How Do You Make Your Tracks "really" loud?

[Lucy]

With what plugin or analogue gear? I ask because this question is pretty interesting. We have so much different plugins and many of them are amazing. Also we could try to find out what plugin makes the loudest volume. So, what do you guys use?

[PierreV]

Just do'nt.
Try to get the dynamics into your tracks but not as loud as possible and compress them to death!!
Pierre

[Jakester]

A limiter at the end of the chain, is a way to go to get some pronounced volume, but the effect is harsher then compression. Typically I just use EQ and compression, then normalize it -3 db below 0.

The guy I’m working with is a serious believer in separation through EQing and yells at me if I reach for any effects too soon. Which is great, since I think the quality of our mixes are improving, starting with better definition from the very beginning. I used to rely mostly on panning and volume for emphasis. With just keys it wasn’t much of an issue, add vocals, bass and lead guitar, I can quickly create a muddy reverberating mess. I still have way too much stuff to learn.

Anyway, I use the “Classic Master Limiter”, free plugin off of the Audacity links page. The presets are a too much, so I usually dial it down quite a bit. All the “classic” ones seem top notch, eq, delay, compressor, reverb etc. Here is the list:
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/forums.html?title=VST_Plug-ins
In Audacity the interface is just plain sliders, but in Sonar it uses the whole graphic interface. There are others available there as well.

[kkissinger]

I turn my tracks up to 11.

[jksuperstar]

[kkissinger]

the tracks can always use more cowbell.

[amplex]

Waves L3 Multimaximizer, 24bit hot and pumpy preset, minimize limiting to an appropriate level as -10db is usually way too much if your tracks are already bumping up to -3db or so, just finetune the bands, limiting levels, etc, to get an overall sound that you like. This is standard treatment for me on most of my tracks, of course relying on individual track volume/eq/panning beforehand.

[v-un-v]

[tgwotr]

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[nobody]

If you're going for loudness, don't forget to start at the beginning - record as hot as possible without clipping. Run an armed and monitored play-through and adjust the record level to near peak for the loudest dynamics.

Also, record at 24 bits instead of 16. This lowers your noise floor, which comes is handy with amplification and compression later.

Then follow all the great advice above.

[softfin]

You have probably figured this out already but I'll mention it anyway:
Spreading all instruments/tracks carefully in the stereo field. If done carefully enough, it will sure make your mixes louder. Also, proper use of eq will make a big difference.

And of course, like others have mentioned as well, dynamic processing is important, but I personally think that it's quite easy to destroy tunes by too much of limiting/compressing. I think it's usually better to compress/limit rather a little too little than a little too much.
But on the other hand... For loud and brutal drum tracks heavy compression with right settings brings loudness without sacrificing much dynamics. So it's also about how you compress and not only how much. Of course limiting is more straightforward in general, but there are also more advanced options like multiband limiting/compressing that might be the ticket in some cases.

[abstraktor]

Hi -my tuppenceworth.....
over compression/limiting of stereo bus mixes is a hot topic at the moment in the industry, because of the loss of dynamics in music. Louder doesnt mean better!

here's a link to what the legendary Bob Katz has to say..

http://www.digido.com/audio-faq/l/loud-cd-s-what-s-your-feeling-bob-and-references-to-sites-about-the-issue.html

[tgwotr]

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[blue hell]