How do I set my Volume so the Mp3 in my Boombox has enough Volume?

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musicGoodBuddy3
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2021 4:48 am

How do I set my Volume so the Mp3 in my Boombox has enough Volume?

Post by musicGoodBuddy3 »

I'm making midi files without voice so siing the voice part AND also doing the same but version for practicing drums( i remove the drum part ). i put the files in my USB stick for my SONY boombox but when i tried playing them even at full boom box volume, the Mp3 volume is not that high. it's quite low. I dont understand why?

when i listen to the music in Mixcraft it sounds pretty loud enough but i make sure it's not loud damaging to the ears by setting master volume down so i dont see the orange red, yellow color spikes.

The output/exported mp3 sounds loud enough in my computer but why in the boombox it sounds like not enough power/volume?
cactus-head
Posts: 996
Joined: Sat Sep 16, 2017 3:09 pm

Re: How do I set my Volume so the Mp3 in my Boombox has enough Volume?

Post by cactus-head »

If the recorded file is peaking just below the orange the file itself should have plenty of drivable amplitude but not be too loud. If it's not even making the yellow, it won't have a lot of power as a finished file. The output volume of your computer and the level meters in Mixcraft aren't the same. You could set your computer's volume to zero and still get readings on the meters in Mixcraft. So without getting into the details and amplitude ideals etc, try and get your peaks just below orange at around +0.0 dB before exporting the MP3 file. You can use your computer volume to adjust your hearing levels - not the Master on Mixcraft when peaking at 0 dB. See if this makes a difference for your boom box. If so, try creeping up your peaks a little more so it almost touches the most red top. See what works best for your situation. Basically you want the loudest possible file without it ever "clipping" or reaching that high red zone.

How does your "boombox" handle MP3s? It has a USB input for the stick? The boombox itself might have a built in limiting and/or normalizing function so that a usb stick with a bunch of files at different volumes dont blow the speakers by accident.

Maybe MP3 isn't the best format to use. Memory management and availability on thumb drives is so much better these days that you could probably get away with a lossless format like .wav. Maybe try Flac, which is lossless also but compressed as opposed to .wav so you'd have smaller files.
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Sturdy
Posts: 187
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2021 6:26 pm

Re: How do I set my Volume so the Mp3 in my Boombox has enough Volume?

Post by Sturdy »

I'm just guessing here - but you're probably looking at compression / mastering to get overall loudness levels up compared to commercial release levels. This may help as a starter. Also, if you have izotope ozone see if it has some automode for your mix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Flupinyx0gY
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