Not enough level on Cakewalk, please help

[AliAlexandre]

Hi, I have been using Cakewalk Pro Audio (currently Version 9 ) for 4 years now, but there is a stage I would like to overcome in order to make better recordings and I am sure you guys, and you Craig can/will help me. First of all, my current setup : PII 350 with 2 HD ( 1 for audio) Ram : 196 Meg. Soundcard : Midiman Delta 44(24 bits) preamps : Aphex 107, mackie 1402, Mesa Boogie V-Twin for guitar + bass + other paraphernelia... Mics : AKG c 3000, Rode NTV. I have improved drastically my recording skills in 2000/2001 for various reasons and have definitely reached a step that I was unable to reach some time ago, however, something is still frustrating me a lot : After having recorded all the tracks that I want on a project, made a rough mix of them, I ALWAYS notice that the meters in the master volume section of the sofware mixer in Cakewalk are very low, reaching in the best case 1/3 of the total level, in most case only 1/4 on the loudest signals. I know it means that I am not using the full dynamic of my recording capacities. When I try to increase the volumes of all the tracks in order to get better results, I will very quickly reach the top and will no longer be able to mix anything, and does not mean anywaythat I have reached full capacity in the master section when playback. I have tried to use the Normalize function, but it often leads to digital artifacts ( buzz on certain parts) and I think that it does not solve the problem from its origins anyway. For you info, each time I record a track, I try to get the loudest signal possible without too much hiss or background noise, and the input on my soundcard are set to max. Last Sunday, I tried to compare at same volume level on my monitoring system how the demo songs in Cakewalk were doing, so I've played the "Don't matter etc." song and the "Radio spot", and desperatly heard this loud healthy signal in the monitors, and noticed that the master volume section on the mixer was almost full of signal. Even worse, when I soloed the voice on the "radio spot", the lady was speaking with a clear!, loud voice, with NO hiss). I don't know how to get such a loud signal remaining SO CLEAN! The NGate solution would not work for me since the hiss is there when the signal is playing, and of course not only between. I am figuring out now that maybe I push too loud the level on the monitor system (I use the mackie as the monitoring system while recording )while recording , which makes me hear a lot of hiss, which results in not playing loud enough actually, however, I sware the level on the Aphex 107 is almost at 9 out of 10! Futhermore, this does not give a clear signal, beacuse I have hiss. Please help me. I would be reading to trade anything I own if there was 1 thing I could get to do the job simply, clearly, cleanly, loudly. Is there something wrong with what I am doing ? Is it the best I could do with my gear, meaning that the guys at Cakewalk use gear that is in another league and that is the key for this tone. At the current time, I no longer care about "warmth" and so on, I just want : VERY LOUD and CLEAN! Thanks Alex

[Anderton]

This is frustrating, because I'm sure if I was sitting beside you, we'd have the problem nailed in a minute. This is probably a gain-staging problem. You say you try to record each track at the loudest possible level without getting too much noise. That's the first clue: you should be trying to get the loudest possible signal without generating distortion. I interpret the fact that turning up levels means that you're getting more noise, not more distortion, indicates that your source signal (mic, guitar, whatever) is not loud enough. Maybe there is a mic impedance mismatch? You don't indicate what you're trying to record, but you need to increase the level dramatically. Maybe you're using -10 gear and feeding devices that want to see +4? If all your individual tracks hit 0 at their highest peaks, then summing them together should give you plenty of level for your final mix. I have the opposite problem: I record my tracks really hot, so I generally need to bring the levels down a bit to prevent my stereo master from distorting. So tell us some more about what's geneating the signals you're recording.

[Anderton]

One other thing just occurred to me, please forgive me if this is too basic. When you record basic tracks, do not attempt to record them at anything but the highest possible level, short of distortion. In other words, if you want a soft string pad, don't record it at -20 because then it sounds good while you're monitoring. Make sure it uses the full available headroom, and use the track's monitor level control -- not the record input -- to bring down the level as you monitor.

[AliAlexandre]

Thanks Craig for such a quick answer. Reading your post, it seems my gear should be able to produce what I am looking for since you do not mention anything abou it. So probably you are right, there is something wrong in what I am doing. I have set the input of the Midiman on +4db option, and the output of the Aphex on the same. However I have read somewhere that probably both devices do not really match and I should try to set the input level in the card at "consumer or -10 db level" so it would be hotter? Is is the same with the Mackie table ? ( only the Aphex goes direct in the card, the rest of the preamps such as the Mesa Boogie go in the Mackie line input, then in the 3/4 input of the card) Alex

[Anderton]

If the MIDIMAN has a -10 option, try it. Also, a lot of the loudness you're hearing in commercial tunes is due to compression of individual tracks and mastering.