Boosting Levels on Certain Songs After Recording

[seekup40]

Does anyone raise levels on quiet songs after a show is done, for example i taped matt nathanson this past weekend and he plays the entire show with a band except for about 2-3 solo songs, so i didnt wanna have to worry about raising levels for those certain songs then lowering them again when the band came back out, just seeing what peoples opinions are on this

[The Kilted Taper]

All or nothing. It just wont match the rest of the recording. Remember, you not only raise the music, you raise the crowd noise.

[Brian Skalinder]

I like to maintain the dynamic range of the recording and performance, so I don't usually amplify certain songs.  Though if the dynamic range is huge I sometimes apply compression / amplification to the entire recording to make it more listenable to those without playback systems capable of reproducing effectively the full dynamic range.  But individual songs, nope.

[Chuck]

I like to maintain the dynamic range of the recording and performance, so I don't usually amplify certain songs.  Though if the dynamic range is huge I sometimes apply compression / amplification to the entire recording to make it more listenable to those without playback systems capable of reproducing effectively the full dynamic range.  But individual songs, nope.

I agree.
My goal is to document the performance as it was.

Now, if you want to make your recording a CD just for your car, that's a totally different thing. In your car it is sometimes hard to listen to recordings with a large dynamic range. That is why radio is so compressed, so you can hear it all while you are driving. I've done this to several recordings when I had a long commute.

[Rand0mRoll77]

how can i compress my recordings and diminish the dynamic range with cool edit pro

i taped a hip hop show recently, in some songs the bass is super high and there are acapellas where the levels are low and the crowd noise is somewhat high, ill post some samples soon

[Brian Skalinder]

how can i compress my recordings and diminish the dynamic range with cool edit pro

i taped a hip hop show recently, in some songs the bass is super high and there are acapellas where the levels are low and the crowd noise is somewhat high, ill post some samples soon

Effects | Amplitude | Dynamics Processing | Traditional Tab

Set the 1st section to compression, ratio 2:1, threshold -12dB.  Set Section 2 to flat.  Play around with different compression ratios and thresholds to find the combination that works best for your recording (i.e. the above are just examples).  You can also limit compression to a specific frequency range in the Band Limiting tab.

If you're unfamiliar with the tool, it takes some trial and error to figure out what works, what doesn't, for what types of recordings.  So give it a go, listen closely, and figure out what you like.  There's also some very good help in the CEP Help File.