I notice that when I mix down one of my mixes and look at the resulting waveform, typically if I have a drum track, I have big spikes where the drums are, while the vocals and other instrument tracks seem to stay within range of each other somewhere well below. The mix will sound okay to my ears, but I can't get it quite as loud as i want it to be w/out clipping those drums.
On the other hand, when I open up an MP3 from an album I own that is professionally mixed/mastered, I notice that often (not always) the waveform is all tight together right up against the ceiling just barely below clipping, and all bunched tightly together. Am I doing something wrong?
Professional Waveform sample (Camera Obscura's "Let's Get Out Of This Country"
theirmix.jpg (21.77 KiB) Viewed 903 times
My mix waveform sample
mymix.jpg (42.08 KiB) Viewed 903 times
"[...] so plodding it actually hurts a little bit" - Smalltown Mike
The difference is mastering, the combination of EQ, compression, clipping and limiting (applied AFTER you mixdown) to increase volume and help your mix translate better in many different listening environments. If you like how your song sounds as is, then I wouldn't worry about making it any louder.
Also, if you own the CD, definitely check out the actual CD audio before you check out the mp3. The reason is that the mp3 decoder changes how the song's peaks look, which can be misleading.
This is good to know, thanks. I did notice that as I opened up others, that the waveform was not always like that, even among different songs on the same album. It just seemed like my drum spikes were higher than the rest of my mix to an exaggerated extent. If you listen to that song in this week's fight, do the drums sound too high in the mix, or do the sound like they're balanced okay?
"[...] so plodding it actually hurts a little bit" - Smalltown Mike
I like your drum levels on that song, although I know there are some people who might say you should turn down the snare. However, another thing to keep in mind is that how high a sample "peaks" when you look at the waveform has nearly nothing to do with how loud it is. Instead, it has to do with how 'attacky' or 'clicky' your snare's transient is. To illustrate, a fingersnap close to the mic will peak louder than a cranked guitar amp, however the guitar surely sounds louder. This is because there is little relation between the peak of a sound and it's apparent volume (also called RMS volume). Just something to keep in mind when examining waveforms.
Okay, also good to know. I guess I was just worried that because my drums were peaking so high, I wouldn't be able to get my overall mix louder without clipping the drums, but I guess since no one has complained about the drums being to loud, it isn't an issue and I can focus on other things like multiple suggestions to add bass and getting some more emotional oomph out of my vocals.
"[...] so plodding it actually hurts a little bit" - Smalltown Mike
I've been experimenting with this same thing for sometime now. I don't like pushing the volume too high, because it kills the dynamics. The down side is, it sounds weak in the fights because everyone boosts their volume so much. On the plus side, I can crank it in my CD player in my truck and still have good dynamics. Some of the song entries here are so boosted, that they are almost un-listenable on my truck system, even though I normalize all of the songs together.
Adam, something you said above caught my ear/eye. I know what RMS is, but I always choose the max volume function as opposed to the RMS function, because it seems to limit the peaks. I should try maximizing the RMS on a few mixes.
