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charliefoy wrote:

elyhess wrote:

laurend wrote:Peak levels are meaningless for loudness.
So you should just turn it up to where it is present and sounds nice. That's mixing.

ok thank you for clearing that up! Sorry for the lack of knowledge, gotta start somewhere i guess

Yeah don't rely on numbers. Just use your ears to judge weather it is too loud/quiet.

I wasn't judging by numbers personally however I was getting a tad ocd on the numerical values only leaving them on .0 and .5

So to avoid mixing by numbers or being a bit ocd like myself click and hold the volume knob/fader/midi control, shut your eyes and adjust volume untill it sounds right, don't know if this has been suggested, probably has but I thought of it the other day and was good for my ocd, even better for those of you mixing by numbers.

Minimum voltage, maximum illusion.
LTSD
Stav 50 page thread summary.

There is a minimum amount of theory, concepts, techniques and numbers required to allow you to start being able to rely on what you hear.
To sum it up real easy.

1)Operate at 24 bit exclusively .

2)-18dBFS = 0Vu = 1.23V RMS = the nominal levels used in SSL's and NEVE for pro mixing since time.
(in a system referenced to +4dBu)

All the best for 2012 and have a great time tonight.

SafeandSound Mastering
mastering dance music
online mastering

I just have a quick question for all you people involved in this thread. So basically i created a quick little tune, sidechained, added a nice drum track, and now im trying to bring all the levels together, the only way everything really melds together is if all of my other tracks are quieter (say -11 db) while my kick, hats, and snare all have to be cranked up to about - 1 db, which to me seems odd. is there anything wrong with this? Do i just need to keep turning down my other tracks in order to bring the drums down enough to say like - 8 db? or does it even matter as long as it all fits together nicely? thanks!

edit: also with that, i was wondering if it matters if a bus for the sidechained kick is peaking red, but the kick itself isnt, does that matter? To my understanding it will only turn the bus down, but im not really sure!

elyhess wrote:I just have a quick question for all you people involved in this thread. So basically i created a quick little tune, sidechained, added a nice drum track, and now im trying to bring all the levels together, the only way everything really melds together is if all of my other tracks are quieter (say -11 db) while my kick, hats, and snare all have to be cranked up to about - 1 db, which to me seems odd. is there anything wrong with this? Do i just need to keep turning down my other tracks in order to bring the drums down enough to say like - 8 db? or does it even matter as long as it all fits together nicely? thanks!

edit: also with that, i was wondering if it matters if a bus for the sidechained kick is peaking red, but the kick itself isnt, does that matter? To my understanding it will only turn the bus down, but im not really sure!

just make everything as loud as it needs to be so that it sounds good, aslong as you have decent headroom, and arent in the red on any tracks.

and with the sidechaining i dont think it really matters if the bus is clipping as you cant hear it, and if the sidechain setting is to your liking all is well

skimpi wrote:

elyhess wrote:I just have a quick question for all you people involved in this thread. So basically i created a quick little tune, sidechained, added a nice drum track, and now im trying to bring all the levels together, the only way everything really melds together is if all of my other tracks are quieter (say -11 db) while my kick, hats, and snare all have to be cranked up to about - 1 db, which to me seems odd. is there anything wrong with this? Do i just need to keep turning down my other tracks in order to bring the drums down enough to say like - 8 db? or does it even matter as long as it all fits together nicely? thanks!

edit: also with that, i was wondering if it matters if a bus for the sidechained kick is peaking red, but the kick itself isnt, does that matter? To my understanding it will only turn the bus down, but im not really sure!

just make everything as loud as it needs to be so that it sounds good, aslong as you have decent headroom, and arent in the red on any tracks.

and with the sidechaining i dont think it really matters if the bus is clipping as you cant hear it, and if the sidechain setting is to your liking all is well

Thanks for clearing this up!

safeandsound wrote:There is a minimum amount of theory, concepts, techniques and numbers required to allow you to start being able to rely on what you hear.
To sum it up real easy.

1)Operate at 24 bit exclusively .

2)-18dBFS = 0Vu = 1.23V RMS = the nominal levels used in SSL's and NEVE for pro mixing since time.
(in a system referenced to +4dBu)

All the best for 2012 and have a great time tonight.

And your monitoring level should be set to 82 dB SPL for a pink noise at 0 dBVU.

Hi guys i have a quick question, i tried to get all the levels to sound right but let me know what you think.

do you guys think i need to turn and specific peice down?

right now my kick is peaking like -6 db, and that electro bass patch ranged from -7 to -9
i think it sounds pretty well mixed, but im not certain

do you think i need to turn the drums down to make them fit with the rest of the waveform? because i think they sound just about right but i want to know what others think! thanks!


Soundcloud

elyhess wrote:Hi guys i have a quick question, i tried to get all the levels to sound right but let me know what you think.

do you guys think i need to turn and specific peice down?

right now my kick is peaking like -6 db, and that electro bass patch ranged from -7 to -9
i think it sounds pretty well mixed, but im not certain

do you think i need to turn the drums down to make them fit with the rest of the waveform? because i think they sound just about right but i want to know what others think! thanks!


Soundcloud

Your kick is too loud, that's for sure. You should read the start of this thread - there's some great tips on roughly where those elements should be peaking at, leaving a good 3-6db headroom

subfect wrote:

elyhess wrote:Hi guys i have a quick question, i tried to get all the levels to sound right but let me know what you think.

do you guys think i need to turn and specific peice down?

right now my kick is peaking like -6 db, and that electro bass patch ranged from -7 to -9
i think it sounds pretty well mixed, but im not certain

do you think i need to turn the drums down to make them fit with the rest of the waveform? because i think they sound just about right but i want to know what others think! thanks!


Soundcloud

Your kick is too loud, that's for sure. You should read the start of this thread - there's some great tips on roughly where those elements should be peaking at, leaving a good 3-6db headroom

Yeah ive read it a bunch, generally all my other songs my kick peaks like -8 db around there, should i just keep turning my other elements down until i can get my kick to peak -8 db?

more than likely you've got some clashing of frequencies if you can't get it under - what you should be doing (Sidechaining for mixdowns should really only be used when you have no other option), is making eq notches out of basslines and other elements that clash with your kick (usually hit around 100-120hz), and take that out with a Q of around 2.6-3 and down by a few dbs at the very least.

So your saying on my baselines the frequency is clashing? I already have most stuff side chained, so should I just make a small eq dent at the frequency my kick is hitting? And u say about 2 or 3 db? On all of my main bass patches that is

Yup. The idea is to create room for each of your elements. Because your basslines (they all do) use up a heap of space in the frequency spectrum, you usually end up taking notches out in quite a few places - a spot for your kick, a spot for your snare.etc. The way to do this, is look at a frequency analyzer and see where the main hits for your kicks/snares are (should be around 90-120hz and about 180-220hz, respectively). What you then do is, based on the width or breadth of the frequencies that those items take up, you then notch that out in your bassline, and anything else that might hit at the same time that could clash (think rim shots layered with snares - they hit around 1khz, but your snare has quite a bit of harmonic content up there, so it's a good idea to dip there as well).

By doing this, what you're doing is basically freeing up space, which allows you to push your sounds harder - the better you get at doing this, the more professional your mixdowns sound. This takes a lot of practise and a lot of attention - and it's best to do it as you go. As a further point - sidechaining should really ONLY be done when you absolutely have to, or as a creative tool. The only times you have to do it, is if for example your bass/kick is hitting at almost exaclty the same point, in which case you need to figure out which one takes precedence (usually the kick) and then figure out how to beef it up I had this issue last night with a bassline in the following track: http://soundcloud.com/subfect/the-void - the pulsing basses hit at almost the exact same frequency as the kick - but it makes no sense to have to change everything around - so I basically side-chained the EQ at 110hz, so that those frequencies only duck out when the kick is hitting, but then comes back really quickly. Gives me space, without losing power

subfect wrote:Yup. The idea is to create room for each of your elements. Because your basslines (they all do) use up a heap of space in the frequency spectrum, you usually end up taking notches out in quite a few places - a spot for your kick, a spot for your snare.etc. The way to do this, is look at a frequency analyzer and see where the main hits for your kicks/snares are (should be around 90-120hz and about 180-220hz, respectively). What you then do is, based on the width or breadth of the frequencies that those items take up, you then notch that out in your bassline, and anything else that might hit at the same time that could clash (think rim shots layered with snares - they hit around 1khz, but your snare has quite a bit of harmonic content up there, so it's a good idea to dip there as well).

By doing this, what you're doing is basically freeing up space, which allows you to push your sounds harder - the better you get at doing this, the more professional your mixdowns sound. This takes a lot of practise and a lot of attention - and it's best to do it as you go. As a further point - sidechaining should really ONLY be done when you absolutely have to, or as a creative tool. The only times you have to do it, is if for example your bass/kick is hitting at almost exaclty the same point, in which case you need to figure out which one takes precedence (usually the kick) and then figure out how to beef it up I had this issue last night with a bassline in the following track: http://soundcloud.com/subfect/the-void - the pulsing basses hit at almost the exact same frequency as the kick - but it makes no sense to have to change everything around - so I basically side-chained the EQ at 110hz, so that those frequencies only duck out when the kick is hitting, but then comes back really quickly. Gives me space, without losing power

awesome dude thanks, i took your advice, cant really tell the difference until i bounce it out.

but now that i have done that, should i turn down my kick to like -8 db and adjust that electro bass as needed, that way i will have the needed headroom?

sorry for being such a scrub lol, learn something new every day

EDIT: Ok so basically what i did was i turned my kick down so that its peaking about -9 db, but the only way to hear it is to turn down the electrobass to about -11 db. am i still doing something wrong? or do you think this is where i need to be

It really depends on the context of your tune, but pretty sure I listened before and your kick was way too loud. haha. You basically just need to play with it until it sounds right

subfect wrote:It really depends on the context of your tune, but pretty sure I listened before and your kick was way too loud. haha. You basically just need to play with it until it sounds right

alright word man, i know theres really no specific answer to this kinda shit! One thing i really hate, is whenever i bounce a track, i feel like the kick is a lot louder than im hearing it in my DAW, and i have pretty good like studio headphones and such

That's because it's being normalized

subfect wrote:That's because it's being normalized

Is that bad? or do i just need to take that into account every time im making a track

When you export a tune, one of the options is usually whether you want to normalize the track or not. What this does is raise everything up as high as it can go, based on the highest value of amplitude in the track. For example, if the highest point sits at -6db, and you have bass at -12db, then normalizing would move highest point to 0, and the bass to -6db. Make sense?

subfect wrote:When you export a tune, one of the options is usually whether you want to normalize the track or not. What this does is raise everything up as high as it can go, based on the highest value of amplitude in the track. For example, if the highest point sits at -6db, and you have bass at -12db, then normalizing would move highest point to 0, and the bass to -6db. Make sense?

Yes that makes complete sense Should i turn this off? i didnt even know you could turn it on or off, i always just saw "Normalizing track" when i bounced ha