Pro Tools Users - www.ProToolsUsers.Org - Home of the Pro Tools Community

Hi,

You guys have been extremely helpful to me quite a few times & I have another question.

Can someone suggest a general way for me to duplicate or at least get close to the maximized volume of commercial CDs after my final mix/BASIC mastering?

My equipment is PTs 6.9.2 HD, w/ some hardware (Avalon 737 pre, as well as the Avalon 747 which I do not use much). I mostly use the PTs plug ins (BF, TRacks) for my mixes as well as Logic plug ins (Adaptive Limiter, compressor, Exciter) from FCPs Soundtrack Pro) after I send a bounced mix into STP. Then I import the STP mix into a PTs session, then use the Final Plug limiter for final output.

My mixes come out pretty well & clear. My problem is that the volume is considerably lower than commercial CDs. I realize that most of this problem comes from professional mastering, as I have had product mastered at pro studios in the past. I am really trying to get close to that volume capacity with the equipment I have & just wondering if it is possible.

Also, I use a Sony DAT deck for metering, so as to gauge where I am at during output. Is this kool or is there a better way?

Any help would be greatly appreciated~!

I'm not sure if you do this but its always great to have a second pair of monitors or a boom box that you can run your final mix thru. If not just bounce it to a cd and then it becomes trial and error. All mastering does is just do a little more compression and expands your volume (obviously there's a lot more too it). You can always run your final mix track back thru PT and tweak it some more. Hope that helps, if not sorry.

Is it possible? Yes. Should you master your own stuff? Probably not.

It is difficult to do, as those mastering engineers are highly sought after professionals (although I have no idea what your listening to so that may not be a true statement), and it takes years of experience to achieve those results and have it still sound good. Most, I'm sure, would rather not have to compress and limit the mixes as hard as they do, but are being pressured by record labels to increase the average volume. I could certainly go on about this but...

Some of the tools currently available that will help you achieve the sound are McDSP's ML4000 (my personal favorite), Waves (L1-3, L2 or above recommended), iZotope's Ozone, Massey's L2007 (a bargain at under $100, and lots of people love it), and there are others.