Logic Pro 9 Logic output problem

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beljon

Logician
Hello,

I have a problem with the volume output of Logic.

This is what I did: I created a composition with midi.
The music volume sounds ok when played in Logic (9).
Then I bounced the tracks (I also used normalize) and that way created an audio file.
When I put this file on a cd or on a usb stick and play it on my stereo or in my car, I have to turn up the volume knob very much to have a decent playback.
It is as if the recorded track was too low in volume.
But when I now create an audio track in Logic, import the audio file and play it, it is loud enough with the volume knob at 1/3. It feels as if Logic's volume output differs from the output on a normal stereo installation.
What is wrong?
 
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There's nothing wrong with logic, the step your missing is mastering, this entails (usually) dynamics (compression, limiting etc) equalisation and, now a days, "psycho acoustic enhancement" (technical term for carefully used distortion) logic has a few presets for this on the output channel strip. There is a lot to mastering and it's a very involved subject, plugins like ozone give passable results with their presets but to get decent results knowledge and tweaking are required!
 
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beljon said:
Hello,

I have a problem with the volume output of Logic.

This is what I did: I created a composition with midi.
The music volume sounds ok when played in Logic (9).
Then I bounced the tracks (I also used normalize) and that way created an audio file.
When I put this file on a cd or on a usb stick and play it on my stereo or in my car, I have to turn up the volume knob very much to have a decent playback.
It is as if the recorded track was too low in volume.
But when I now create an audio track in Logic, import the audio file and play it, it is loud enough with the volume knob at 1/3. It feels as if Logic's volume output differs from the output on a normal stereo installation.
What is wrong?
Click to expand...

Yep, I agree with everything mk said... There's nothing wrong with Logic, this is a normal artifact of the production chain. It is perfectly ok to have your Logic session run with peaks say at -12db but yes, it will sound low in the car up against all those properly mastered tracks that are made to be (too) loud these days.
There are various outlets to learn & understand what mastering audio means and what the best thing you can do to prep for it.
Having a mix (at a "low level" as you do,) is arguably the best way to go. :thmbup:
Headroom allows a mastering engineer to slam the hell out of your track to make it LOUD without sacrificing too much range & distortion. (which I assume you are expecting.)
But there a lot to learn about all this.
The rest is up to you to train your ears!
Here's what one mastering engineer wrote recently:
http://www.massivemastering.com/blog/index_files/Proper_Audio_Recording_Levels.php

Your question is an important one and one that has no quick answer. What you are asking must be learned & honed with your experience and your ears.
Search the forums here and elsewhere about recording levels, mix levels, what each facet of the recording & mixing chain does and take small-steps as things start to make sense.
Happy Listening! :hippy:
 
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You don't mention what Normalization (Peak or RMS) you used...
Have you tried not normalizing?
In what format did you bounce your project to CD/stick?
What type of music are we talking about?
Regardless of the way your project is mastered, you should expect that your music will sound differently depending on the system it will be played back on...
 
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