Cutting or boosting volume

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RideTheCrash

RideTheCrash

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I'm mixing in CEP 2, but I this question would be more appropriate in this section.

When mixing ITB, I can boost all the way up to 15dbFS, or cut to "infinity". I know people say if one track sounds good at +5, move the rest of the tracks down -5 and keep the track in question at 0. I'm not sure if that applies more to mixing on an analog board rather than mixing on a computer, because I'm not sure if the computer is introducing more noise by boosting unlike an analog board.

Is there a recommended way of doing this?
 
Just make sure the mix's absolute top peak is below full-scale.

Several dB below is a nice place to be.
 
Software faders can definitely work differently than hardware faders, and they differ from program to program.

For instance, I was very surprised when I was told that in Pro Tools, lowering all the individual channel faders is exactly the same as lowering the master fader - there is no advantage to doing one over the other - which is counter-intuitive to "analog" thinking. So it is good to know exactly how your software works in this regard.
 
littledog said:
Software faders can definitely work differently than hardware faders, and they differ from program to program.

For instance, I was very surprised when I was told that in Pro Tools, lowering all the individual channel faders is exactly the same as lowering the master fader - there is no advantage to doing one over the other - which is counter-intuitive to "analog" thinking. So it is good to know exactly how your software works in this regard.
Click to expand...

how does that work?
 
My absolute tip peak at this time (for this mix I'm doing) is -7dBFS. The rest is roughly -18 or 15dBFS (for average volume).
 
RideTheCrash said:
My absolute tip peak at this time (for this mix I'm doing) is -7dBFS. The rest is roughly -18 or 15dBFS (for average volume).
Click to expand...
That's probably about right by my style.

I look at ITB levels much like I look at a graphic EQ.

For EQ; when fixing problems, it generally sounds better to cut than to boost, and, when setting up a response curve it's better for gain staging output levels to balance/center that curve above and below the 0 line than to have the curve be all boost or all cut.

For NLE track levels, it's much the same; when feasable, drop the level of one track rather than boost the level of another, and, balance the overall average mix level for as little deviation from 0VU (aka ~ -18dBFS RMS) as necessary.

I will say that I honestly don't pay that close attention to the second one, but my RMS numbers on mixdown (before any "mastering") typically come out somehwere within a couple of dB either way of -18dB RMS, so it does all seem to work out pretty good.

G.
 
I don't know if I correctly understand what you are saying, but that seems like a big separation between your lead track and the rest of the mix.
 
It's not as big as I probably made it sound...the waveform image is fairly consistent with no extreme peaks.

So I think I'll try lower the rest of the tracks instead.
 
BRIEFCASEMANX said:
how does that work?
Click to expand...

It's just how "master fader" is implemented in Pro Tools - it must be essentially a "virtual fader" (ignoring for the moment that all software faders are virtual). Lowering it performs the exact same mathematical process as lowering all the individual faders, just a lot less work.

But that's not something that one would assume to be true in all software.
 
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