tracks on soundcloud just not loud enough?

I feel like my tracks sound a little quiet on soundcloud....

...just needs to be a little bit louder.

Does soundcloud automatically normalize all tracks?
Any tips?

soundcloud does not normalize, pretty certain of that after uploading an ambient track that i had set very low on purpose as it being normalized to 0 were just too loud, and it then stayed at a low volume after upload..

but i am aware of a bug with the volume slider, at least on the classic site, where things can get stuck on a previous lower volume setting even though it says it is at the top.. and then the page needs to be refreshed after the volume has been set to max to have everything reset... not sure what triggers it but think its just soundcloud saving your slider settings, and going away and coming back will have the position you left it as being interpreted as being max.

a little quiet relative to what?
to the audio clip when you just play it from your computer's hd? check the volume slider, maybe try refreshing after changing it, in case there's a glitch like ibunshi said.
quiet compared to some other people's tracks on soundcloud, or compared to other music you have on your computer? maybe they're just mastered louder.

sciguy wrote:a little quiet relative to what?

yeah really.. that's what I was thinking.. check your computer's volume control panel and check if the browser's volume is at the same level as what ever you are comparing it to... also check soundcloud and the other audio player's volume..

Quiet compared to other peoples tracks on soundcloud.

Being that I enter a lot of beat battles,
it sucks when I hear a few other beats,
then listen to mine, and it sounds kinda faint.

Since this original post, I have just really tried to turn up the volume on my mixdowns as loud as possible.

...either way, not a huge deal.
Just wanted to get some feedback...

peace

it's not just a matter of turning up the mixdown volume.
the louder beats in the battles, or the louder tracks on sc in general (or anywhere) are just better/louder mastered. either they've better developed their skills in mastering a beat for the best dynamics and volume, or they've got a limiter/maximizer crudely flattening everything out and making it as loud as possible. (please don't resort to the latter... )

you could try this..

i have with past set ups had certain volume sliders set too high, which in turn caused me to mixdown at a lower volume, as going higher would have been unpleasant... sounding good and loud enough when i'm working... but where the final result ends up much lower in comparison with other material because of it

so yeah. i'd check sliders at first, especially if you go through various stages with the audio

may just be that it needs a bit of eq'ing as well...

though personally i'd rather raise the volume myself on music i hear than having it done for me by the act of people mixing solely for loudness, when doing so often removes dynamics and sterilizes the sound.. so much good music has been ruined that way.

Take your tracks into Audacity, and then go to the Effects dropdown and click "Amplify". It will raise the audio to the appropriate level right before peaking.

bearhead means "normalize", I believe.

You can also amplify it a bit past what normalize gets you. Sometimes there might be tiny peaks that are louder than the rest of the track, and if they're short enough, you can get away with amplifying past where those little peaks clip.

sciguy wrote:bearhead means "normalize", I believe.

You can also amplify it a bit past what normalize gets you. Sometimes there might be tiny peaks that are louder than the rest of the track, and if they're short enough, you can get away with amplifying past where those little peaks clip.

Yes, but I only mentioned the amplify feature since you can bring up the audio level right before it peaks.

EDIT: You can get away with it, but I would much rather use a limiter for something like that. I don't really like a flat sound wave, however. It really pulls the punch away from the track. If it's not loud enough, turn up your volume... Don't destroy a song because you're too lazy to turn a dial.