Bocean Studios

One of the first hurdles new recording engineers must overcome is maximizing the volume of their recordings. Before I go any further, I must warn you that the following information is stripped down to it’s simplest. Getting your CD to sound as loud as commercial albums is a fine art - those heavily produced albums have well paid engineers using pieces gear (that probably cost more than a couple of month’s rent in San Francisco each) to reach that volume.

Loudness in audio is not about peaks. The human ear & brain perceive loudness as the average volume of a recording. Most forms of music - when performed and tracked well - use dynamics as a primary tool for expression. While broad-range dynamics convey well in quiet environments with critically listening audiences, they can loose their appeal in average listening circumstances such as in a car, headphones in public or in one of those aforementioned noisy San Francisco apartments.

In order to translate a dynamic performance to the average listening environment we use compression and limiting (which is just a “harder” form of compression). Compression takes the loudest parts of a performance and reduces it’s volume. This reduces the overall dynamic range and allows the overall volume of a track to be increased.

And that’s the basics of maximizing volume. Use compression to reduce dynamic range and then increase the overall volume to the upper limit. But it isn’t so simple. As stated earlier, dynamics are important to the human expression in music - that element that moves us, drives us to listen to and love music. When you reduce dynamics, you reduce the intended expressive qualities of a song.

It goes further than that. Compression - even performed by the best equipment - sounds bad when used too much. While it has some sought-after qualities such as adding “punch” and low end to a track, it can also make things sound flattened or just plan wrong.

In the effort to maximize the volume of a track it is critical to stay true to the source, rather than focus on getting the average decibel level as high as possible. Songs written and performed with dynamics should retain those dynamics in their recordings. Listeners can always adjust their player’s volume to suit their preferences and environment.

Not only do microphones never lie, they often exaggerate the truth.

Please excuse my misuse of the phrase; I mean to say that what a microphone hears often sounds like a hyperbole of the source. Mistakes are painfully apparent and stellar performances sound impossible.

It’s for this reason that the recording artist be fully prepared for the session. Their instrument should be in top shape and the chops required for the song should be well-toned.

Change your strings/heads/reeds/etc. a day or two before your session and break them in. Not so much that you take away that glistening new-ness, but rather just enough that you know you can rely on them during the session.

Rehearse the songs to memory well before the session. You want to come in fresh to it, but ready to play every note correctly. If you are a professionally trained musician this may not be necessary - a quick run-through a chart may be all the rehearsal you need to give an optimal performance.

If you’ve never recorded before, try it before you spend much money or someone else’s time. Most computers today have a mic line-in and most laptops even have microphones built in. You won’t get the best quality, but you will get comfortable performing for the most discerning of audiences: yourself.

The microphone doesn’t lie. Audio engineers can coax them into telling the nicest version of a story, but it’s impossible to make love out of war.