Boosting the level of a sample/VST

[NewWorldMare]

Sometimes, a certain VST or sample in my song won't be loud enough, even with the volume up to full. Often I'll find myself boosting the volume of that track with a compressor. I don't like to lower the volume of the rest of the mix because I'll just end up sticking a compressor on it anyway to get it louder

So, my two questions:

1. Is there a problem with using a compressor to boost the volume of a track?
2. Is there a better way to get one track (or the whole mix) louder in this situation?

[Freewave]

besides taking a sample and maximizing its volume before adding it to your daw (via audacity or sound forge or something) a compressor is a good idea anyway for a vocal sample (or just increase the volume in a channel) but some reverb can be used as well.

[SoaringFlight]

I have yet to find a vst that wouldnt be loud enough, samples are probably more common - but if i need to boost the volume, i just use Fl's builtin compressor at 1:1 ratio (so it doesnt change/compress the signal) and just turn up the output knob up. Same works for other daws, Ableton has its own gain thingie that lets you do this.

[Versilaryan]

If you're working with all your tracks at appropriate volumes, you should hardly ever have this problem. The master should never peak higher than -6 dB, which means each of your tracks shouldn't peak more than -13 or so. You can always use Fruity Limiter to boost the volume later, but in the meanwhile, it's good mixing practice to keep all your volumes low.

[NewWorldMare]

@DJ Pon-3: good idea, thanks for the advice.

@Soaring Flight: I use the same technique. I don't think it negatively affects my mix, but my ear isn't so great.

@Versilaryan: thanks for the advice. I assume you mean the main track should be -6 before mastering. The only problem I've got with having the master that quiet is that it's difficult to tell if the mixing is good. But I see the logic of boosting the volume later and then adjusting the mixing.

[prettiestPony]

Well, you could just use a gain-adjustment plugin instead. If your DAW doesn't have one, you can grab something like Blue Cat's Gain or GGain. It depends on how the compressor is actually designed, but it might change the audio quality subtly even at 1:1; so if you really really want the end result to be as true to the source as possible, you'd be better off using one of those than a compressor.

(Doesn't FLS have some kind of "volume" or "gain" native effect anyway?)

Really, though, if it sounds fine to you, it is fine. Adding a a teeny tiny bit of extra compression rarely hurts anything.

Also, in FL you should be able to edit samples to be able to bring their volume up. There should be a "normalize" option of some sort in the built-in editor's processing section/menu/whatever. Alternatively, I think older versions of Fruity Loops had some kind of "normalize" button or knob in the sampler device's UI, but it's been a while, and maybe it's changed or I'm misremembering.

[Versilaryan]

Yeah, it should peak at -6 before mastering, which means the average level should be around -8 or lower. Instead of cranking up the volume in your DAW, crank it up on your computer, on your sound system, wherever else. It doesn't have to be soft when you're listening to it -- it's just the gain levels should be lower in your DAW.

[prettiestPony]

Incidentally, I don't think -6dB is necessary, that's something of a holdover from the days of analog mixing. Of course, if you're sending your music somewhere to be mastered, you should render it however the engineer requests it, and I hear that most of them do want 6dB of headroom, so there's a reason to render it at that level.

But anyway, in the digital world, you mainly want to beware inter-sample peaks, but that's something to worry about during the mastering stage. As long as your rendered audio doesn't clip by going over 0dB, the waveform can be digitally lowered as necessary without loss of fidelity. (As far as I'm aware. There may be very rare exceptions in very extreme cases? I've experimented with fairly extreme changes, however, such as lowering a waveform by 40dB then raising it again, and it still nulled perfectly in a phase inversion test.)

On the flip side, however, rendering at like -.001dB isn't particularly necessary either, because, post-rendering, you can amplify it back up to that level without any loss of fidelity. So you don't need to sweat about getting it "as hot as possible" pre-mastering.

[JayB]

Yeah, it should peak at -6 before mastering, which means the average level should be around -8 or lower. Instead of cranking up the volume in your DAW, crank it up on your computer, on your sound system, wherever else. It doesn't have to be soft when you're listening to it -- it's just the gain levels should be lower in your DAW.

100% agree. You can boost as much level as you want in the mastering process. But while mixing turn your amplifier up and leave some air to 0 dB on the digital side. It gives you more freedom for the muxdown and more way to your faders and reduces the chance of digital clipping or sound manipulation of the DAW's internal limiter. And if you work with 24 bit you don't have to worry about dither noises.

[Versilaryan]

Inter-sample peaks are always a problem, but I personally find it easier, when I realize something is too soft, to boost the level on a single track than to lower the level on all the rest of them, which is something you can't do unless you have the headroom to do so. =P

And in the OP's case here, it means you don't have to boost signals as much using more and more plugins, especially FL only has room for so many.

[bartekko]

i'm sorry, but i don't understand why my song should peak at -6db, and not for example, at -0.5 db.

[Versilaryan]

Read up on inter-sample peaks. There's a link earlier in this thread.

Also, it's easier to work with things if you have the headroom to go either direction. If you're peaking at -.5 db, and everything's perfect except the hi hats are too soft, you can't boost volumes or everything will start to clip. So instead, you have to lower the volume on EVERYTHING else, which is a royal pain in the ass.

Besides, at the end of the mixing stage, it's really easy to just stick a limiter on the track and boost the volume, so there's no harm done.

I'm sure there are plenty of other reasons. If you send your stuff into any mastering house worth its salt, they'll reject your song if it's not mixed below -6, and sometimes as low as -10 or -12 db.

[prettiestPony]

Inter-sample peaks are always a problem, but I personally find it easier, when I realize something is too soft, to boost the level on a single track than to lower the level on all the rest of them, which is something you can't do unless you have the headroom to do so. =P

Oh, that makes sense.

And in the OP's case here, it means you don't have to boost signals as much using more and more plugins, especially FL only has room for so many.

True, true. Also, I suppose unexpectedly loud noises are slightly less likely to clip, so your ears might be savaged just a little bit less by harsh sounds, if something odd happens.

[NewWorldMare]

Hmm... inter-sample peaks, I'll have to read up on those. And the normalize option. I recall seeing that before, but have never made use of it.

The one problem I've still got is I can't actually boost FL's volume from Windows 7's volume control. I'm using the ASIO4ALL sound output for FL, which doesn't tie in to the normal volume control system. But sticking a limiter or compressor on the master track doesn't seem to make a difference, so I'll just do that.

@Versilaryan: having 6 dB of headroom makes more sense now. Thanks