yo regaz, i've finisched my 404 beats tape...my beatz sound well, i've rec every beat under 0 Db, but the volume of the beat is too low, how can i obtain volume witout distorsion? some people told me about limiter, i'm not expert in mix, my beats came out from the 404, i rec them under 0 Db (someone is 0.6 Db) and now i want obtain more volume witout distorsion.

One love.

Antee.

If you record into Audacity, you can select all and apply the 'Normalize' effect, that will probably help.

ya man, what are you using to record

i'm using Acid Pro to record...do you know?

Run a compressor effect. You can either apply it to the main buss or to the individual tracks. First, let's clear something up: You have your mixtape played into the computer, is it separate songs? Like, you have 12 beats, and each beat is now it's own track in Acid? If that's the case, you'll apply a compressor to each individual track (because you probably need to "master" each beat a little differently).

I'm just going to go through settings, if you're unsure of how a compressor works, you can find tons of explanations on the net. Try tweakheadz.com

Now, take the compression ratio setting (it's defined by a number, then a colon, then a 1, example: 4:1). You'll want to set that ratio as high as possible, I believe Acid can go all the way to infinity. As long as you can get a double digit number, like 10:1 or 30:1, you'll be set. Set the "Threshold" somewhere between -5db and -0.5db. I suggest staying as far away from 0.0db as you can tolerate, but that's my opinion regarding the loudness wars, most people shoot for -0.1db or something close to that.

Two more settings, and I can't help you much here. You have "Attack" which will probably need to be set somewhere between 0ms and 10ms. "Release" is determined by the rhythm of the song, so I can't suggest a setting. Mostly what you're going for is a smooth transparent release. If it's set wrong, you can end up with a mix that "swims" in volume (which is sometimes done on purpose, but don't worry about that yet).

Now that you've got that setup, take the input gain (at the top of the compressor screen if you're using the factory FX from Sony) and increase that slider until you have the volume you want. What is happening is that the loudest elements and transients of your mix are being turned down, so the quieter parts can be turned up without the track clipping. It's not foolproof, you'll still need to watch for clipping and you shouldn't ram the mix through the compressor/limiter so much that it's what we describe as "squashed".

Another note: just get your mixes loud enough for your pleasure. Don't shoot for professional volume, you simply won't be able to get it and you'll end up destroying the dynamics of your mix in the pursuit of loudness. Professional CDs are recorded from step 1 with very expensive equipment, by very expensive professionals, and then mixed by a pro, and then mastered by a different pro. If your CD is a little quieter than pro CDs, don't worry about it. Very few listeners are concerned with volume. In fact I've never heard anyone dismiss a CD because it was too quiet. Make it sound good. If you blow up, you can always go back and have your CD professionally mastered for the mass market.

EDIT: I should point out that you can always go back and have your CD professionally mastered as long as you keep unmastered, unedited, raw versions of each track on hand. A CD can't be "unmastered" or in other words, mastered twice.

man, i've rec my beatz from the sp to the pc wit acid, each beat is one track, the volume of the samples are setting right wit the sp, i want only have more volume without distorsion...i've tried to use the compressor of the vynil sym but sometimes works well sometimes not...

yes, also try adding a little EQ after u compress to bring more of the life out of it.

i've tryed to use the Acid compressor but i don't obtain what i want...probably because i'm not able to use it, my tape is finisched but i want give it more volume

turn your amp up?

you need to learn how to use compression. this IS the answer to your problem.