More volume needed please

Hi there. Im trying to make my own CD! So far on my first song i downloaded it to my galaxy 5 and played it through my car stereo. The problem is i turned it up to MAX volume and it still isnt very loud. I think if i put volume levels up anymore on Audacity it starts to redline. Im guessing theres something im not doing as im new to Audacity!
Thankyou.

While you had the work in Audacity, it should look roughly like this:

From four seconds on to the right is a normal volume show, roughly 50% up and down on the blue waves and -6 peaks on the bouncing sound meter. You have to pay attention to the instruments and graphics in Audacity because recording volume, editing volume and playback volume are all independent. If you pay attention to the wrong things, you could be chasing your tail.

While the song is in Audacity, select the whole thing by clicking just above MUTE (on the left). The whole track should turn gray.

Effect > Amplify > OK.

That will make the song as loud as possible without damage. You can make it louder still, but that requires processing and complicated filters.

File > Export: WAV (Microsoft) > OK.

Drop that sound file into your Audio CD Authoring Program. It should let you arrange the order of the songs and let you change the gap between them. Normal is two seconds. There are other types of CD and you can tell if you get one of those by accident because it won’t let you change the gap. You should in insist on Audio CD because some of the others won’t play in your car.

It’s never going to sound like CDs you bought, because Adele, Lovato, Coldplay, etc all use extensive processing in their work to sound as loud as possible, but it should be listenable without turning the system all the way up.

Koz

Thanks Koz. ill give it a shot!