Volume level: mixing vs. mastering

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secretorchard

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I am getting ready to mix down all of the tracks I have recorded for a set of songs. Due to various reasons, some of the tracks I have recorded are somewhat quiet. When I mix them in my multitracker (CEP 1.2), I raise the volumes of various tracks to make the mix balanced. Sometimes, once I get it sounding right, the volume of the overall mix is sitting at, say, -10 db. Now, here's the question: Should I raise the master volume in the multitracker so the overall mix is at it's maximum without clipping and then do the mastering (I use Waves L1-Ultramaximizer) to
squeeze out some more volume OR should I simply use the L1-Ultramaximizer tool to raise the volume of the overall mix to the appropriate levels (from -10 db, in the example, up to ~ -0.3 db).
Unless the L1-Ultra tool has some sort of advantage in raising
the amplitude of a given wave, I don't see how it would matter, but I would like some outside opinions. Oh, and just to avoid the usual comments, yes, I know, I'm not really mastering with the Waves tool, but for the sake of my example, I used the "m" word.
Thanks.
 
What about pushing up the Master fader? I usually try to get an "unmastered" mix to peak between around -6dB, taking into account that most professional mastering will add gain, and they usually want some room to work with.
 
Some thoughts

Sometimes I play I take a song off one of my favorite cd's and record it onto disk using Sound Forge, I then look at my peaks and averages of the areas I like. Then when Im planning on doing a mix, I look at the levels on my mixer and my PC to make sure the levels all agree, if needed I increment each fader up the same amount to bring up the overall volume. This keeps my mix and keeps me from maybe using the master faders too much. I always keep my masters in about the same area, as close to unity as possible. I used a sine wave generator made sure my db scales were are lined up from one to another, and had to change the inputs on the sound card a tad but since then its worked pretty good. If your using L1 to "master", you will need to see whats driving the project, usually you want ballads to be a little more open, maybe the levels will be less than other songs. but if there are hot songs, you need to retain the dynamics and give it more edge. Thats pretty simple to a point, the trick is where you need to make sure that the listener doesn't turn up the volume to hear the ballad and then get blown out when the hot one comes up. I suggest experimenting with lots of different things, document what the settings are for each song and listen to what youve changed. Do alot of A/B comparisons and try to document that information, see if the settings for one song works for other songs. During the learning process its good to burn and mark some CDRs, I have a small library of disks numbered and dated that have a data sheet of the settings, and the nit picks I found weeks later, I even have had other people listen to them and make comments. I move songs around in order to see what flow sounds the best. By experimenting your learning how much, if any, when and when not to, where and where not to, your ears will tune into things and youll spend less time guessing, because later on you may not have the time. I have punished many people, asking them to listen to my stuff and make comments to what stands out, I even made an mp3 site to get peoples comments, Im learning, Bob Ludwig is still learning. If you learn for yourself you gain insight, if you use presets you will almost certainly be unhappy :0(

I reserve the right to change my mind upon further discovery.

Peace,
Dennis
 
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