Hi all, I’ve had this issue since I bought cubase 6.5. I get a good mix going, making sure the decibel output gets as close to 0 db as possible at its loudest points with no clips. When I export, the audio file, wav. or mp3 or otherwise, is noticeably quieter than both my session mix and most other modern professional recordings, which we all know are pretty dang loud.
Before you ask, here is troubleshoot information:
I’m using a USB powered Roland Duo-capture EX audio interface. The main output knob is approx 7/10.
The system volume, which isn’t applied in cubase, is approx. where it would be at the default -.07 db on a fader. About 3/4ths to the top.
The master fader in cubase is also at -.07 db.
I have tried running my output through control room activated and not activated. While activated, the mix is sort of muffled, unless I make a “phones” mix, at which point it sounds the same as if control room were deactivated.
My audio mixdown is at the highest quality possible, and is NOT set to a mono mixdown.
Any ideas? Or is it normal that your mix in cubase should be like WAY louder than you expect it to be when it’s exported?
Please help! I’m having a hell of a time getting my final mixes loud enough without muddying them up.
When I export, the audio file, wav. or mp3 or otherwise, is noticeably quieter than both my session mix and most other modern professional recordings, which we all know are pretty dang loud.
OK…there are 2 things to consider. You do want to make sure that you are exporting correctly so your volume is same as the mix within Cubase…import the file back into the project and play in cubase (soloed) to compare to the mix in progress (with the reimported track muted). Assuming this is about the same then you have everything set correctly and you can stop worrying about that…if it’s significantly different then you have something set wrong.
is noticeably quieter than most other modern professional recordings, which we all know are pretty dang loud
This is a whole other very big subject…although there are exceptions the vast majority of engineers/producers will not attampt to reach these levels during mix…it is done as a separate process called mastering.
Pretending for a moment that as a newbie who probably isn’t even mixing that great yet and who probably doesn’t have the skills or equipment to master at all well, you could gain some loudness by sticking a limiter on the stereo buss and lowering the threshold (or raising the input depending on the specific plugin)
as an add on: in any wave editor you can find a function called normalize. If you normalize the volume of a rendered wave that is too silent, the volume will be brought close to 0 db. so if you play back your tracks together with other tracks, yours aren’t too silent. But: this is not mastering as mentioned by Grim, just pumping up the volume to a commonly used level.