Final Levels

  • Thread starter Thread starter o0Charlie0o
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o0Charlie0o

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I'm taking my songs in to be mastered in about a week, however I'm sending one song in today for a test master.

I have never found any infor on my one question. During mixing, what should be the highest level?

Right now when I play back my mix, the levels constantly hit 0 and the little red clip thing goes off. None of the actual tracks cause a clip though, just when mixed together. I like how everything is mixed right now, so should I keep it like that (i don't noticed any audible clipping) or should i lower everything so the levels don't hit a certain level?

After i export the mix, it doesn't seem to hit the clip level as much, but it still does.
 
:) If you are in the digital domain, by all means drop the levels 1-2db down. Slight error on the conservitive side won't hurt you at all.


da MUTT
 
Drop them all down 1-2db, or drop them all down so the overall level doesn't past -1 - -2db?
 
:) If the clipping is ocurring on the channel, then drop the channel.
And/or if it ocurrs on the master level that one too. When I track digitally, I track 1-2db below, also mix 1-2 db below on DAT.
A duplicating house does not want any projects that clip whatsoever.


da MUTT
 
i'd take your master output volume, and lower that until you get no clipping. if it is just a few spiratic spots - then use a limiter at -.1db or something...

for my mixes, i usually just have those spiratic hits every once in a while - and i do my own mastering...so i put a limiter at -.1db...and just send to get replicated - and all goes well! I also listen closely for audible clipping.

but you definately dont want you mixes that hot unless it's already been perfectly mastered! ha.
 
if ur sending ur mixies to be mastered DON'T LIMIT THEM AT ALL...limiting cuts the peaks and eats high end...if there are too many peaks the ME can reduce but he can't bring them back...me personally i have my mixes peaking at around -6 db giving me enuff headroom to process my mix transparently(though i have never send it to a pro to do it before..)
 
Charlie -
I am a newb at mixing, so I am dealing with these seemingly rudimentary issues at the moment. I had your very same question today, however I discovered these things:

1) problem: if I drop my master gain a few decibels to keep the master clip light from turning on, then I my overall mix volume was significantly lower than the professionally mixed songs that I was comparing it to. Unfortunately, that solution would not work for what I was trying to achieve - LOUD, but not clipping.

2) I ended up adding in a mix-level (not track-level) compressor/limiter and set it to squash a little in order to keep the peak level below -0.5 db, but allow me to keep my RMS level high. It may be important to note, however, that I am mixing rock music which is one of the more forgiving genres when it comes to compressing.

Does anyone have any feedback for me as far as other methods to keep things loud but not let the overall mix clip?
 
o0Charlie0o, you didn't say if you're in analog or digitial or what your editor app is. Assuming you're in digital the red light on tracks or master or any overs lights never ever should come on.

muttley mentioned that you should drop any track that causes a red light, I agree work on the track side not the main fader. I'd even go as far as to say that since the cumulative power in each track may be contributing to the overs - you may not see any one track going in to the red. Drop all the track sliders a bit - keeping the balance of the mix.

If your mix balance was correct in the first place it will still be correct if you lower all the faders 3db or something like that. The tricky thing here is now your mix doesn't sound as loud or balanced and you're tempted to re-balance it.

Don't rebalance (Fletcher-Munson will show you why) - just turn up your monitor amplifier volume (have a radio shack SPL meter by your console) to the same listening volume you had before - probably 80-90 db SPL or thereabouts.

Let the mastering guy push your mix into an L2 or something similiar to further adjust the final mix loudness according to what you tell them you want. That way it won't breath (in a bad way) or pump and your mix will be as dense as you like but the 'squishing' will be totally transparent. Give the ME some headroom in the final mix - they have equipment to adjust it to your liking.

If you want to characterize the musical headroom (rms to peak) as well as the overall headroom of the media (peak to 0dB - for any digitial media) then you could use something like 'Inspector' (VST) if your app doesn't have such a tool:

http://elementalaudio.com/products/inspector/index.html

kylen
 
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