Lately I’m wondering about the following:

When I’m producing my track in Cubase, I will always pull my track up to -3dB to have the appropriate loudness. However, when I play a (bought) track in Windows Media Player, It always sounds WAY louder than mine -3dB in Cubase. And since 0dB kind off is the maximum before clipping, I was wondering how that’s possible.

Also, when I load a (bought) track into Cubase, and I play it without changing the volume, Cubase clips right away.

So I started wondering, am I doing something wrong with my tracks, or is this what they call the ‘War against loudness’. If it’s the last, how are they able to get their tracks so damn loud compared to mine.

Or last, could it be a setting in Cubase that’s set wrong?

[edit]And also, when I load a track of mine and a bought track into Adobe Audition, they both seem around -3dB to 0dB, but still the other track is way louder.[/edit]

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Because your bought track has been mastered and compressed to be that loud, its as simple as that.

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quote:

Originally posted by Subtle Because your bought track has been mastered and compressed to be that loud, its as simple as that.

Yeah, that's pretty logical, but check my little edit in the OP.

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The subjective impression of "loudness" has a lot more to do with *average* loudness than it does with *peak* loudness. Your track and the bought track might peak at about the same level, but the bought track will still seem "louder" because its average level is higher, i.e. it comes closer to being "constantly loud" than yours does.

quote:

Originally posted by Theran Yeah, that's pretty logical, but check my little edit in the OP.

Yeah by compressing and filtering out certain frequencies etc in the mastering process you can get the track to be perceived as louder. Its basically compression and EQ that is the key, also how the individual channels are processed through the mixing.

I also get bummed when i compare my tracks to a lot of other tracks, hearing as theirs is just a lot louder, but there are also tons of good new tracks around that doesnt have this kind of loudness too.

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Its all down to mastering, overcompression, loudness wars, whatever you want to call it. The RMS of some of these tracks is unbelievable.

I would never compare my track to a mastered track when mixing down. This is one reason a lot of beginners just slap a limiter on their 2-buss. Unfortunately a lot of people, even on here think its neccessary to throw a limiter on the master channel when mixing.

Check the RMS of the file using your editor statics if it has the option.

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quote:

Originally posted by Subtle Because your bought track has been mastered and compressed to be that loud, its as simple as that.

True, but that doesn't explain this:

quote:

Also, when I load a (bought) track into Cubase, and I play it without changing the volume, Cubase clips right away.

A mastered track would (presumably) be limited to prevent clipping. @Theran - at which stage is the purchased track clipping (i.e., track, buss, or master)?

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Just a curious question which sort of ties in here. What is a good rms to shoot for obviously not talking about the overcompressed over limited tracks but ones with more dynamics.

Usually my rms for mixes and productions is between 12-10, is this bad?

how to measure rms? current multiplied with voltage?

http://www.pleasurizemusic.com/

There is an online analyzer that will display peak and rms values, a dynamic range value, stereo correlation, and there is also a button for mono(to check for mono compatibility). The offline analyzer is what gives official values of Dynamic Range according the the group. For a technical explanation see the manual.

Both analyzers are free!

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quote:

Originally posted by dj_alfi change your avatar for fucks sake.

quote:

Originally posted by cryophonik True, but that doesn't explain this:

Yeah i have noticed this too, importing a track into Cubase and seeing the meter clip.
I dont put much thought to it though, the clip is probably just marginal, at least Wavelab does not clip the same track.

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