Use the Finale Mixer (not the Aria Mixer) to lower the base level of the recorders to the volume you like.

Recorder player myself and do some scoring for my group. I've had playback issues with recorders besides volume such as odd wobbly timbre.

With Garritan, the volume controls don't seem to work on the C-instruments (Soprano/Tenor); only works for the Alto. If you don't mind the recorder SmartMusic SoftSynth sounds, I'd switch to that.

Nice to see the technical experts take these things seriously. You ask why the default volume is so annoyingly loud that you waste hours adjusting the recorder sound so you can ALMOST hear the flute (which is almost imperceptible), and rather than address the issue they just say "adjust the volume in the mixer".

We need to know how to adjust the DEFAULT volume of the instruments, not to waste time putting fff on every flute part and ppp on every recorder part because nobody can tell us how to adjust the DEFAULT volume on an instrument sound.  

Not very respectful of your users. 

Setting the channel volume in the Finale Mixer is the way to balance various instruments without using illogical dynamics for balancing. The likelihood that MakeMusic will resample the Garritan sounds to have them reflect their true relative volumes is expecting more than we are likely to see, especially since the volume of many instruments varies over their range. NotePerfomer does a rather good job of presenting a realistic balance of instruments and sections (for symphonic music) although some of its sounds (strings) are not as good as others. A new version of NP is in the works.

It really doesn't makes sense to me for the flute to have the volume set to 127 and the recorder set to about 5 and the flute is still totally drowned in the mix. You can't tell me that a tenor recorder in the real world is that much louder than a flute.

As someone who taught recorders for years, I agree that recorders are not that loud compared to flutes in most of their range, and I am not a MakeMusic employee. The unfortunate fact is that different instruments (presumably you are talking about the Garritan set) are recorded at different levels depending on the instrument. Still, I have listened to a sample file and can hear what you hear.

I hear the same problem you do when using GIfF sounds that come with the program. It is a serious problem and one that does not exist in the full GPO5 or GPO4 packages on which GIfF are based.

If you have not already registered the problem using the "Submit a request" link at the top of this page, you should. NotePerformer gives a more realistic rendition, but of course that is an additional charge. A NP demo is available, and a low-cost rent-to-own is available.

Not very respectful of your users. 

This is a Users support group. All of us who post here are users—MM employees are identified in their signatures. Although MM does read this board, to communicate directly with them, it is recommended that you use the Submit a request link at the top of the page or the Feature Request page..

There are many good recorder VIs out there. Some are free SoundFont which the Aria Player can load. Google is your friend.

NotePerformer gives a more realistic rendition, but of course that is an additional charge. A NP demo is available, and a low-cost rent-to-own is available.

https://www.noteperformer.com/ 

Oh yea. I’ve owned NP for years but just became a recent convert to its uses and possibilities. My daughter sent me an orchestration I’d commissioned that she’d done in 25 with GPO—‘twas ok but I’m looking at a lot of work on articulations etc. so decided to change it to NotePerformer to see what would happen. Wow! NP uses an AI algorithm that is a lot better than I expected and has saved me many hours when it comes to string bowings and articulations. Truth is that I would have bought it for the tympani A helluva deal and well worth the $129. The total cost is the same if you go with the rent to own. Oh, my kid got a license for Christmas. Hmmm… probably shouldn’t be calling her a kid now that she’s on the faculty of a music college.

Mike, IIRC it is the Flute sound that is too quiet rather than the recorder being too loud.