Bouncing in Logic, Suppressed and Quiet Volume Output Levels

Question

So I've just finished mixing a song from a friend's band's performance and it sounds great. The Output is hot, usually staying upwards of -3.5 decibels and less than 0 thanks to the compressor/limiter plugin and some basic volume automation. I have the computer output levels set at halfway and the master logic output set at half as well, and the mix is slightly louder than I would prefer comfort-wise in my headphones. By all means, my bounce out of logic and onto my desktop should be at a similar volume level, but it is not. In comparison to my songs in my itunes collection, the output is very significantly affected and diminished. A listener would have to turn the volume up on their stereo or computer to reach an equal volume level as their other music.
I have tried bouncing with normalization turned on and off and have bounced out both aiff and m4a files. My Compressor/limiter plugin is on, but the output never reaches clipping levels as the plugin seems to be working as it should. I have played my bounces in both Itunes (preamp in eq is at half as well) and quicktime with the volumes set at halfway, so it's not a blockhead issue of not having my volume up in those programs. Something is seriously up here, since I have tried many possibilities, my output levels are not requiring a reduction by a plugin and I have not come to a satisfying conclusion.
My overall questions are: 1) Would could possibly explain what's amiss here since nothing theoretically should be. 2) What explains the difference between the output I hear playing my mix within logic and playing the bounce in other programs such as I tunes (again I did not bonehead here and leave my volume or eq level set low in my Itunes, nor did I normalize my bounce). 3) Should I just send my Mix to an auxillary "master" channel strip, record as audio, and export it as is? I would prefer it not have to come to this. 4) Is it possible that one cannot truly master at a professional level in logic? Do I need to get some expensive plugins in addition, or perhaps an external mastering-specific program?
I would sincerely appreciate any informative answers here, Thanks

Answer 1

, and large reason for that is the fact that it always seems to lack any sort of conclusive solution
I think it always yields a conclusive solution.
After all, if my question was "I need to be able to play the guitar to put some guitar down" most answers would be either "You should get a guitarist who has the skills already" or "Learn to play the guitar".
A forum post is not going to suddenly impart the skills necessary to get commercial sounding mixes instantly - the commercial mixers charge a fortune for their work, largely because they are good at it!
If a mix sounds very loud while I'm bouncing in realtime, what can possibly explain a significant volume reduction in the sound file that comes out the other end onto my desktop?
You are comparing two different things. When you are hearing it in Logic, there is a playback level going through your interface and to your speakers. When you play the same audio through iTunes, you are playing through an entirely different chain - iTunes, with it's own volume control, through the system with it's own volume control, and so on. Also in iTunes, often people have all kindsof stuff switched on like EQ settings, or the audio leveller function, which is further going to change stuff.
Just remember that the "volume" you hear is more dependent on how loud your are setting various volume controls than what the contents of the file are. If you're not sure on this stuff, then probably the best way to compare your mixes to commercial stuff is to burn them to CD and play them back on the same system.
Again, I have no need to normalize at all since my mix has a loud average volume throughout without spilling over into clipping territory on the peaks.
Are you using metering? You'd probably find it useful to compare average and peak levels on your mixes, compared to average and peak levels on commercial mixes. I think you'd be surprised how "loud" commercial mixes really are - many don't have more than a few dB of dynamic range - at least in the regular pop/rock/commercial categories.
Presumably, I have exercised all the skill necessary to get a satisfyingly loud mix. If it (the mix) came out sounding exactly as it does in logic it would be louder than I would need it to be.
It's difficult to know what you are doing, but as long as you are not clipping your outputs, what Logic writes into the audio file is exactly what you are hearing when bouncing. How you then play the file back, in a completely different set of applications, is not going to let you listen at the exact same level unless you set all the affecting volume controls to match everything else. Remember, Logic is talking directly to your audio interface, not playing through OSX's system output.
So, divide your situation into two areas - am I getting my mix to the relative levels I want, and how am I playing back and hearing that mix, and go from there.