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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 463
Journeyman
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OP
Journeyman
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 463 |
Hello All,
I finished up about 20 new songs and have the raw MP3 files. Using my VU meter, I have a pretty consistent overall volume level, but still need to make a few adjustments so that when playing live I don't need to fool with the volume too much.
If I want to 'master' these songs prior to downloading on my MP3 player, do I put the 20 songs on individual tracks in RB and do a normalize, for example, from top to bottom, or do I put the songs on just one track, from left to right and then do a normalize?
Or is there a better way?
Percy
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Check out a program called mp3gain. I think it's freeware.
John Conley
Musica est vita
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2003
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There's only one way to do what you want. I'm afraid you need to use your ears. The perception of volume is dependent on the content of the song. A song with just acoustic guitar fully normalized will not sound as loud as a 10 track Band.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 463
Journeyman
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OP
Journeyman
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 463 |
John C,
The MP3gain looks very interesting; I'll report back with results. Thanks
Other John,
Sometime ago you had a link to songs from your play list and I recall that the overall volume was very consistent from song to song. How was that mastered?
Percy
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2003
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Percy,
Not sure of your age but I'm 60. I learned it the old way as I said. My ears.Didn't have computers or anything else. Just tape.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,730
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60 !!!! sheeez what a crusty old man! Just kiddin' John, I am not that far behind you. Heck i find i sing better than when younger, and play better also. Just i guess the time I have to invest in it.
HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini Sonoma with 16 gig of ram, BiaB/RB 2026, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 11 , Presonus Audiobox USB96
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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60 seems to be what many of us 'older timers' are.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Glad to see such young talent around.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 463
Journeyman
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OP
Journeyman
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 463 |
Hello All,
I finally finished 32 songs I needed to update for some new venues and had a chance to try out MP3GAIN.
First I ran the songs through my Win Media Player w/o MP3GAIN and the songs had a huge range in volume. I thought I did a better job in mixing, but with so many songs it was overwhelming.
Once in MP3GAIN, I used the default settings not really knowing what I was doing. After hearing the processed MP3s, I gotta say it's quite a dramatic improvement, truly amazing!
Another big thank you to John Conley for the suggestion.
Percy
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
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Okay you 60s guys.... I will hit the milestone in June. I just need to ask....
Did it hurt much?
I had to fill out a form today and it was likely the last time my first digit will be a 5..... I am SO thankful that I have an electric range because I may have been temped to stick my head in the oven if it was gas. I already nailed the upstairs windows shut and unloaded my gun and hid the bullets. And what bad timing, I just had a tuneup so carbon monoxide is probably not going to work either....
I simply CAN NOT be 60 already!! It seems like just last year my band was on the road for 12 weeks at a time living out of a suitcase and eating bad food....
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,730
Veteran
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54 here and dreading 60!!!
Yesterday i play basketball for two hours with my two son in laws one is 14 years younger and the other 18 years younger, plus my grand son was involved.
Gotta tell ya, i won the last game of 21 with a sweet turn around fall away jumper over my 6' 5" son in law.
Today i am paying the price for my folly with two sore knees, one swollen ankle, and a stiff back!!
What the heck was I thinking!
HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini Sonoma with 16 gig of ram, BiaB/RB 2026, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 11 , Presonus Audiobox USB96
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,167
Expert
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Expert
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,167 |
61 and it isn't all that bad. My right knee is not so hot but that doesn't effect my music making. And I retire on June 30. So I moving into the 6th album in the boxed set. Not sure how many more albums....
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Anonymous
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Back to topic... can you more experienced "mixers" offer any suggestions after I lay this out?
First of all, I decided to buy a desktop to run BIAB so I can put an actual sound card in and not use a mic in to record back to the laptop. Now, what am I recording?
I run my BIAB feed through my mixer with a 31 band and a digital reverb looped in. That goes to a Tascam direct to disc 8 track recorder. BIAB goes on track 1. Manual keyboard on 2, vocals on 3, drum fills off a drum machine on 4, harmony vocals on 5, the other 3 channels are for solos.
I feed that out of the Tascam into the mic in on my laptop, running Goldwave. When I listen to the tracks in headphones, they sound fine. In my Wharfedale monitors (which I strongly recommend, btw), they sound fine. When I play back the newly created mp3, it is really muddy, very midrange dominant.
Now, with a desktop and a sound card with RCA ins, I can send that Tascam feed back through the 31 band EQ and tweak it again.
So I think my question becomes, is it the conversion from wav to mp3 that is killing my fidelity? I save them at 320 rather than 128 for as high of a sample rate as I can get. Big files, but who cares?
Any ideas?
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 27,505
Veteran
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We should apologize to the original poster, who was asking about setting the levels of songs, a major function of mastering. This question is different. Eddie, you should probably start a new thread.
We actually just had a long thread about problems burning MP3s to CD. That wasn't you, was it? I recall I could not get the answers I needed to help diagnose the problem. With a sample rate of 320, you should be getting very good sound. Can you tell us, what program is creating your MP3s?
I'm not clear on the signal path you describe. Are you possibly sending the signal through the 31 band equalizer twice? Does your sound card have its own EQ (like the old Creative cards did)?
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
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No, that thread was not me, but I will go read it.
I only send it through the EQ once. What I think I should do is change WHEN it goes through the 31 band. And the sound card I want to use is a Creative (I think it was called) Awe64 Gold. Hefty card with RCAs on it. And for your other question, I use Goldwave to record on the computer side. I may want to use Soundforge or something else, but are they really that different? Seems like GIGO and maybe I am sending "G" in....
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 27,505
Veteran
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Creative cards have that EAX or some such enhanced equalizer. Can you turn it off? You know this, but you normally do not want to "color" your recordings; only invoke an EQ on the final end of playback. Maybe the signal path goes through the EAX on recording.
Tell me about Goldwave. Is that the software you use to make the MP3s, in which you set the MP3 sample rate? Or are you using something else? [I use Adobe Audition, but SoundForge is equivalent; both are pro level and very powerful.]
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Anonymous
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Well, I am not using the Creative sound card yet. That will come when I get the new desktop.
As far as EQ, I am losing SO MUCH top and high mid when I record from Tascam to laptop I wanted to play with using the EQ to cut from low mid down some and/or boost high mid and up. Of course when you add high end up you invite hiss.... and I get enough hiss from the crowd when I play. <rimshot>
Goldwave is just some kind of generic, freeware-ish recording tool. When you set up the record parameters you can set 128, 160, 320, etc.... I do have Soundforge that came with my USB turntable and I am going to try that before I spend a grand on a high horsepower computer.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 27,505
Veteran
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A long time ago, with inadequate encoding software to make MP3s, there were a few tricks to mix a track with EQ such that it would sound better when converted to MP3. I haven't had to do that in years. I send the encoder my best mix and it seems to work out.
What other parameters are set in Goldwave besides the MP3 sample rate?
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Anonymous
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Not much else you can do in Goldwave Matt. It is really a low end recorder program. The usual cut and paste, set start and end marker... uses the LAME encoder. I am going to try Soundforge and see what I get.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 897
Expert
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Expert
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This young "cat" will be 78 on 2-22-2012....
And I've recommended this miraculous out-of-production-Behringer
9024 before, with it's magical algorithms...one cool finalizer for
Mastering your recordings...or live stage "automated" sound-
System 'demands",,,too bad they were forced to stop production
On that "gem"!!!
Yamaha...Motif ES-8, Motif Rack, CS6X
Korg...Karma,Triton Classic, PA-80, M-1+
AkaiSampler-S5000, Roland.. X5080 Rack/G-1000 Arranger
Various Guitars/Basses Amps Pedals Rec.Equip.
Plus, BIAB 2015 and Sonar Platinum 2015 Upgrade from Cakewalk's Sonar X-3
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