I heard someone say that a kick drum should reach around -8dB before the track gets mastered. Is this true? Are there ideal loudness's or levels to try to stick to for every individual track or group before the track gets a limiter whacked on to it?

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there's only one rule...your track should not clip

and there should be absolutely no compressors, limiters, maximizers or stereo enhancers on the sum mix (on master)

that's all afaik

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quote:

Originally posted by BOOsTER there's only one rule...your track should not clip and there should be absolutely no compressors, limiters, maximizers or stereo enhancers on the sum mix (on master) that's all afaik

Should the master channel be a few db below 0 before it is mastered??

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quote:

Originally posted by Blahzaay Should the master channel be a few db below 0 before it is mastered??

if its 24bit the amount of headroom is obsolete.

quote:

Originally posted by Blahzaay Should the master channel be a few db below 0 before it is mastered??

absolutely...I said no clipping...which usually means below 0

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there is a good mix by numbers guide around somewhere. it tells you the ratio of headroom each part should take up meaning you get a good bass/kick combo combined with the right snare level so it sounds right in a club.

try searching on google.. or experiment yourself. good monitors will tell you what levels you need to be using on each track.

the mixdown should be -3db or less.

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quote:

Originally posted by Zombie0729 if its 24bit the amount of headroom is obsolete.

Erm, no, 24bit just means you can have MORE headroom without sacrificing noise-floor or quality...

usually if you want your mix to be just under the 0 dB mark the kick drum should peak at about 8 dB. if you then mix everything around that your mix will be close to or just under 0 dB. I know this true to be in other genres but not sure about dance music because the kick is generally louder than other music.

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Mastering

Mastering is the final touch after the recording & mixing process. You've recorded your song / album in a pro or home studio & it's been finally mixed to CD. The music sounds great but you feel that it is sonically inferior to your favorite CD. Your song mixes may not be consistently loud enough or well balanced. Your vocals may sound buried or in the contrary, too upfront. There may be too much low end or not enough. Most pre-mastered recordings require a need for high & low frequency management. There maybe some unwanted noise in your recordings. These are only a few of the common problems we fix.

We ensure that your recordings are sonically in par with the big sound released by the majors. Do not overlook this important stage. This process is usually done prior to mass duplication. Mastering is the job of trained ears. It involves careful fine tuning, equalizing, compression, limiting, noise reduction, bass & volume management. We begin by analyzing your sound recording to see what needs to be applied.
Every Song Is Treated Differently.

In a brief what we do:

- transferring audio to workstation
- removing possible noises, pops, clicks and 50/60Hz humming
- compression and multiband compression
- equalization - correcting the tonal balance
- soundmatching - adjusting relative volume levels, EQ, stereo image etc. between songs
- multiband stereo enhancement
- multiband harmonic enhancement
- editing track start/end points, making fade ins/outs
- maximizing
- limiting
- dithering 16bit or 24bit depending of the final media
- high quality processing on 32bit Floating Point up to 192kHz with one of the best D/A-A/D converters

http://www.ama-sound.com/index.php?m=services&l=en

Kopi =o.

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quote:

Originally posted by Sanguis Mortuum Erm, no, 24bit just means you can have MORE headroom without sacrificing noise-floor or quality...

umm thank you for reinstating what i said.

quote:

Originally posted by sm44 usually if you want your mix to be just under the 0 dB mark the kick drum should peak at about 8 dB. if you then mix everything around that your mix will be close to or just under 0 dB. I know this true to be in other genres but not sure about dance music because the kick is generally louder than other music.

Won't this produce clipping on that channel?

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