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Why do people say things like "I'm mixing at -4db"?
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| Richard Butler |
I'm in danger of sounding like a nooob but I'm now getting around to considering the 'what level should I mix at debate'.
Anyway, a guy I respect a lot who remixed my latest release was saying this to me >
" Still a loit to learn but getting more and more brutal at the initial phase of adding sounds is the way to go - if you add a sound and it causes the master to jump over 0dB then you compress, EQ or get rid until you're back at 0dB. At the moment I think my best effort has been mixing down at -4dB (so the spikes dont jump over 0dB) but trying to get that to -1dB, then I think my mix quality should be up there with the best. Takes a lot of patience!"
I have NO knowledge about this mixing at a lower level lark and trying to ensure you don't exceed -1 (or whatever). Why is this important? REMEMBER HE MEANS WITHOUT ANYTHING ON THE MASTER BUSS - NO COMPRESSOR - JUST PURE MIXING - HE DOES LATER MASTER IT. |
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| Morvan |
So he has enough headroom for the mastering process.
It's also very obvious that the master bus shouldn't peak over 0dB as that will cause distortion already in the mixing stage. |
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| Mad for Brad |
| Because you have absolutely nothing to gain but mixing at -1 dBfs , and you allow the mastering engineer 0 headroom. Even - 3 dBfs is excessive. I would say for really loud music, -6 dBfs is probably a good starting point. When you are working at 24 bit, those 6 dB are meaningless and you would be doing yourself an incredible disservice trying to reach 0. |
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| tehlord |
I set my kick to about -7db, mix everything round that then stick a mahusive limiter on the master when I'm done.
That's why everything I do sounds so excellent. |
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| JEO |
I've been sticking to that -6dB rule. I follow it by placing a dedicated db meter on the master that is always visible, and just make sure nothing exceeds -6dB. Before compressing anything I accept -4 or -5 peaks.
SO THAT'S BASICALLY IT JUNO. |
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| Beatflux |
| quote: | Originally posted by Richard Butler
I'm in danger of sounding like a nooob but I'm now getting around to considering the 'what level should I mix at debate'.
Anyway, a guy I respect a lot who remixed my latest release was saying this to me >
" Still a loit to learn but getting more and more brutal at the initial phase of adding sounds is the way to go - if you add a sound and it causes the master to jump over 0dB then you compress, EQ or get rid until you're back at 0dB. At the moment I think my best effort has been mixing down at -4dB (so the spikes dont jump over 0dB) but trying to get that to -1dB, then I think my mix quality should be up there with the best. Takes a lot of patience!"
I have NO knowledge about this mixing at a lower level lark and trying to ensure you don't exceed -1 (or whatever). Why is this important? REMEMBER HE MEANS WITHOUT ANYTHING ON THE MASTER BUSS - NO COMPRESSOR - JUST PURE MIXING - HE DOES LATER MASTER IT. |
Everyone is always learning.
Levels in digital don't have that same significance as they do in analog. Most DAWs are 32 bit float, including Cubase so they only thing you have to worry about is that your master does not clip and any channels you overload on your plug ins can handle. Most plug ins can handle overs, so that's not usually a problem.
If the master starts clipping, all you have to do is lower the master channel. With this in mind, my guess is that the mixer was trying to rely on individual treatment of sounds to try and get it sounding louder rather than relying on some sort of dynamic treatment on the master channel.
Some people mix at a lower volume on their monitors so that they have compensate for the lack of volume with judicious amounts of compression, and that raises the loudness of the song. |
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| Stephen Wiley |
| quote: | Originally posted by Beatflux
Some people mix at a lower volume on their monitors so that they have compensate for the lack of volume with judicious amounts of compression, and that raises the loudness of the song. |
QFE |
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| kevin shawn |
I mix around my kickdrum and usually my kick is around -12 then when I'm gonna bounce to audio I'll bump it up to like -10. All said and done I try not to peak over -4 maybe -3.5 on the master with nothing on it.
My mixes have been so much better since I started doing this. |
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| sako487 |
| Lower your master |
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| Mad for Brad |
| I've always just left the master where it is and lower the channels rather than the master if things get too hot. Some plugins will distort despite the fact that the program is floating 32 bit. The Sony Oxford series comes to mind. |
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