I think the OP is fine following those guidelines, the only thing i'd add is to make note of frequencies of the kick and bass. If you have too much heat in the 60-90hz range between the two, you will have to compensate by lowering the volume of the bass, eq'n, or finding another bass or kick sound. So its not as cut and dry as -6db and -10db, also make note of frequencies. This is where in the box mixing has an edge and spectrum analyzers come in handy. A good set of monitors are essential as well, or at least knowing your setup well.

By the way -6db is a bit much for the kick. I'd go with -10db, because your overall mix should be maxing at -6db with everything else factored in, or even a few db's lower.

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Originally posted by Kismet7 I think the OP is fine following those guidelines, the only thing i'd add is to make note of frequencies of the kick and bass. If you have too much heat in the 60-90hz range between the two, you will have to compensate by lowering the volume of the bass, eq'n, or finding another bass or kick sound. So its not as cut and dry as -6db and -10db, also make note of frequencies. This is where in the box mixing has an edge and spectrum analyzers come in handy. A good set of monitors are essential as well, or at least knowing your setup well. By the way -6db is a bit much for the kick. I'd go with -10db, because your overall mix should be maxing at -6db with everything else factored in, or even a few db's lower.

You just did that last line to piss me off didn't you

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN You just did that last line to piss me off didn't you

dbfs ; )

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Originally posted by Kismet7 dbfs ; )

no, the -6 bit!

all my faders are 100. out of 127 avaliable. no idea what that would mean but i never touch the faders.

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Originally posted by palm all my faders are 100. out of 127 avaliable. no idea what that would mean but i never touch the faders.

It means you have 27db of unused dynamic range, which basically equates to the potential of Moar Cowbell.

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Originally posted by DJ RANN It means you have 27db of unused dynamic range, which basically equates to the potential of Moar Cowbell.

Well, the world does need more cowbell, especially in these troubled times...

But my guess is palm is talking about the faders on the Reason mixer.

This discussion is about the dB level of the sound after the fader. Yes, if you're using a sample that peaks at 0dB, then setting the fader to -6dB will mean the kick is "hitting at -6dB".

But if the sound coming in is less than 0dB, then it's a little meaningless to talk in terms of pure fader levels. Reason doesn't provide the actual dBs each channel is reaching (only little LED level bars), so you'd need to rewire Reason into an application which does have dB readouts, if you wanted to try this sort of method with greater precision.

But yes, in Reason it's not as important to ensure a strong signal flow - you can just set the level of the incoming instrument to the level you want it, there's no noise floor being added since it's a closed system.

Having said all that, I'll just reiterate what a lot of people have already said - yes, you can use these settings as very rough starting points, but if you adhere strictly to them you'll get extremely unmusical results. You don't want to be in the position where you're thinking "hmm, the kick sounds a lot better at -10dB, but this rule tells me it should be at -7dB, so I'll set it to -7dB, even though it sounds way too loud there".

If you're looking to turn the "art" of mixing into the "mathematical rules" of mixing, you'll need a lot of luck to produce music that sounds good.

0-127 = 128 bits = small + integer/char in C++ coding = 1 byte

WTF?! -6db for the kick?

Mine always peaks at 0db, at -6 you can barely hear it. Matter a fact, most my channels peak around 0db, including my master.

If I followed the rules in this thread all my tracks would be extremely low, I can't understand how any of you are getting "powerful" sounds. I'd even go higher than 0db if I knew things wouldn't start clipping.

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Originally posted by DJ Robby Rox WTF?! -6db for the kick? Mine always peaks at 0db, at -6 you can barely hear it. Matter a fact, most my channels peak around 0db, including my master. If I followed the rules in this thread all my tracks would be extremely low, I can't understand how any of you are getting "powerful" sounds. I'd even go higher than 0db if I knew things wouldn't start clipping.

Just turn your speakers up a bit during composing/arranging/mixing to compensate. Making it "powerful" is done during the mastering stage.

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Why would you mix your tracks to -6db? I mix mine to 0db.

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Originally posted by DJ Robby Rox WTF?! -6db for the kick? Mine always peaks at 0db, at -6 you can barely hear it. Matter a fact, most my channels peak around 0db, including my master. If I followed the rules in this thread all my tracks would be extremely low, I can't understand how any of you are getting "powerful" sounds. I'd even go higher than 0db if I knew things wouldn't start clipping.

If this works for you then great but I'm really curious to know how you get all your channels to peak at 0db without the master clipping?

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