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any ideas on how to increase volume w/out distortion?

Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 12:12 am
by tommytones
Hello all,

I recently have been working on some tracks with audacity, only to find out when I burn tracks to CD, the volume is low.
I've used the compressor, equalization, and g-verb effects, and adjusted the gain to make sure there is no clipping, but when I export the file (as a .wav) to itunes and burn it to CD, the volume is dissapointingly low on playback. Any tips?

Much appreciated,

Tommytones

Re: any ideas on how to increase volume w/out distortion?

Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 7:09 am
by steve
More compression.
Try the compressor in Audacity 1.3.13 and use the "based on peaks" option. with a fast attack/decay. http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/Compressor

Re: any ideas on how to increase volume w/out distortion?

Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 9:56 pm
by tommytones
steve wrote:More compression.
Try the compressor in Audacity 1.3.13 and use the "based on peaks" option. with a fast attack/decay. http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/Compressor
Thanks. I use some compression on tracks, but it still comes out soft. I'll try a faster attack and decay.

Tommytones

Re: any ideas on how to increase volume w/out distortion?

Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 11:48 pm
by steve
If you could post a short sample (just a few seconds, preferably in FLAC or WAV format) then we may be able to suggest some settings.

Re: any ideas on how to increase volume w/out distortion?

Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 11:53 pm
by tommytones
____________________________
File Thumbprint - SHA:
d4f79d7bc639fe86ac68961e6273836b9d7af491773fd054395b33d317017beb
____________________________
File Thumbprint - MD5:
3794b461c45882e06856f282eef025af
____________________________


I did a copy and paste, does this work. Or how do I ad a sample?

Re: any ideas on how to increase volume w/out distortion?

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 12:12 am
by steve
When you reply, look below the message compose box - there's a tab that says "Upload attachment". Click on that and you can browse for the audio file (must be short - the size limit is only 1 or 2 MB) then click "Add the file".

Re: any ideas on how to increase volume w/out distortion?

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 12:24 am
by tommytones
Thanks, I did just that. I didn't know that. I uploaded the whole file, hopefully it will post only a few seconds.

Re: any ideas on how to increase volume w/out distortion?

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 12:43 am
by steve
Close but no cigar ;)
That's not an audio file, it's part of an Audacity Project (while we're on the subject, do read this vital information: http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/Audacity_Projects )

To make an audio file that you can upload and I can download, select a few seconds (say 4 or 5 seconds) then from the File menu select "Export Selection". I'm unsure if you're currently on Audacity 1.2.6 or 1.3.13, but hopefully you can work out the rest of the details. Must go now, but should be able to look in again tomorrow.

Steve

Re: any ideas on how to increase volume w/out distortion?

Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 1:14 am
by tommytones
how about this one? I did what you said, so it should work. And, yes, I am using windows 1.3.13 beta on vista os. Thanks for your help.

Re: any ideas on how to increase volume w/out distortion?

Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 5:17 pm
by kozikowski
A very easy way to get a high-quality volume boost is Chris's Compressor.

http://pdf23ds.net/software/dynamic-compressor/

His software was designed to be musical and graceful and not an exercise in arithmetic.

Koz