Using 'mixdown' feature makes song too quiet?

Hello,

I have tried to make use of the "mixdown" feature to convert my tracks to a .WAV file but it always comes out very, very quiet. Am I doing something wrong?

Also, I'm somewhat of a purist and would like to avoid using a computer if possible. Is it realistic to keep everything within my MPC? Or am I doing my music a disservice by not tracking it out to a DAW for post-production?

Hi,
No you're not doing something wrong.
If you want something loud you have to do post-production indeed
If you wanna be a purist prepare yourself for spending hundred thousands dollars in expensive analog gear.
Otherwise If you wanna keep it realistic you can cop REAPER and OZONE for cheap for example. It will greatly do the job

I think he's doing something wrong, it's about Master Level, and eventually fx compressors and also Master compressor and generally balancing a track to peak at Master Level max output. To record good on Main Out (resample) you have to first do a test recording (just a few seconds showing overall volume) and look into Trim mode what's the amplitude of a recorded wav if it's sufficiently visible and not clipping. This is just because there is no level meters when recording Main Outs inside MPC.

So basically, what's you Master Level and are you using compressors?

Bugfix wrote:I think he's doing something wrong, it's about Master Level, and eventually fx compressors and also Master compressor and generally balancing a track to peak at Master Level max output. To record good on Main Out (resample) you have to first do a test recording (just a few seconds showing overall volume) and look into Trim mode what's the amplitude of a recorded wav if it's sufficiently visible and not clipping. This is just because there is no level meters when recording Main Outs inside MPC.

So basically, what's you Master Level and are you using compressors?

Yes!!! this was the issue, I had the master output set at -12DB. Set it to 0DB to mixdown and my songs came out just fine. Thank you for the help.

You might want to set that to -6db so you have some headroom for mixing it down.

Ocular wrote:You might want to set that to -6db so you have some headroom for mixing it down.

Good thinking! By headroom, you're talking about the chance of clipping, right?