Maximize Loudness With These Processing Tips

Maximizing the Loudness of Your Mix

The loudness war is over. EDM artists are too busy finding ways to get their mixes sounding louder to reminisce about the days of dynamics. Although I agree with the loudness of conservatives who say they'd "rather hear a quieter mix than a brick wall of distortion," there are correct ways to sacrifice dynamics. The truth, in short, is that this all starts at the sound design stage rather than the mastering stage. By utilizing the total potential loudness of individual elements from the ground up, you enable the mastering engineer to drive the limiter at a higher threshold without getting distortion. Despite the almost comical controversy, I'll do my best to point you toward obtaining a loud(er) mix.  

What Exactly is This About?

The loudness war started when some research was done about how people enjoy music. Amongst the conclusions, interesting data suggests people are likelier to enjoy songs that sound louder than another track. Of course, all the most prominent engineers in LA jumped on board and went about finding ways to achieve the most deafening audio levels possible within the restrictions of their software and hardware. It became apparent that the only way to accomplish this was by sacrificing dynamics - this is where the whole argument started. The Red Hot Chilli Peppers' Can't Stop is one of the first big albums influenced by this development. If you look at the songs in your DAW, you'll realize that the top of the waveform is cut off and looks like an entire rectangle as you zoom out. The reason for that truncated waveform is the limiter on the master bus. The loudness war has given birth to the art form, "getting your mix to sound loudest without distorting." We accomplish this using a range of effects in any DAW: Saturation, Compression, Limiting, and EQ.  

The Tools

Saturation:

Digital saturators emulate the effect of running tape too hot. In the days when engineers were recording and mixing on tape, running too much signal into the tape would add harmonics and naturally compress the dynamic range. The DAW equivalent is running a meter into the red - except - this causes clipping. And digital clipping doesn't have an appealing effect on the sound. Saturation can help make a sound louder because reducing the dynamics creates a denser waveform with more "area under the curve." The added harmonics help make the sound "fuller" without increasing its overall level.  

Compression:

Compressors reduce the dynamic range of a signal by reducing the gain as the input signal crosses a determined threshold. The ratio determines the strength of this reduction. In a ratio of 2:1, every dB that crosses the threshold is halved. The time parameters - attack, release - determine how quickly the compressor starts acting once the signal has crossed the threshold. Levels of various elements in a track can vary greatly. However, these momentary peaks don't impact how loud we perceive the overall element. By compressing a signal, we can take control of these fluctuations in level without decreasing the mix's loudness. This ultimately means boosting the level even louder in the mastering stage.  

Limiting:

Last but not least, limiting is the effect that treats loudness most directly, ultimately enabling us to get the full potential out of our sound. A limiter can be seen as a radical compressor. It stops any signal from going over a certain threshold. When pushed too hard, a limiter will distort, which is not (always) meliorative. To get the most out of a limiter, it's important to compress the signal first. Feeding a stable signal into the limiter will prevent it from distorting peaks. Now that you know better how these effects can be applied, I will go through two examples. Then, I'll use them to elements you might find in a track and discuss how to get them to sound louder without increasing the actual levels in your DAW.  

Example 1

Drums are delicate in that simply dropping a limiter on them and crushing them to get more volume will destroy the transients of individual hits, meaning they will no longer cut through your mix. However, I will push this technique to the extreme for this example to demonstrate how far it goes. I'll use TAL-Tube and LVLMeter, freeware VSTs, and built-in SoundBridge FX. I've loaded up a snare from SoundBridget's default sample pack for this first example. My level meter shows me that it's hitting -2 dB.  

 

After applying some saturation, I lowered the signal level by 3 dB. Yes, the compromise is some coloration of the sound, but I am using extreme settings for demonstration purposes.  

 

As you can see from the level meter again, the peak (red line) is just above -5 dB.  

 

After the saturator, I've placed Soundbridge's built-in compressor. I took down the attack and put the ratio up to about 5:1. Then, I moved the threshold until I heard the transient being affected. I mentioned before that drum transients are precious. In this example, if I moved the threshold any lower, I'd be butchering them.  

 

Looking at the meter again, I see I've decreased the level by another 2 dB.  

 

The final effect I'll add to this chain is a limiter. Although I won't be trying to lower the level of our snare much further, I will use the limiter to reduce the ceiling and boost the gain ever so slightly (at the cost of more damage to the transient). I set the limiter's ceiling at -7 dB, and there we go... Without decreasing the perceived loudness of the sound, I have a sound that is 5 dB quieter than the first. This ultimately means that I can boost the volume of the final sample by 5 decibels before it reaches the level of the first.  

Example 2

For this second example, I've gone through this same process with a simple wobble bass I created in Massive. As we can see from the meter, it's hitting around -6 dB.  

 

Like with the snare, I applied the other effects in the same order. With this bass, there aren't any transients I have to watch out for, but I want to be careful not to distort the sound too much.  

 

The extensive range of frequency content proves to be a limitation when working with basses. This prevents us from significantly reducing the sound level without distorting it. However, the margins are more significant with some great plug-ins; you can apply them more prominently.  

   

After our limiter, the meter picks up a sound at -8.5 dB.  

 

This effectively means that we've reduced the level of our bass by 2.5 dB without making it sound any quieter. Not only does the bass not sound louder, it sounds brighter and better. This is because the effects have naturally equalized the sound to bring out the highs and attenuate the lows. Because our ears respond to high-frequency content much more potent, the sound seems to be at the same loudness. Although this second example is less apparent than the first, the final bass is a little louder than the first, and the effects have colored it favorably. It will come through the mix more and work with other elements better. As well as this, in the mastering stages, the fact that we have tamed it will enable engineers to limit it harder without distorting the audio. These loudness concepts can be applied to just about anything in your track. But if you overuse them, you will get a very flat and dull mix. Hence, I recommend using them only to the elements you wish to bring out in your track.