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ste20man

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Hi.

When I am watching the meters in FL Studio I can see that they are peaking in to the red, but when I put a waves paz frequency analyzer onto the master track, I get a visual that says nothing is going over -10db at any point in the song.

Don't know why this is.

Which one should I believe?
 
Maybe nothing at any particular frequency is going above -10dBFS but the whole signal, with all frequencies combined, is in the red.

By the way, if you're mixing into the red you are way too high. Pull everything down so the mix peaks well below 0dBFS.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
... is going above -10dBFS but the whole signal, with all frequencies combined, is in the red.
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That's it. didn't think of that at all. Sometimes the basic fundamentals slip straight by me, I have a blind spot for the obvious.

Top advice BSG, cheers, Ste. :-)
 
Everything was red, or at least too much too often. You also right though, can't beat a set of ears. Thanks for everyones advise!
 
You're comparing something that measures volume with something that measures frequencies. One thing doesn't really relate to the other.

And just to repeat what almost everyone else in this thread said, don't ever go anywhere near the "red". You should be peaking well below that, like 10db below.
 
Thanks Rami. Have got what people say now. It's just that I'm so new to recording there always seems to be a thousand question more after you've answered the last one if you know what I mean.

This is my go-to forum on anything recording. Ace stuff, cheers again. :-0)
 
ste20man said:
Thanks Rami. Have got what people say now. It's just that I'm so new to recording there always seems to be a thousand question more after you've answered the last one if you know what I mean.

This is my go-to forum on anything recording. Ace stuff, cheers again. :-0)
Click to expand...

It never stops. I get calls about pro tools all the time from a friend of mine that started in the 60's (with the Beatles :))... and of course I'm ringing him all the time about... well, everything else :). But that's the fun bit about it.
 
You're exactly right. I've just got to the stage where I've figured out FL Studio's workflow goes, I can record and have a basic grip of quite a lot of stuff(in theory if not in time put in hands on application) and I truly love it all.

Everything that comes up is so interesting that it makes it easy to want to try and figure it out. All the subtle nuances of programming, recording, mic placement, different techniques and then processing; it's a beautiful patchwork quilt that you can re-arrange for eternity.

Great stuff. They should teach this in schools. With a bit of money they could set a small room up.
 
RAMI said:
You're comparing something that measures volume with something that measures frequencies. One thing doesn't really relate to the other.

And just to repeat what almost everyone else in this thread said, don't ever go anywhere near the "red". You should be peaking well below that, like 10db below.
Click to expand...

I definitely agree with this. If you're tracking near 0dbfs, you're putting your analog gear deep into into the red, even if your digital meters still shows yellow. The most common calibration for AD converters has 0vu on an analog meter registering somewhere around -18 dbfs on a digital meter!
 
Hi again.

I am gonna drop all the levels tomorrow, I have been well well over(+2-3db) . Am I right in thinking that as I drop everything to -10db the track itself will get comparable 'volume' results to say Teen spirit when it is mastered?

Once I have a mix that is as good as I can do, how will I make it match the sound / volume you get on cd's? Will I then have to raise the levels of all the faders again or is that all compression on the master bus and limiting and stuff I haven't got to yet?
 
ste20man said:
Hi again.

I am gonna drop all the levels tomorrow, I have been well well over(+2-3db) . Am I right in thinking that as I drop everything to -10db the track itself will get comparable 'volume' results to say Teen spirit when it is mastered?

Once I have a mix that is as good as I can do, how will I make it match the sound / volume you get on cd's? Will I then have to raise the levels of all the faders again or is that all compression on the master bus and limiting and stuff I haven't got to yet?
Click to expand...
Yes, drop all your levels. If you drop everything by the same amount of DB's, the mix will drop proportionately.

As far as getting the levels of "pro"CD's, that's done during mastering, usually with a limiter.

As far as getting the same "sound" as the pro's, well it takes a lot more than just getting your levels right. From tracking to mixing to mastering, everything from the room, the mics, the performance, KNOWLEDGE and EXPERIENCE comes into it. I don't want to rain on anyone's parade but, while it's possible to make great home-recordings, don't expect anything you do to sound "pro" the first time, or even the 100th time. There's a reason engineers and producers are well payed and well respected in the industry.
 
Cheers Rami, nice to know about the limiting.

Just reading a book called 'Secrets of the home studio' by Mike Senior. He talks you through the different stages from monitor placement to mastering. I'm up to the point of getting pitch and timings right on all audio clips. He's then gonna go on to mixing etc. I'm working on stuff as I go but as soon as I've read the whole book I'm really going to try an do my first mix using the techniques he suggests. I know you're right about mix number 1 not being brilliant, just hoping I can get something decent.

Am just waiting for the world to wake up before I start with the bass, 6:45 is too early even for my uber-tolerant neighbor. :-)

Thanks again.
 
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