Headroom

P

Pleasurehead

New member
Hi,

I'M an amateur home recorder with cubase SX and just wondered if anyone can help me on the subject of head room when mixing. My problem is ... I start the mix with my master fader down slightly but by the time I have bass and kick someway (conservatively) how I would like them sounding, I'M already clipping. Is there a recommended amount under 0db that I should start with before I begin to limit? And, is there a definate no no amount that will bring up noise levels?

Any help would appreciated thanks :)
 
:cool:Yo Happy Head:

Well, "headroom" is part of the quality of gear you use to record. Bouncing the sound levels up to the "edge" of clipping works most of the time.

It depends on what track you wish to dominate the mix. There is no formula to jazzing up the mix. It is a product of your gear and ears and recording experience.

I find myself illuminating the drum patches on my work because, I guess, I always wanted to be a drummer. But, I take care not to "blast" the other tracks out of the mix.

A big asset is a "good" pair of monitors; now, you don't need to mortgage your kids on monitors; however, a decent pair will help you get the "clear" image of what will pop up on the mix.

I find that my car six speaker system really produces a high quality reproduction of what I mix; however, too much, "UmmPH" with compression can hurt a mix, as well as make a mix a GOOD one.

Just keep experimenting and when you get a "good one," you'll keep on getting good ones.

Green Hornet:cool::rolleyes:
 
Pleasurehead said:
I'M an amateur home recorder with cubase SX and just wondered if anyone can help me on the subject of head room when mixing. My problem is ... I start the mix with my master fader down slightly but by the time I have bass and kick someway (conservatively) how I would like them sounding, I'M already clipping. Is there a recommended amount under 0db that I should start with before I begin to limit?
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Welcome to our nightmare, Pleasurehead. By the you're done with this board, you might change your name to Achinghead, ;) :D. We'll try to go easy on you ;)

You should never *have to* limit anything just to keep levels sane. If you're getting to that point, that means that you're probably running your tracks hotter than need be somewhere upstream of that point. Two key points in that stream to look at are your recording levels and your mix levels for each track.

As far as crecording level, if you're digitally recording your tracks as hot as you can - i.e. peaking just about 0dBFS, then you're recording hotter than you probably should. Short answer w/o detailed explanation, if you're recording each track to peak somewhere around -6 to -9dBFS, give or take a dB or so, with average RMS meter reading somehwere around -18dBFS (+/-3dBFS), then you're recording somehwere near the "sweet spot" for recording levels for your gear and your music.

There are several methods for handling mix level, but at the basis of most of them is the idea that when your master buss starts getting too hot, that you put the buss limiter away, leave the master faders at unity gain, but just bring down the levels of the individual tracks a dB or two each.

HTH,

G.
 
Along with 'what needs to be louder' try integrating 'what's too loud (what's masking) into the process. There is a balance in the second method that forces a step back to see the big picture again.

SSG said:
...but at the basis of most of them is the idea that when your master buss starts getting too hot, that you put the buss limiter away, leave the master faders at unity gain, but just bring down the levels of the individual tracks a dB or two each.
Click to expand...
Right on.

I'd rather come in low than hot. Psychologically it seems more satisfying to push a mix that comes in a little 'low up into the master limiter at the trim gain for the final move. -Much more fun than having to pull things down. ;)
 
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ok. I have a set of NS10's (snore!) so monitoring is good. I do very little tracking other than vocals as I use internal instruments and samples. This is good advice thank you very much.

Alex
 
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