I normally record the final product of a song to Audacity and export it from there. When I listen to it on Audacity, the song sounds good. The levels are fine and the EQ sounds good. Whenever I upload it somewhere or listen to the actual .wav or .mp3 file, it sounds quiet. Anyone have any ideas to record/mix to make the final export louder, while keeping the EQ the same? Also, if anyone has any other pointers regarding Audacity, or better recording programs/techniques, lemme hear them. Thanks.

tried to normalize?

normalize is usually bad for your audio becuause it is destructive,
when it turns up the sounds, it also recodes the data, essentially
destroying your original recording. So you might want to load another
song into audacity and see how big the wave is , and listen to how loud
it is, then you can compare it to your song in audacity, you may have
to mess with your input gain, and the output on your sampler to find the
sweet spot, also you might be using a mic in on your computer, this is also
pretty bad for recording a line input, unless your soundcard knows it is a line,
mic and headphones have a different frequency and are not for recording
a line signal. it is like playing a cd player on phono instead of aux on your amp.
sorry if this is confusing.

also according to flethcer hamming effect, apperently even adjusting
the volume is bad for your mixdown, because of the way frequencies
shift with different volumes applied.

Audacity is ok as a starting tool or for some simple stuff, I'd recommend trying out Reaper (multitrack DAW) ... comes with some great free plugins like compressors, limiters. It's free to try and is not crippled/limited trial like most software like that.

To greatly oversimplify - Record your track. Add a FX plugin compressor too it (in Reaper, try reaComp, or 1175 (?) or majorTom that come with it) - start with medium attack / quick-ish release , ratio of maybe 4:1. Play with the settings to get the track louder (maybe -6 db on avg) but not peaking. Watch out for 'pumping' or weird volume drops/peaks unless it suits your track.

Go to your master track, add a limiter (eventhorizon or eventhorizon2 work well), set the ceiling to around -.5, start dropping the threshold down .... the lower the threshold, the louder it will get...at some point it will sound nasty and brittle so you don't want too much limiting, and you don't want it 'squaring off' too much off the top, around -2 to -3db limiting should be plenty.

It sounds quiet because every other song out there that goes through a professional studio is hell bent on making their shit sound as loud as possible and thus destroying dynamics that might have been there. Don't fret cause your song is 'quiet'. Studios are trying to make a generation of deaf people.

As long as your track sounds as powerful or as floaty as you want, volume isn't really a huge issue. Digital mixing and distribution has lead to the destruction of dynamic audio.

So I just got to turn my volume up a little when I listen to your stuff. No big deal at all. It's not mastered, so don't be worried about a "loud" mix.
You just want all the right levels so everything sounds good within your tracks. That is a mix. Mastering will give the boost in volume when you're done with everything.
I wouldn't lose sleep over it.
If you wake up and it's still bothering you, try re-recording again. This time make sure the output on your source (i.e. sampler) is turned up and the input on your recording device is increased as well.
Whenever you're recording you want to "monitor" the incoming sound. And don't press record until what you hear is what you want.
Good luck in your endevours and have fun.

I have experienced the same problem. As written, normalize is destructive. Amplify is not. You can allow a little clipping and amplify a little more… But one solution is to bounce your beat back to the SP. If the “peak lamp” blinks a little don’t worry. Then export your beat as a wav and open it in audacity. I don’t know whats happening in the SP but the overall volume is much better.
I use an cheap digital recorder for easy bounce.

hseiken right, everything is overally compressed these days and that's why we loose dynamics.

If you want that loud sound, you're going to need compress the crap outta everything!

Although, if it sounds ok playing from Audacity and you then export and listen to the exported wav in exactly the same way but it's quiet, then there may be a problem! Could be that Audacity is lowering the volume of the whole track in the export process!

i switched back to hard limiting.

to test my mix ill listen to how loud a video is then match that level as my 'middle volume' on my master volume.

when my mix is sitting nice in the middle, i can sample it with eq and reverb
to glue it together.

or I can mix it down raw and keep it clean. then it's done, no normalizing or compression needed just whatevers already on your tracks. maybe some mastering eq now.

for the first way of sampling the mix, when you record it back in on the 606 it is quiet, so I hard limit it . maybe amp it first. if i remember right.
I had to amp the 606 bounce 17 db. and then I hard limited it 0db Gain, -.1 limit.

if your too quiet hard limiting will bring your bounce back to level without destroying the dynamics. but it is easy to go over board to start with +1 gain, then crank it to know where it starts rumbling, then go back to +1 then stop where it sits good at 'middle volume'

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SO INSTEAD OF SITTING HERE AND WATCH YOU SQUIRM AND FLAIL FOR 10 YEARS LIKE I DID, NOT EVEN FOR A SECOND CONSIDERING I WAS DOING SOMETHING WRONG, Listen up! and show someone who doesnt know. This technique will almost guarentee your tracks will sit nicely beside any of the loudest commercial songs on youtube or soundcloud. yes you guessed it NORMALIZE, my many years of neglecting normalize and working every song at a different mix volume, setting my own standards, having every track sound wonky , being a hypocrit and making shit up every word i type.

first ! play something loud. set your computer volume where it sounds comfortable. normalize your song, and reduce the unwanted loudness either with eq or plain volume, a few DB can sometimes do it.

keep your mixes clean and they should be identicle normalized.

i want to blame my computer mixer soundcard outputs for my problems,
but i'll look at the bright side and now I know, and learning is a process and it requires failing. now I can share with you.

once you fix up your normalized recording a little bit. and it sounds comfortable at your fixed normal volume you will be good to go.

i was always into sound, but to actually get a grasp and be able to control every element is the master skill.

peace
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