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Originally Posted by lukejs  I wanna start using the K-14 system for monitoring...... Do I turn the volume all the way up on my Apogee mini DAC, send the -20 DbFS signal to one monitor speaker, and adjust the monitor speaker until I get -83 db on an SPL meter(at mix position) ? (or...do I turn the MIni DAC at around 75 % volume and then adjust the monitor speakers trim to get the 83 Db ? I'm wondering this because I saw something in the manuel of the Alesis Pro Linear 820 monitors I use , about getting adequate signal to noise ratio when the levels aren't up to a certain level... YOu think it makes a difference ? I'm guessing that it's probably better to have the Mini DAC turned all the way up.... How do you guys deal with the volume of your DACs and the volume trim on your monitors (and while we're at it.. the master volume from your DAW? (This volume issue always seemed trivial to me before, but now I realize how important it is for getting mixes that aren't squashed to death, and achieving more consistency ) Thanks Bob !!  |
Hmmmm..... Well, first of all, the system is really geared around a calibrated monitor level control marked in 1 dB increments. The CALIBRATION point of 0 dB is what we are all talking about.
So, to get there, take the -20 dBFS RMS stereo test signal which can be downloaded from digido.com. Feed it to one loudspeaker at a time (not through a panpot, but by using the mutes on one channel or the other). Set your calibrated monitor attenuator to the 0 dB point, and adjust the SPL on each speaker, one speaker at a time, precisely to 83 dB C weighted, slow. Then, K-20 material will fall approximately at the 0 dB position of the monitor control. K-14 material around -6 to -8 dB. K-12 around -8 to -10 dB on the monitor gain.
The distance of your loudspeakers from you, the transient response of the monitors, your room acoustics and your own ears' sensitivity will be variables. So you should be satisfied to be within about 2 dB of the above recommendations. You can also see how it works by visiting the Honor Roll at digido.com and seeing how the "louder" the mix or master, the lower the position you will end up placing your monitor level control.
For mastering, near a monitor gain position of -8 to -9, even 1 dB less RMS level can make a very big sonic difference. Things go to hell in a handbasket very rapidly "louder" than that, particularly for music which depends on rhythm, and the snap of the transients, which start to get lost big time.
For mixing, the object would be to try to mix with a monitor gain of, say -6 (or higher) in mind, to give the music some room to breathe, before the mastering engineer gets a hold of it. There's more to it than this, but these are the basic principles of the K-system.
Notice that I made no mention of metering in this post!