Quote:
Originally Posted by xmostynx  how do you go about finding the happy medium?
i find myself sometimes hating stuff lower, but loving it louder.
sometimes vice versa
do you just make a decision and stick with it? |
Find the happy medium--that's going to be your best mix. You may have to adjust compression ratios to 'stick' stuff where it needs to be. Example: the snare is overpowering at low volumes, but lost in the mix at high volumes--take the level down and compress it more until it stays put at any volume level.
That's pretty much the process. After doing it enough you start to get a feel for where stuff needs to sit and your adjustments are less and less when you are checking the mix.
It's VERY easy to get a weak mix if you're jamming a loud playback. However, if you can get a powerful mix at a low or moderate playback level it sounds even stronger when it's loud.
As far as the playback volume on the master buss... in ProTools I aim to have my peaks hitting -6db. The kick and snare are going to be pretty much nailing -6 to -7 db or so (typically I choose either the kick or snare to be "dominant" and put the other one a db underneath... I think putting the kick and snare on equal footing yields unfocused mixes most of the time.... like everything else in this life it depends), and then I build everything else around it. I'll often throw a compressor on the mix buss, nothing major... maybe 1.5 to 2.5 db of GR. Often I'll use the BF Fairchild 670 for this--it seems to help spread out the image and a fat, gluey sound.
In the analog world, when I'm mixing on the SSL I aim for the kick and snare to hit around +4 to +6db with the buss comp on (4:1 ratio typically, threshold set around +1db). That gives me a good level when I bounce the mix through the Cranesong HEDD... hitting right around -6db, although on occasion I have to yank the master down a db or two if the mix is really dense.