HELP! Need to boost volume of .cda or .mp3 file!!

[Whopbamboom]

Hello all, I'm a bit new to home recording. Don't even have much equipment yet, so I've been having other folks record me on the rare occasion I have access to them.

I do have a problem that I'm hoping someone here might be able to help me with. Very late last night I did a very amateur home recording of one of my songs (done on one track). After the sound system captured it, the song was played back through the sound system and the volume was just fine. And, you could also hear the lower bass frequencies just fine. The recording sounded "rich" enough to satisfy me at that time. So I had them burn a copy to CD with a .cda audio file.
The trouble is, that sound file is MUCH quieter when I attempt to play back through my CD player. The volume has to be turned quite high. I can barely hear it. And much of the "richness" has been lost-- I can barely hear any of the bass, which is very important to this recording. I also need to convert this file to .mp3 for the project at hand (which I did attempt to do, and that converted file is even quieter by a slight amount).
I need help figuring out how I can boost the overall volume of this file (and possibly bringing the bass back out) so that it can be easily heard, without causing strange distortions or reducing the clarity of the recording. This is for a project that is due in the next couple days. I'm not so sure that I can get another recording "session" lined up at all, so I'm doing my best to work with what I have at present.
Can anyone help????

[brandondrury]

First of all, I need to know what "sound system" is. I'm thinking of that trailer thingy they haul to the fair each year. It looks like a boombox, but it's like 20 feet long. I've got a feeling that this isn't what you used to record with.

I'm assuming that cda doesn't stand for California Dental Association.
Okay, now I get it. You didn't burn a .cda file, necessarily. You burned .wav files. When you open any cd on a computer, there is a little bity file used for specifying the song length and other technical things past my needed understanding. This is called a .cda file.

Since you managed to convert thing thing to an mp3, I guess you know how to rip songs into Windows Media Player or equivalent.

The volume loudness issue is very common. I've written numerous articles about it. Modern music has been compressed to DEATH. That's just how it's done. You need to do the same when you mix to get the music to the same level as modern recordings.

So if you really want this track louder, you can go into any .wav editor, compress it, (which will knock the peaks down) and then boost the entire track. Open up a cd you like in the .wav editor.

There are a million different .wav editors out there. I'm not sure of any free ones off hand. I'd just use Audacity, if I was broke and in a hurry. It's free.

You'll want to rip the song off the cd as a .wav file. You can't just save it. You have to rip it. I think Windows Media Player can do this, but I hate that program for anything other than playback.

Then, import the song into Audacity, slap on a compressor, and smash it. Smash it until it just starts to distort and then back off a little bit.

Brandon

[Whopbamboom]

Thanks for the response.
Nope, CDA was not for the dental association, LOL!The .cda was the type of file that my computer says is on that CD. It did not say it was a .wav file.
The sound system it was recorded on was at a local church. I have no idea what the system actually is.

You know, it's kind of funny, as I was waiting for a reply this last hour or two, I actually did some of what you mentioned--- maybe I'm smarter than I look afterall. I googled for some free (yes, I'm broke right now) audio editing programs, and did something like what you described. I wound up using WavePad (NCH Swift Sound) to do some tinkering. I forgot which program actually ripped it, but it got ripped to the computer desktop.

First, I highlighted the very beginning of the song (the guitar intro), and amplified that little bit to 200% of it's original in order to bring it more in line with the overall volume of the rest of the track. Then, I highlighted the entire song and "normalized" to 25% (is that what you meant by compressing?). Lastly, I then highlighted all of that again and amplified to 400% of the volume. That program would not allow me to amplify any more than 400%, plus it seemed to be getting a little distorted at 400% anyway.

This did bring the volume up a little, and now it can be heard somewhat, but it is still very quiet and I was certainly hoping to achieve better results.

Any other ideas?

[brandondrury]

The .cda was the type of file that my computer says is on that CD. It did not say it was a .wav file.

This is correct. This is how any audio cd works. Highlight all the .cda files (in Windows), right click, and select properties. They'll end up being very tiny. Obviously, there are much bigger files hiding their somewhere. I'm not sure why, but this is how audio cds work. You have to rip the MUCH large files to get access to the .wav files.

Trust me. This is 101 level stuff. I've been doing this for 6 years.

The sound system it was recorded on was at a local church. I have no idea what the system actually is.

Was it a computer or something else?

maybe I'm smarter than I look afterall.

That remains to be scene. I can't see you at all! har har

I wound up using WavePad (NCH Swift Sound) to do some tinkering.

I've never heard of it. That doesn't mean it isn't good, but it's not typically used in big boy recording studios or whatever.

Then, I highlighted the entire song and "normalized" to 25% (is that what you meant by compressing?).

No. Normalizing and compressing are not the same things although will both get the volume louder. There is "peak" normalization which finds the loudest part in a song, figures out how far from the peak this bit of sound is and boosts the entire track that amount. RMS normalization is a little trickier and will do all kinds of weird things to your track.

A compressor will knock the top off the peaks and then allow you to push the overall volume up. This is pretty straightforward in Audacity, if memory serves me.

I must say that I'm confused by this whole % thing.

Every audio software program I've ever used used dB (decibels). The % is probably very confusing because dB is a logarithmic measurement. % is linear, I guess.

Any other ideas?

Search results for Loudness on recordingreview.com

[Whopbamboom]

Thanks for the tips!

I went ahead and ripped the file as a .wav and not an .mp3 as the other program did, then took that .wav file and used compression on it with Audacity before amplifying (also with Audacity).

Yes, Audacity used actual dB's instead of a "percent of the original". Made it a little harder to anticipate the results ahead of time, and it took several tries, but I was finally able to get something better than before. However, it doesn't appear that I can go any further due to distortions that are beginning to happen, and I even tried using a compress-amplify-compress-amplify approach at one point just to see if that would help.

The final edit that I have MIGHT be good enough for the project at hand, but if I can schedule one more last-minute recording session, I might just re-record. That being said, do you have any tips for getting a louder recorded volume the first time? Perhaps they needed a compressor in the system at the beginning?? And/or an amplifier of some sort??

Thanks again for all your help!

[brandondrury]

. That being said, do you have any tips for getting a louder recorded volume the first time? Perhaps they needed a compressor in the system at the beginning?? And/or an amplifier of some sort??

I use compression on most tracks going in. I can't remember a vocal I didn't compress. I compress bass pretty hard. I sometimes compress electric guitars, but that's usually a tonal thing.

In the end, the final mix should be pretty much loud enough so that you don't have to compress too hard after the fact.

And/or an amplifier of some sort??

The problem is not so much in amplitute, but in dynamic range. You have to really kill the dynamic range to make the music loud.

For tips, check the link I posted above. I've several articles on the subject.

Brandon