Very low volume after Audio Mixdown!

When I do the audio mixdown the volume is very low and I now have increased the output volume to max in the mixer and it’s still just about normal (not loud though) Why???

How to create a mp3/wave that will have a higher volume?

What is the relevance of loudness war with the fact that my mixdown volume is low???

It wont take much looking to find out why your mix’s sound quiet to commercial tracks. Volume Wars is a good place to start.

If the following is too basic an explanation, please accept my apologies …

First thing is make sure that your signal in to your sound card, and to Cubase, is pushing the VU meters up a decent amount. Then make sure that in your mixer, the track signals are up to a decent level (try -12 dB as a peak just as a random number to start) on the VU meter. Do the same thing for your stereo out pair. You can right click the bottom of the VU meter to check what the input is, then the output, to each channel/track/group etc.

Once you’ve done that, assuming your connections are all good, and your gain-staging is good, it might be as loud as it’s going to get without more processing.

If you have any compressors or limiters in your set up, you can run through those, and make your track lots louder. However, it may not sound as good.

That is the 143-word summary of “Volume Wars”. Please leave your tuition payment in the little can by the door!

OK, and here’s something else fun to do that might help with your question:

Get your favorite commercial track ripped to Cubase. Run “Audio>Statistics” on it, and write down the: “Average RMS” , and the “peak sample” values.

Then do the same on your track and compare, especially the Average RMS. What we hear as loudness correlates pretty well to average RMS, much better actually than to the peak level. Most likely your “average RMS” value will be much lower than the commercial track, and that is probably why it sounds so soft.

Compression and limiting can make your track “look” like theirs a lot more (in terms of statistics, and also just look at how the commercial and the unprocessed home track just LOOK different). But as above, it may not sound as good as theirs, or even as good as yours before you did that extra processing.

I think finding the sweet spot between “loud but good sounding” and “distorted” or “way too loud” (either or both of these last two can happen if you overuse the compressors and limiters) is the skill and art of mixing and mastering. It’s a fun thing to learn, but at least for me, no immediate gratification - “if the journey isn’t fun, no point in leaving home”.

Good luck! :smiley:

Your issue is on the output side, you need to watch this video on “Mastering” and add few Inserts etc…

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