I have a question. What is the default/best level of volume to make music with? For instance, I like to make sure my volume is at 50%. If I can hear my music very well at that volume, I assume it is loud enough.
However, when I listen to other people's music, sometimes it sounds overbearing at 30% volume!

So, for making music for games, what should my default audio settings be?

Examples of what I'm talking about:
My piece of music -> http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1333628/Music/HomlessMusic/docks_homeless.mp3 [I'm using garageband]
This other guys -> http://8bc.org/music/Kola+Kid/Kola+Kid+-+spaceman/ [Dunno what the hell this guy uses but it's good. I'd like to get here. ]

Another thing I probably would like to ask is EQing tips. I feel like my music isn't "expanding" out of the speakers like some of this other stuff.

Thanks peeps.

I have a question. What is the default/best level of volume to make music with? For instance, I like to make sure my volume is at 50%. If I can hear my music very well at that volume, I assume it is loud enough.
However, when I listen to other people's music, sometimes it sounds overbearing at 30% volume!

So, for making music for games, what should my default audio settings be?

Examples of what I'm talking about:
My piece of music -> http://dl.dropbox.co...ks_homeless.mp3 [I'm using garageband]
This other guys -> http://8bc.org/music...Kid+-+spaceman/ [Dunno what the hell this guy uses but it's good. I'd like to get here. ]

Another thing I probably would like to ask is EQing tips. I feel like my music isn't "expanding" out of the speakers like some of this other stuff.

Thanks peeps.

A good rule of thumb is 0 decibels. Or 0db. In garageband that's marked by the line. If you go over 0db you're liable to clip haha. Because you're using synths from garageband the levels in the synths are already all nice and lovely and set up. If you want the sound to expand out of the speakers you'll probably want to change the general tone of some of the sounds. They're all EXTREMELY similar. when you have different tones complementing each other they will expand naturally.

Some simple EQ'ing tips I can give, if you decide which is going to be your bass track, cut some high frequencies. and in the higher frequency tracks cut some bass. This will leave room for each of them and they will then become more prominent. You may not even need to EQ at all. Sometimes tracks sound nicer without EQ. Every mix is different.

Hope this helps. And good luck

Hey thanks for the reply. Okay, so for testing this EQing stuff, I took some of your advice. I cut off bass for lead instruments and cut off some treble for bass only instruments.
Some things I kind of had to fiddle with to get them to come out. I think they stand out a lot more, but I still don't hear that "OOMF you can hear us clearly like we're there" sound. XD
So what do you think of this? [EQ Test track]

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1333628/Music/Decibel7/Nanana.mp3

Hey thanks for the reply. Okay, so for testing this EQing stuff, I took some of your advice. I cut off bass for lead instruments and cut off some treble for bass only instruments.
Some things I kind of had to fiddle with to get them to come out. I think they stand out a lot more, but I still don't hear that "OOMF you can hear us clearly like we're there" sound. XD
So what do you think of this? [EQ Test track]

http://dl.dropbox.co...bel7/Nanana.mp3

I can hear the bass and higher notes more clearly, but I can also hear that the bass is panned very far to the left. The bass needs to be prominent everywhere. Also you could do with turning up the drum tracks and setting a relationship between the bass and the bass drum. Generally the relationship between the bass and bassdrum is set so that the bass and bassdrum are both clear (as they both use almost the same frequencies at their peak). I generally put the basses peak at around 0 to 200hz and the bassdrum at around 200 to 500hz. or the other way round depending on if I want a really deep bassdrum.

I also compress the drums in some circumstances so that they stand out a lot more. EQ'ing takes a seriously long time and you can't really just mess with it for a few minutes and go 'ahhh done SAFE HAHA'. But here's something that I'm sure will help you. This dude wrote a guide on music production and it's actually insane. It's got pretty much everything ever.

http://tweakheadz.com/EQ_and_the_Limits_of_Audio.html -- some shizzle about EQ'ing. I'm sure this will be more than enough to get you started with EQ.

But in response to your question on loudness. The loudest possible volume you can go before it starts clipping is 0db. That's the 'normalised' level of volume. Make sure all your audio tracks are getting a nice big fat chunk of signal so that they all have lots of punch and energy, then you should be set for a loud (but not eardrum bursting ahaa) piece of music

Good luck!

Haha. Yeah I figured it was one of those things that required just as much patience and time as it was to write it.

I'm not sure how to bring the bass to be prominent everywhere except by moving the Pan to 0. Also, similar with the drums. That was the max I could bring the drums out without peaking over into the red zone. I will definitely take a look at that article. Thanks much!!

Haha. Yeah I figured it was one of those things that required just as much patience and time as it was to write it.

I'm not sure how to bring the bass to be prominent everywhere except by moving the Pan to 0. Also, similar with the drums. That was the max I could bring the drums out without peaking over into the red zone. I will definitely take a look at that article. Thanks much!!

Again, the max here is 0 decibels so that it doesn't clip.

You can double track your bass and pan them left and right each. I'd probably put it to 40 - 60% left and right but that's personal taste. Just remember you'll have to bring down the volume when you do because when you double the same frequency you double the same volume. Panning it distributes the volume somewhat but you'll still need to bring them down.

Keep it up man

Okay. So 7 hours later I wrote something to take in everything I've learned. I really thing I'm getting it now! (Especially thanks for your tips!! I think those helped a lot)
So here we go. A little something I'm calling "Fool Me Once"
-- Old Link Removed Can. Be Found At Bottom of Topic --

How does it sound?

Okay. So 7 hours later I wrote something to take in everything I've learned. I really thing I'm getting it now! (Especially thanks for your tips!! I think those helped a lot)
So here we go. A little something I'm calling "Fool Me Once"
http://dl.dropbox.co...ool_Me_Once.mp3

How does it sound?

Definitely an improvement there man! All I'd say is the bass is still a little quiet and not really really bassy . Otherwise the bassdrum has a nice clear sound. Keep it up dudee x

Okay. So I re-EQed it to make the bass "pop out" more and still sound good. I also tried to make the hectic parts a tad more clear.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1333628/Music/Decibel7/Fool_Me_Once.mp3

Comments? Suggestion? I'm trying to make this the best I can and learn to make music better.