Question about monitor volume...

T

tommy mas

New member
What is the best volume to keep your studio monitors at when mixing everything down ???

specifically for hip hop music, where the low end is gonna be thick...


im just confused whether i should mix with my monitors extremely loud or keep them somewhat lower and turn up the track eqs and master volume...

thanks guys
 
One thing that I was taught is that you don't want to have it to loud. But one thing that you have to remember being to loud or to low is different levels to different people you need to find the in between to loud and to soft for your ears and mix at that level
 
The standard answer is, about 85dB. I use a Radio Shack SPL meter to check the levels. Much more and you'll get tired faster; less and you'll miss stuff.
 
To add to that - Find out where your personal best level is. It will likely fall into an area around 85, as low as 80 or as high as 90dB.

When using the RadShack meter (which is actually pretty decent) use the C-Weighting contro (which the digital one defaults to anyway).

For more info, do a search on "Fletcher-Munson"
 
tommy mas said:
What is the best volume to keep your studio monitors at when mixing everything down ???

specifically for hip hop music, where the low end is gonna be thick...


im just confused whether i should mix with my monitors extremely loud or keep them somewhat lower and turn up the track eqs and master volume...

thanks guys
Click to expand...

For the flattest ear response, go around around 80-90 db as suggested.

However you should mix at various levels:

1. To avoid ear fatigue
2. Listening at lower levels let's you hear how balanced a mix is in the mid range, as well as how your mix holds up.

You'll be surprised, particularly when trying to determine where vocals should be placed, how listening at lower levels helps.
 
thanks for the help guys...


also, should the master volume (im using acid pro 4.0) be turned up very high? or kept low with all the individual tracks db's being turned up ???

i found that when the master volume is around 4.5 db and has nice red peaks (not clips) it thumps pretty well when transfered to CD but i am worried i am losing audio quality ....

suggestions ?
 
tommy mas said:
thanks for the help guys...


also, should the master volume (im using acid pro 4.0) be turned up very high? or kept low with all the individual tracks db's being turned up ???

i found that when the master volume is around 4.5 db and has nice red peaks (not clips) it thumps pretty well when transfered to CD but i am worried i am losing audio quality ....

suggestions ?
Click to expand...

You should try to leave the master volume at 0 and adjust the individual tracks to fit within the allowable range. Anytime you make an adjustment in digital audio it processes the signal further and introduces a small amount of quantization distortion.
 
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