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Old 8th July 2006   #162
bob katz
Mastering
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 3,099

Quote:
Originally Posted by johnlink
Then what is the meaning of "turn down the monitor gain"? My understanding is that K-20 would have the monitor gain at 0 and K-14 would have it at -6. Moving from 0 to -6 is obviously turning down the monitor gain. Is that what you meant by "turn down the monitor gain", or did you mean something else?
Yes, that's what I meant by "turn down the monitor gain."

For those who are eavesdropping in this thread....

The idea is if you start with a monitor gain (position would be a better term) of 0 dB and you close your eyes and you mix, you'll never get an over. Because if it sounds loud, it's also going to be too high on the meters. And there's enough headroom to allow peaks not to overload, even with a very loud RMS.

But as soon as you turn down the monitor gain, you will be tempted to turn up the mix, thereby inviting a higher recorded level and overs because there won't be enough digital headroom as you keep on pushing up your RMS to get the same perceived loudness out of the speakers.

Does that explain it?

Your description as I recall it was spot on so we're probably just dealing with semantics.

BK
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