How do I master a song with clear and loud sound in FL Studio?
First of all, one should be very clear about mastering the mix. It's not a single virtual knob to deal with. It's a huge concept, require lots of experience. I think, no one till now is the king of mastering, they can't even say themselves, the same.No one can teach you, how to master.It's a self learning process. You'll develop after each and every attempt, examining the sounds with the perfect gear (it's important).Mastering the mix is an art to give the perfect space to each elements, without losing it's significant frequencies, up to the maximum volume(gain) level.In the case of FL studio, inbuilt tools like Maximus (optimize towards the required frequencies), Soundgoodizer (makes sound crispier), Wavecandy (examining the inhead audio distribution & db level) etc. are mostly used.Well, the above mentions uses the basic audio equalization. It's direct and easiest way to do. But, when it comes to channel splitting (mono/ stereo), mechanical arrangements are required, or it can be performed virtually in FL studio. For, this it's mandatory to know about “Mid-side Processing”.What is Mid/Side Processing?In FL studio, Patcher is the ultimate tool to implement Mid-Side Processing.The above arrangements, which allows you to split the optimistized mono & stereo channel passing over Stereo Shaper & then through Fruity Parametric EQ 2, which creates the balanced output.Remember : All these operations are done only in master channel.These are some of the basic theory to do so, but remember again, there is no hard & fast rule for mastering. Everyone is learning by their mistakes. Using tools (vsts/plugins) effectively is also an art. Go! train your ears.
How does compression and limiting effect sound?
Another way to think of compression is to think of an audio file like mountain range with high peaks and low valleys. These are the loudest and softest portions of the audio file. Compression would be to chop down the mountain to create a uniform flat terrain with less peaks and valleys. Compression removes the peaks so the overall volume stays more uniform. When the overall volume is uniform then the total volume can be raised without the concern that the peaks are too loud.The volume is more consistent without peaks and valleys.
What does the term "dynamic compression" mean when used in reference to audio speakers ?
Actually, the question was...what does it mean in reference to SPEAKERS folks! Audio compression is different and has nothing to do with the speakers. You can have a system with dynamic compression in the audio due to either an actual limiter circuit or not enough amplifier power...but you may have speakers that are not dynamically compressing (just compressed sound). When a speaker dynamically compresses, it in essence runs out of output capability. This normally happens when a speaker reaches the limits of output and simply can't put out any more sound. It happens often with most inexpensive to medium priced speaker systems (a lot on the "satellite subwoofer systems, particularly the Bose systems). You'll usually run itto it on home theater sound tracks which tend to have a LOT of dynamic range. You will be listening to a sound track at a reference volume and a large transient peak will come along. The speaker system simply runs out of the ability to go any louder (assuming the amplifier still has the headroom and doesn't clip first). Here is an example...say you have a typical satellite/subwoofer speaker system. You are sitting 10 feet from the speakers and you are playing a movie at 90 db at your seats...which means your speakers have to put out 100 db of sound. Now, a 10 db peak comes along (big explosion in the movie...etc). Your speakers need to output 110 db...but they are only capable of 105db. There...you now have dynamic compression. You can also get dynamic compression when there are frequencies that come thru that your system can't reproduce. Take a specific example...somebody has a Bose Acoustimess system (sorry). The bass cube in that system is -3db at 43 hz. Now, you play War of the Worlds on DVD, the section where the machine comes out of the ground which has bass frequencies all the way down into the 10 hz range at high levels. Your bass cube simply cannot reproduce those frequencies with any volume or impact and they simply run out of output (which is why the Acoustimess bass module is NOT a subwoofer). That is another form of dynamic compression.
How can I do some basic mastering in GarageBand? I’m doing some home recording which sounds great until I export it, then it’s about half the volume of a regular song
Your problem actually seems to indicate that you’re doing things right. You’re recording at a low level, which gives you plenty of room to boost or cut volume of individual parts when you mix - which is good practice when recording digitally. In the days of analogue recording onto tape, you’d want to record at the highest possible level to ensure the maximum difference between the real signal and the noise of the tape itself. We don’t need to do that now.However, you’re clearly turning up your monitoring level to hear the mix at a nice volume. Your mix is probably peaking at a very low total output level, though. When you export the mix, it’s going to end up as a quiet track compared to commercial recordings.There are two solutions. You can use some mastering plugins to ensure your track maintains a good dynamic range whilst its maximum level is still below the point of clipping (distorting) the final output audio. Garageband has basically the same plugins as Logic Pro - there’s a great YouTube tutorial on mastering in Logic which you could follow with Garageband.Alternatively, import the final mixed file which is too quiet into the freeware Audacity audio editor. In there, you’ll find under the EFFECT menu, and option named AMPLIFY. Apply that, and its default setting raises the maximum level of the imported audio to 0dB. That’s the maximum level to ensure there’s no clipping. You’ll see the waveform get bigger. Export the result. You’ll now have a file whose level matches most commercially released audio.I suspect that the latter won’t be as good as the former method. You might have so much dynamic range in your recording that it’s maximum level is already 0dB, but 99% of it is much lower. That’s why mastering is the answer - its aim is to improve the perceived average loudness of the track without killing off the dynamics, if it’s done properly.
How come my master is clipping when none of my channels are?
It's not your snare. It's the snare combined with other channels when mixed together increasing the amplitude across a certain frequency that is causing the clipping.Try reducing the volume of all channels slightly (if you believe the mix is sounding fine). Alternatively, if you want the snare to stand out, but don't want to reduce the volume of the other channels which is contributing to the amplitude of the snare, reduce the EQ around the frequency that the snare is around on the other channels to make it shine through.