Audio Mastering an Album With Audacity | How To Make Your Songs Loud and Even (Remake)

How to master an album or group of songs with Audacity. To learn all about Audacity, a lot of people recommend The Book Of Audacity amzn.to/2xpHSZs
This is a remake of an earlier video I made with higher quality audio and video. How to make your songs loud in Audacity, how to master an album in Audacty, using the Hard Limiter, Amplify, etc... You can check out the older video here • Audio Mastering an Alb...
#audacity #audacitytutorial

[@cafiristanemperor]

Thank you for all your invaluable help, sir. People say here in Brazil, where I live, that we can't make good mixing and mastering with Audacity. i've just proved them dead wrong especially using your tips on mastering! I'll share this information with my friends here and spread these good news fo the ones who can't afford an expensive audio program.

[@demonicsweaters]

Obrigado amigo! Thanks so much, I'm really glad this helped you out. Check my playlist for all my audacity tutorials in one place! kzbin.info/aero/PLs9zAgLmBvnmraVVuGi_sxUfXnpZ5b1Uo

[@gixxerboy555]

I think u're wright about the "loudness" in the middle...I thought also..

[@notmorganfreeman6632]

"can't make good mixing and mastering with Audacity. i've just proved them dead wrong" - Oh, but you didn't, as your mixing and mastering _wasn't_ good. It's horribly overcompressed and god-awful.

[@randybobandy4385]

@@notmorganfreeman6632 wheres your music?

[@notmorganfreeman6632]

@@randybobandy4385 Do I need to be a chef to tell when the soup has too much salt?

[@AndrewBrown-td2ws]

In 2020 this is still a useful tutorial 😊 wish I'd found this videos years ago 🤯

[@happyrockthestone4670]

totally going to use this. Audacity makes things so much easier

[@GWAILIN]

Thanks for the tips my friend. I have several tracks where the vox sounded really 'buried' in the mix and found this a good way to bring them out to the front. Worked like a charm. The strip through the middle you were talking about, also generally contains the vocals I have found. Cheers from Toronto!

[@SkataIites]

Second decent audacitiy video tutorial on youtube. The first one was one of your videos too. Subscribed!

[@thegreatest6198]

thank you man for that shit with hard limiter, I've been trying to figure out how to make songs louder without distorting it, thank you appreciate your work!

[@blarschnarph]

Thank you so much. This was extremely helpful. I'm definitely going to keep this bookmarked for when I finish recording my album.

[@demonicsweaters]

You're welcome, glad it helped

[@teomania1226]

That was so clear, thanks for the tutorial! It really Helped me. Salute from Argentina

[@TikTok-cz8sl]

I'm very happy to learn more from this video, very clear explanation. Thank you so much.

[@Blues-House]

Thanks for this. Audacity is a great tool for mastering and this has helped me understand this more.

[@demonicsweaters]

+Blues House Glad this helped you out!

[@iTechOSyoutube]

I’ve been remastering CD albums with Audcacity for personal listening since last year, works great!

[@tellthenews897]

Great video and a VERY GOOD UNDERSTANDING of using Audacity. Very informative. LIKED and SUBSCRIBED

[@hongphuocnguyenthi6609]

Excellent video. Clearly explained all the basics to get started on soft soft. Thanks

[@sapelesteve]

Great tutorial! Even though I will never personally use the features discussed in the video, it was good to see how this stuff is done...............Subbed & will be watching a lot more of your videos...................Thanks

[@dshibbs1027]

never messed with the hard limiter. this seems to be the key to getting every track around the same volume. I was always trying to do it manually with the amplifier and it was challenging to not get the distorted sounds you were mentioning. also I agree 100% with you concerning the compression

[@sdfE36]

Hey man, just want to say thanks! this video saved my ASS on finishing an audio project.

[@kooksm48]

Hi Demonic, You have made my day today. This tutorial is just what I am looking for. Now I don't need to make the note and adjust the amp. volume for each song I play. Thank you very much. Cheer!!!

[@SiNxRealizeMusic]

Thanks for this video! It really helped me out a lot!

[@mspenningtons]

So well done and helpful.

[@beejaythedeejay5100]

Great job very informative I lean a lot from this post 5stars

[@kopperfieldekentertainer6708]

Very nice job of explaining and showing how to do this.

[@whoselineCZ]

thanks a ton! helped a lot. subbed

[@atheusconceptu3949]

new to audacity......thanks....crash course of awesome

[@garylarry88]

Yeah, thanks, great person for sharing your knowledge.

[@KoolKatRecordingStudios]

Dude! Thanks ever so much. there are not many vids out here for Mixing Down on Audacity...Only problem is though that I encountered was that in "Export Multiple", it once again Exported Individually and wouldnt Mix Down...so I tried it again in "Export Selected Audio"" & attempted in MP3 and it wouldnt let me neither so I tried again in FLAC and it Mixed Down...I tested it in my Windows Media Player & It works. Thanks man (Also I rediscovered about "go to TRACKS...there it gives You the Option to MIX & RENDER".....I had 7 tracks, I set the Pans, I MIXED & RENDERED & It combined ALL 7 tracks to a STEREO Track, and Then I "Exported Selected Audio" to FLAC & it rendered it Playable just like an MP3. Thanks

[@FreshHeat]

GREAT video, thank you

[@mattcoale1847]

HUGELY informative. Thank you very much! :)

[@demonicsweaters]

You're very welcome!

[@mrx-in4xh]

hi, just getting into audacity so appreciate your videos, thanks. My question: I see the playback volume of your tracks goes constantly into the red, shouldn't that be avoided?

[@Klaus312]

That’s pushed way over, you’re killing dynamics!

[@stuaxo]

This is basically what most music does now. The loudness wars won, while music lost.

[@upsdwatrzy2252]

@@stuaxo I wonder how much music from last two decades will be remembered.

[@stuaxo]

@@upsdwatrzy2252 true - with less dynamics there is less to remember and its fatiguing to listen to. Maybe there will be a backlash one day.

[@otamatoad314]

@@upsdwatrzy2252 a lot

[@antonio1681]

Any of you heard of Omnia de clipper vst?

[@tangkadadventures293]

Use reverb also by adjusting 75 to 78 or 77 ..sounds really fantastic!

[@nataf]

Thanks a lot for this video dude ! You saved my life.

[@demonicsweaters]

+Zack Styrax glad you found it helpful!

[@redteammusique2142]

Wow, thank you so much for this video tutorial!!! :)

[@demonicsweaters]

Red Team Musique glad you found it useful!

[@aqoosticsponge8185]

Very helpful, thank you!

[@GregJay]

What Version of Audacity are you using? The one I have does not have a tracks tab.

[@methadeth]

will these settings work with Vocals too? on a beat? will it make it sound just as good and professional with these settings?

[@playalot86]

Sir, you are a SAINT!

[@demonicsweaters]

not at all, like not even in the slightest, but glad I could help you with making some loud tracks, haha.

[@martinlewis2143]

Fantastic! Thanks so much! 🎸

[@tearitloosetearitloose4670]

Man you just made my day. Great tutorial. Cheers man.

[@demonicsweaters]

Glad I could help!

[@lagunamunta]

Great video! Super helpful!

[@notmorganfreeman6632]

No, his advice is severely damaging to the recording and should never be followed.

[@cristianvelardez8657]

its priceless. the slickness and the passion of the devs. priceless. what is cheaper and better than soft? Piracy is NOT the answer if you

[@cedargroveopryalamoga2873]

Thank you so much,hard to teach a old dog new tricks lol that is going to help me out a bunch.

[@demonicsweaters]

you're welcome my friend, I'm glad it helped you

[@Deandadee]

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

[@MisantropoFilantropo]

25 minutes of gold

[@dillonhunt3220]

How did you figure putting the 2nd at 4.0 instead of 3.2 like the first track would put them at almost the same level

[@aaronanderson9387]

I can't help but imagine that I'm listening to this guy talk on a radio station, he just sounds like he made for the radio

[@rpd801]

Thanks for this useful information.

[@demonicsweaters]

+rpd801 you're welcome. Happy you found it helpful!

[@rofcay1]

THANKS !!!!! a simple process that really helped !

[@demonicsweaters]

Glad you found it helpful :)

[@LaOficina502]

Thanks

[@OfficialPaulStillo]

Hi there. I know you posted this video quite a while ago.. I just stumbled across it as I try to research some mastering techniques. I recorded some stuff in Garageband. I tried your techniques from this video, but for some reason, I don't see the dramatic changes in my waveform/volume. I can't seem to get the boost that you got. When I did somehow get it louder, the sound started distorting.

[@jvstdare7119]

thank you ! :D

[@_BangDroid_]

I only needed to know how to label export. I did try that hard limiter/amplify trick, but it really didn't sound good. I had already mastered my album in FL Studio to between -13 and -10 dBFS, depending on the track. Thanks for the info.

[@ironicpunishmentdivision4226]

Really appreciate this walk through

[@ulicemracnebulletproofwest]

Can u help me i cant find equalisation in effects...

[@dominicansfuckwithblackhip3542]

Thanks Dog🔥🔥👊🏾👊🏾

[@ACundill]

Awesome vid! Now I realize my audio quality is just crappy :p

[@thiagooliveira4089]

In my humble opinion, I think this kills the dynamics of your track, cause it will make it exaggeratedly flat. I took for example the Paramore song "now" and they put a limiter of course, but they left some dynamics to not make the song sound too flat. So I think this tutorial is phenomenal, cause I use more Fl than Audacity, but I wouldn't go too crazy with the hard limiter.

[@demonicsweaters]

I agree really, but like it or not today people try to make music as loud as possible which is why I made the tutorial like this. I don't usually push my personal work quite this much. But it's all personal taste. If it helps people out, that's really all I want to do.

[@thiagooliveira4089]

You're very right about that, and your tutorial for sure helped many people, man, including me, cause I had no idea how to do that in audacity. God bless your life.

[@demonicsweaters]

Thank you Thiago

[@mikethebloodthirsty]

Its sad that music has become a loudness wankfest... But unfortunately, if your tracks not loud enough, its perceived by the ear as being lower quality. Esp noticeable when scrolling between tracks on the internet. I kind of blame the net for loudness wars, and Metallica!... Iggy Pop massacred the Raw Power remix too.

[@brissoma]

thanks for the info

[@sundxwnbackup]

thank you so much!!!!!

[@enemezhayesbaby6211]

Thanks man

[@HackingHackerChannel]

shit, awesome video dude!

[@jbmprod7049]

Hi can you help me on the mastering.....

[@R-Mc]

i have question my hard limiter has different types on audacity it first option is input gain (db) mono/left 0.00 2nd type is input gain (db) right channel 0.00 the 3rd type is limit to (db) 0.00 so those are my options after finishing my song so i can mix and master which one is the one so it can sound good i don't to sound distorted it

[@demonicsweaters]

yeah, that's the updated version of the plugin. Just raise input gain of L and R equal amounts, I usually do between 2 and 3 and leave limit to set to 0. Play around with it a bit and see what works.

[@Jerogimo123]

demonic sweaters i have a question for you. i tried this after i recorded on my track. i did everyting you said but my voice sounds really distorded in the final mix after i did what you said. could you help me with this pleas :)

[@demonicsweaters]

+Jeroen Borret you most likely did it too much. I say that in the video. If you overdue it, it'll distort.

[@ChamaigneMontana]

You just saved me SO much time. Didn't know what I didn't know!

[@demonicsweaters]

glad it helped you :)

[@tangkadadventures293]

I will do that anytime..I mastered 100 songs to insane high Quality 24 bit /48khz And adjustments...sounds is insane!

[@OLDTIMEANOINTEDGOSPELMUSIC]

Thank U - Great help

[@notmorganfreeman6632]

His advice is bad and severely damages the material.

[@knop_1111]

thank you!

[@robertwaterson9785]

hard limiter doesn't seem to work (Effect Failed To Initialize)... :(

[@JustFun-pu9jw]

Ur voice is super I spoke fr fun

[@demonicsweaters]

it's okay, I thought it was funny. :P

[@dshibbs1027]

thanks for the tutorial.

[@demonicsweaters]

You're welcome, thanks for watching. Glad you found it helpful.

[@kamarrecord6560]

im just used limither amply make our song peak! can i listen a full this song ??

[@devin9326]

is there a way to make beats sound better on Audacity does anyone know?

[@eggnoglattebufton]

Excellent tutorial, I tried this with 6 four minute songs, the final song in the chain came out at over 3hrs !? I can't figure out why. I removed the last song and again the new last song in the chain looked like it was going the same way as the export time was about 12 minutes instead of about 10 seconds like the previous tracks. Any ideas? I'm on pc windows 10.

[@demonicsweaters]

you most likely just have some blank space at the end of the session. Highlight the grey area after the last song then drag to the end and press delete.

[@eggnoglattebufton]

Demonic Sweaters thanks for getting back so soon. I did the mastering of the final song on its own and added it to the chain and it's exported as it should. Now the tracks have the consistency I was after. Many thanks.

[@davidedgar2642]

I have a good few songs recorded in the 70's (yes, old git!) that do not sound good. The sibilance is excruciatingly painful. Can one of your Audacity videos help?

[@robertthomas7580]

I`d like to string some songs together for a demo. Not sure how. I need a demo of 8 songs ( 40 second segments ) blended together. How do I do that in Audacity?

[@demonicsweaters]

Robert Thomas good question, I'll make a video on this. I'll try to have it done by tomorrow!

[@demonicsweaters]

here ya go! kzbin.info/www/bejne/r5KTqYCPqbWghbc

[@demedemertdemert5955]

I record 1 main track with acmp on keyboard and use it as a cue to record other tracks but the pain is that all the other tracks are being overdubbed and for ex if I record guitar that is being played with keyboard even if I click solo little bit of noise of the other track is coming into other tracks .. I want other tracks to be recorded separately though I play other tracks while recording is there any way

[@demonicsweaters]

this most likely has to do with your audio interface. You shouldn't be getting bleed by the other tracks. Sometimes cheap usb mixers will create this problem.

[@premierelitedrums]

Hi Justin. Have recorded a music song and put on to cd. But there is hardly any bass come through, when played on external cd players. Its more middle+treble. Is there anything I can add? As still have the recording on Audacity. Your help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks Paul.

[@demonicsweaters]

The sound of CD shouldn't change what you hear in Audacity. Make sure you're not mixing too loud, or that you're using flat response speakers to mix to make sure you're getting an accurate representation of what you're hearing.

[@jessyjair8]

THANK. YOU!!!!!

[@yakz9865]

Thx !

[@dudeballin3277]

I have a question for you. Instead of using a FLAC file could I use a MP3 file to save. Sorry if I sound uneducated I’ve been writing music all of my life but, I just started recording myself.

[@demonicsweaters]

Yes you can export as MP3, however MP3 is a compressed format and is lower quality than Flac or Wav.

[@dudeballin3277]

Demonic Sweaters thx for the information and I appreciate you responding to my comment means a lot honestly

[@demonicsweaters]

My pleasure

[@XlidorX7]

u saved my life

[@demonicsweaters]

+lidor turgeman haha, well I'm glad!

[@HashGray]

Thanks for the tutorial, but I'm wondering why you cut all the dynamics in the song. It makes it sounds louder, but doesn't it also make it sound "flatter" ?

[@demonicsweaters]

You're absolutely right. That's 21st century music for you. Everyone wants their tracks to be very loud. However I do find the Audacity Hard Limiter to be pretty transparent for the most part, and at least you don't end up with a lot of compression coloring.

[@Indyxpress]

Although having all the songs consisted with this method I can not totally agree with you about loosing the dynamics in the process. I will try and experiment on going with a little bit less than maxing up the volume. I'd rather had some breathing air in my songs, but then again it is also a question about genre like heavy metal vs. acoustic ballads.

[@Johnny.D]

your copy of audacity seems to have alot more effects then mine,where did you get them?

[@demonicsweaters]

www.audacityteam.org/download/plug-ins/ scroll down to where it says LADSPA plugins

[@tangkadadventures293]

U can use the volume..louder And the treble change to +5 then the bass -5 T

[@theeverythingyoucanimagine8123]

i really want the music that u have on here

[@timothyanton8011]

i have a beat in one channel, and vocals in another. when the bass on the beat stops for a second, the vocals become ear rape, then when the bass comes back in, the vocals go back to normal

[@lonelystar9446]

export it then place it in audacity and do what he does. Having the beat separated from the vocals is the main problem.

[@Sentobihh]

I just wanna know when mixing and mastering vocals for a rap song does the sound meter hitting red all the time bad

[@demonicsweaters]

It can, but not necessarily. My experience is Audacity can touch the red without distortion, but you have to be careful. It's best to try to avoid it if possible.

[@ronald5star]

Sir can u help me mix my sound to have good instrumentals 😞

[@demonicsweaters]

Your mixes sound good to me!

[@cedargroveopryalamoga2873]

Where is the link to download Audacity i did a search but dont see it

[@demonicsweaters]

www.audacityteam.org/

[@Algorox]

I don't have the Hard Limiter plugin, what do I do?

[@demonicsweaters]

What OS are you using? You may need to get the most current version of Audacity or download the plugin from the Audacity webpage.

[@Algorox]

demonic sweaters Win 10, and I have the latest version of Audacity.

[@demonicsweaters]

Then you will probably need to go to the Audacity website and download it

[@foxenwolf7108]

@@Algorox if yours is like mine then you should find it in a drop down menu in the limit option, there should be a soft and hard limit aswel as a soft and hard clipper.

[@thomassttt9650]

Hi there. Im at the point of sending my audacity tune to a mastering studio. Would they need to have audacity also to hear the links i email them?

[@demonicsweaters]

you will most likely want to export them a stereo wav rather than an audacity project. Did you record the whole song in Audacity?

[@thomassttt9650]

demonic sweaters hi, recorded tune on a drum machine with sampler etc.... they sent me back stems (tracks) as they need to start exact 0.1 seconds so they all fall into place when played together. Soni put into audacity and matched them all up back into exact time again. But when i send them over to the studio again via email could they hear them do you think? Or would I need to do something else

[@demonicsweaters]

Thomas sttt you will need to mix the track in Audacity then export it as a wav file, send them the wav to have mastered

[@thomassttt9650]

demonic sweaters thanks pal.... appreciated

[@iudsfbuds6996]

so if I convert the flac audio into mp3, will it make any difference to the track or tags?

[@demonicsweaters]

+50billion Well, the sound will obviously be not quite as good from flac to mp3, but depending on what you convert it with the tag should be kept in tact, but it just depends on what program you use to convert it. If you use Audacity, it will still be there.

[@iudsfbuds6996]

demonic sweaters thank you

[@demonicsweaters]

you're welcome :)

[@donovanmuse8071]

Question: If you were to put this on a CD, would it make one track flow seamlessly into the next or not? Cuz nobody ever shows if it does or not.

[@demonicsweaters]

That's a good question! This actually depends more on what you use to burn the CD. I always used to use Sony CD Architect for this. It allows you to set starting points of each track on the CD regardless of the file as well as make crossfades and 0 gap transitions.

[@donovanmuse8071]

demonic sweaters could you show how to do that in a program like iTunes or Windows Media Player? mainly the latter because I find myself using that one more. but I still use occasionally when I want to switch it up.

[@demonicsweaters]

Donovan Muse sorry but iTunes nor Windows Media Player have those options. you could try just making sure there's no gaps in Audacity then burn it in one and see, but I'm honestly not sure if it will work.

[@donovanmuse8071]

demonic sweaters gotcha i'll try thank you tho

[@demonicsweaters]

good luck!

[@SufyMusic]

wow 100k views

[@abrundag]

Hey Justin can you recommend an equalizer plugin that will allow you to adjust the eq while the track is playing? I already have Steve Harris's Multiband EQ LADSPA plugin which does what I want but it only has the sliders, not the graph one like the one built into Audacity has. Is there anything that combines both? Must be free and run in Linux!

[@demonicsweaters]

Hey Al, yeah, check the C* Eq10 LADSPA. It's part of the Caps plugin set, all of which are really nice quitte.de/dsp/caps.html.

[@abrundag]

I checked into that site and wow...confusing. It looks like those plugins require make-install which I never seem to have any luck with. Is there a page where I can just download the plugins and copy them into the ladspa folder?

[@demonicsweaters]

Al Brundage they should be in the repos. Just apt-cache search caps plugins and they should show up.

[@abrundag]

Good news-found em and installed. Bad news, it had the same screen as the Steve Harris EQ but with only 10 increments instead of 15. Slider controls. Yes it works but I had hoped to find something that uses the line graph like the built in Audacity one has but also lets you make adjustments while the song is playing. Also tried the Calf plugins. They don't work at all (do they work with Qtractor or Jack perhaps?)

[@demonicsweaters]

Oh, I must have misunderstood what you were asking. I thought you wanted a graphic EQ. Which is what the Caps one is, just setup vertically instead of horizontally. That's weird the Calf stuff doesn't work for you. All of that stuff works great for me. Maybe you need to upgrade. You mentioned before you were still on ubuntu 14. You could give my DIce OS live DVD a shot :)

[@omgitsYadi]

maybe i missed something how did you get it all on a single track?

[@tearitloosetearitloose4670]

You missed something. Look again

[@BatteryProductions]

linux music studio... yet uses windows o_0 BUT... the information provided here is superb!

[@demonicsweaters]

Thanks, but it is a very old video there's a newer version I streamed live in 2018.

[@rgjmce666]

Thanks so much for this, think I'll use it for an ep I'm doing

[@demonicsweaters]

+Ross Mc Gald you found it helpful Ross. Thanks for watching!

[@rgjmce666]

+demonic sweaters Yeah like I say I'm going to try this very soon

[@karanveersingh4981]

i have mac version it don’t have hard limiter it has a peak limiter any suggestions??

[@pcfuturerd5851]

The basics for anyone. Definitely putting tNice tutorials in my notes.

[@vividdarkness1360]

Hey do you know the sooundtrack of interstellar movie, Hans Zimmer - No Time for Caution Film version, it has vocals but is it possible to make it louder in Audacity?