| I master up to about 150 library music albums a year, and although I get occasional composer requests to make things very loud to be competitive, usually reason prevails and on pop/rock stuff I'm around the sweet spot where that kind of material sits well, generally within hailing distance of -12. I have been known to push some of the dance stuff a little harder, but it's entirely material-dependent: I rarely look at RMS meters and just try and do what the music asks for.
I have a mark on the volume control for my 'calibrated' level, and in the time I've been using it it's made a big difference to consistency of output and knowing how far to push things - I also have a selection of CD tracks on a Masterlink hard drive and sometimes play those back through the same DAC as the workstation to check things like real-world levels. I'd like to think I'm doing something right, library music via here is frequently on the telly and the production companies seem happy enough. |