help! Garageband songs are not as loud as other songs in iTunes

[Alex123]

When I export my garageband made track to iTunes the volume is lower than other songs i have on garage band from other bands. I can't make it louder without it clipping. What should i do?

 

[zimv20]

you can't make it louder where without what clipping? in GB? have you overloaded the mix buss? did you record signals too hot for digital?

and the reason everything else is itunes is louder is most likely because it's been mastered and had the crap limited out of it.

 

[Frohike]

I assume you've just turned the master volume up before exporting it, if it is a case that you've recorded it pretty hot then you won't be able to make it louder without cracking it. Unfortunately thats the way it is, you could try working it in something like Audacity. That might have better control over the volume, however its stil likely to distort if you peak it.

 

[Vertigo50]

All those other songs have been compressed and limited to death until all the dynamics have been squashed out of them. Your song actually has dynamics, soft and loud, which is a good thing, but it keeps you from turning it up louder without reducing the dynamic range. You could try some compression and limiting if it's really important to you, but I wouldn't recommend you use much.

This has been the bane of the music industry for years. Human beings perceive louder songs to sound "better" or "fuller" than softer ones, so idiotic audio engineers and mastering engineers have been constantly battling to find ways to make their songs "louder" than all the other songs on the radio, so that when their song comes on, it sounds "better" and "fuller" than the one that just played.

All of this has resulted in music that sounds dull and lifeless, since it has no dynamic range (the difference between the loudest and softest parts). This is a slippery slope. Once you start competing with everyone else's squashed compressed songs, you'll just keep doing it more, and you'll be losing quality and life in your songs the whole way.

 

[beatsme]

what you might try is going into the master track and setting up the peak limiter, after which you should be able to boost the overall volume. It'll flatten the sound a little (or a lot, depending) but it might give you what you're looking for.