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Originally Posted by Biggsheff  I'm still pretty new to mixing and I have a few newbie questions if someone doesnt mind answering.
1. When mixing the levels of a track what is the highest peak I should let each channel hit without going over? Like -10, -5, -3 etc...
2. Should the Master fader stay at 0db ?
3. If I try to master the track myself an run it through a Waves L1 or L2, what kinda reading on the meter am I tryin to get close to? Get it as close to 0db with out going over or in some cases I've read -3.
Sorry if these are really dumb questions. I'm using Cubase 3 if it helps any. |
Well it is better to feel dumb for 5 minutes and ask, than not to ask and feel dumb forever. Old Chinese proverb.
When mixing using computer software, try to avoid any track clipping into the red, that is the most important thing. If you are mixing instruments with sharp transients such as drums it is best to leave some headroom to avoid transient distortion, it might be a good idea to use a compressor to guard against overloads.
Try to monitor using peak meters when you are not sure, rather than VU meters as these wont catch the transients. At the end of the day, if it sounds right, then it is right.
It is normal practice to try to have your stereo master sitting at 0 VU although in most cases you can push up or pull back a little if necessary. The sum levels of all your channels should not cause the main stereo meter to exceed 0. If it does, do not correct this by simply pulling down the master fader. Go back to the mixing channels and find out what is the cause. It could be an over loud kick drum, or maybe the channel mix levels are set too high.
When using the waves L1 or L2, it really depends on the genre of music you are mixing and what type of sound you are after. For example, if you are mixing dance music, you are unlikely to be over concerned about the dynamics that you would expect to hear in classical music. I find that most pop and dance music is heavily compressed. On this type of music there are two main advantages. Firstly, the mix can sound tighter, and secondly it can be made to sound much louder. If you want your master to sound as loud as other commercial recordings then you will get this result with the waves L1 or L2 processor at the expense of squashing the dynamics.
OK here is how it can be done.
Set the out ceiling to –0.1 this will cause compression to take place on any signal that attempts to exceed this level. Now as you pull down the threshold to around –6dB you should notice the attenuation meter pushing downwards in red.
Don’t be over concerned about the red light on the out ceiling meter as anything above –0.1 is now what you see on the gain reduction meter.
What is happening here is that all signal levels that are attempting to go over the out ceiling are now being compressed with a fixed high ratio setting.
Now if you look at the waveform of your master recording, you will notice that it looks rather flat. Do not show this to a classical musician or you might get shot on the spot. Like I said, as far as dance music goes, this is what gets done these days. Having said that, you do not have to pull down the threshold this much if you are looking to preserve the dynamics. You can simply make your track a little louder by pulling the threshold down until the out ceiling reading is just approaching the 0 level, but the end result will probably not sound as loud.
Please note that these comments are my opinions and are not hard and fast rules. Someone will always argue against anyone else’s audio engineering techniques. Learn what you can from everyone and most of all enjoy.
I hope this will help you a little.
Tommy