How to achieve a constant volume level throughout all tracks on my EP project?

[Ulrik Sander]

Hi

I have arranged, composed and produced 8 tracks, 7 of them with vocals, in FL Studio. I'm right now while I'm writing this in the process of saving all 8 project files in one directory tagged with track-number + song title. So that I have an overview of the album how I want it.

Now to the tricky part, I want the volume to be evened out all the way through. It doesn't have to be milimeter precise, but just a nice even volume percieved as constant throughout the album. I have removed ALL limiters/compressors and EVERYTHING on the Master channel of each project.

One of my weak sides is understanding of dB measure systems, etc. But I'm thinking what I want to do is: Make a new project in FL Studio. Insert a wave version of each project file from track 01 to 08 on the Mixer inserts 01 to 08.

If I have each song on a mixer channel, then all I'd need is some VST that can tell me the average volume of a song (in dB or whatever this is measured in usually...).

Am I right? Wouldn't I then be able to solo the first track, and analyze its average volume level. Then solo the next mixer channel (containing the EP's second track), analyze the average vol. level, AND then adjust its gain to fit the first mixer-channel's average volume-level... seems possible to me, though I don't know if this is common practice.

But with this method I could just solo the mixer channels one by one and gain-adjust each individually till they all have the same average volume level.

1. Am I on the right path? Is this an okay way to do it?
2. If, then which freeware VST can analyze the average volume-level of a signal?? Can Voxengo SPAN do this? If so how?

PS: I know I should get a mastering engineer to do this, but the fact is that this EP is just a little labour of love that I will be giving away for free. It has an underground DIY mentality to it, so therefore I am doing the mastering myself

Hope to get some quick response. Thanks a million guys!!

[MrMagneto]

SPAN is a nice tool. Since you were writing about perceived loudness, you also could try out t-racks tools that have exactly this function.

However,in my opinion, more important than the loudness would be a harmonic frequency balance.

[Trakstar]

I have to admit, thats what I exactly do and use and would have said the same thing, good advice. Seems we have more in common than I thought, sorry about the other day.

Also use a spectrum matching EQ to apply an EQ across all of your tracks to get them to a similar frequency balance, I use Voxengo Curve EQ. You can do it manually as well, but this way is a lot quicker. Make sure when you check your tracks on the spectrum analser that the volumes of the tracks are Equal and so you are getting a proper reading from it on how the Frequencies are weighed, if the volumes arent compensated correctly you will get wrong readings, check things like peak and rms values too, the T racks metering comes with settings that show how various styles of music are mastered at as well as rms and percieved volumes. You can download a 10 day demo to check it out from IK if you have to. If some frequencies are way off you might consider use of a multiband compressor as well

[Tarekith]

I do it the old fashioned way, I've seen too many times that the meters said one thing, but my ears told me something different. I just do my best at first to guess and get them close (this gets easier with time), then import them all as wav files into a daw session in the correct album order. Then I can quickly just jump around all the tracks on the album and make notes about which need to be adjusted up or down based on how they sound.

From there it's just a matter of going back to the project file of the songs that need adjustment, re-exporting a new version, and testing it against all the other songs again.

For some reason I find this easier first thing in the morning too, fresh ears and all that.

[Oktipus]

@Ulrik - You're on the right track. Whenever I mix/master a group of songs as a release, I find it very helpful to import the files into tracks in a new project.

I generally use FL Studio for production work but when I do the mastering, I have to admit I use Cubase just because I find greater control over the actual .wav files in Cubase.

Also, it seems like FL Studio loses some loudness when tracks are mixed down. Maybe it's just me but ...

[docdued]

Depends a lot on the variation of your material. If one song is an acoustic ballad and another song is some grindcore piece (just to be extreme) it wouldn't make sense to make them both have the same average loudness. So look for parts that are roughly comparable/that you would want to have the same loudness (like maybe the ecstatic outro of the ballad and the somewhat softer bridge of your metal piece) and match the average dBs of these parts.

[camsr]

You should consider a multiband compressor, with very light settings. This will help gel the tracks more than anything.

[thecontrolcentre]

I would import the finished mixes into a wave editor, and work out which track needs to be the loudest, then adjust the volume (and EQ if needed) of the other tracks to fit with that. I do it by ear, rather than by db ...

[Laxplanet]

One thing to keep in mind is your monitoring level. If you keep a constant monitoring level when mixing your mixes will sound more even, in terms of tonal balance as well as average volume. Using your ears is important but keeping your monitor level consistent will help to make sure what your ears are telling you has some relevance to other mixes you have done.