overlooked or underestimated factors that can have a large effect in your overall mix.

**Type_1a** · 08-11-2012

Originally Posted by xXx_Dugan_Fire_xXx

Actually i have to disagree with you sir, i think this is bad advice. Soloing instruments and boosting frequencies independently of the mix could potentially create more problems with clashing freqs. (Just about every EQ has the ability to "sweep" : boost a band and move up and down the spectrum) It is also not ideal to sweep freqs independent of the mix bc again once you glue everything back together that awesome boost you added to your kick is now clashing with the bass you also boosted. Not to mention "sweeping" should be done with a side of caution. That's the quickest way to cause ear fatigue. If you do sweep, it should be done at low volume levels with a broad Q. Narrowing the Q not only adds an unnatural timbre to the sound but also diminishes your judgement quicker.

These techniques are also generally done at the mixing phase. Mastering is balancing one track against many. You could "master" your one track however you like but ideally its done with other tracks as well. Also to include checking phase, mid-side processing, and balancing to produce the most accurate mix that will translate well across all mediums.

Now some techniques can be justified. Boosting a sound with a narrow Q for artistic reasons is always justifiable. Sh*t at the end of the day its really all about what you like anyways. There really isn't a right way or wrong way to go about this. If it sounds right then its right. I do have to say that this information you've provided is among many of the most common mistakes discussed by ME's. Just google it.

I know your intentions are in the right place but misinformation isn't helpful to anyone. Then again, who the f*ck am i anyways . . . just my 2 cents.

yeah i agree... while you do want to "fill" out the frequency space when mixing its a bad idea to just say to wholesale boost frequencies in specific bands... also keep in mind that you shoudl never be boosting any freq more than say 3db in most cases... with EQ you generally want to cut more than boost...

compression has its uses and it does help to get the overall mix louder ... the trick is to not overdo it...

**WeissSound** · 08-11-2012

All of this is actually the problem of the loudness war.

If you are making mix or mastering decisions to make the outcome louder, rather than enhance the musicality of the song, THAT is the loudness war.

However, the concept is correct. Tonal manipulation will contribute more toward overall loudness than 2-track compression. It's in fact very possible to have a mix that is both very very compressed/limited AND not particularly loud. And vice versa.

**Trill The Beatmaker** · 08-17-2012

Here is the solution. Create a great mix with plenty of headroom. Then get it/or apply mastering to said track.

So say you create a music track. Let it peak relatively low. Lets say -10db for starters. It will sound "low" so TURN up your MONITORS. That much room will allow you to get much more out of a mix. Then you add vocals. Record them the same relatively, allowing plenty of room. Remember that you can always turn something up if its to low. Now once youve got that nice mix and still plenty of headroom and dynamics, master it. Get it to a suitable level. It doesn't have to be blaring and crushed to death.

How I see it is whats the big deal? Cars, T.V.s, iPods/Pads and any other aplication that hosts audio has volume buttons or knobs. Meaning that one person may want the track to be louder than life and another may want it lower. They have control essentially. Radio station and broadcast companies have limiters before the music or voice hits the air. So it will bring up your mix to the level of everyone elses.

General consumers have no IDEA what a great mix is, but as soon as it sounds bad they want to point fingers. When composers put limiters on their mixes for showcase its cool. But when a client buys the track and they are sent the still compressed mix then there in lies a problem.