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Does it matter when mastering if your tune peaks above 0db
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 3:44 pm
by Earjax
This could be a stupid question...I'm sending a track to be mastered and I know I should aim to have everything neat and tidy under 0db but i have this bass that sounds shit when I try to turn the gain down

Re: Does it matter when mastering if your tune peaks above 0
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 4:12 pm
by therapist
Would be a waste of time to send that off, read the "moneyshot" thread.
Re: Does it matter when mastering if your tune peaks above 0
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 4:18 pm
by skimpi
bring everything down, not just the bass. i dont know how it would sound any different from being lowered in volume though, the only thing i can think of is if you are lowering the volume of it before some effects, which will then in turn mean that the sound is affected differently as its going into the effects at a lower volume, so like with compressors for example, the volume is lower so it may not reach the threshold of the compressor then, so the sound before was being compressed, and now its untouched.
turn everything down though, going over 0db is a no-no

Re: Does it matter when mastering if your tune peaks above 0
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 4:32 pm
by Earjax
Cheers

Stupid question

And btw don't know if you heard but the moneyshot thread is shit.
Re: Does it matter when mastering if your tune peaks above 0
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 4:34 pm
by Earjax
And yeah I didn't know how that worked either skimpi :L Could be because I'm sending them through multiple busses, but i'm pretty sure their pre-fader...logic fucks me off sometimes :/
Re: Does it matter when mastering if your tune peaks above 0
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 4:51 pm
by Jacob15728
Are you talking about the timbre of the bass changing when you lower the gain, or does it just sound too quiet? If it's too quiet, reduce the volume of everything else. If it's the timbre, add a waveshaper on the fx channel and make the curve sharply bent, then reduce the gain. This should cause the same effect.
Re: Does it matter when mastering if your tune peaks above 0
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 4:53 pm
by deadly_habit
therapist wrote:Would be a waste of time to send that off, read the "moneyshot" thread.
Re: Does it matter when mastering if your tune peaks above 0
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 5:14 pm
by ChadDub
Instead of lowering the volume by lowering the channel's volume, lower the volume slider on the mixer. If you control volume by the channel/instrument's volume knob then you are sending less into the mixer state, whereas if you lower it by the mixer slider you are just lowering the output volume.
Like, if you had a chain of distortions and stuff, and it sounds nice, but it's at like -3db, if you lower the volume of the instrument or w/e then you are lowering the amount of sound you are sending into those distortions, making it weaker and change the sound. If you just lower the volume by lowering the mixer slider then you are not changing the sound, just the output volume.
Re: Does it matter when mastering if your tune peaks above 0
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 6:14 pm
by Earjax
Cheers chad

deadly habit and therapist, your comments do not help, before posting a question I always look in the stickies, I go through about 3 of the 50 odd pages and usually find fuck all apart from people arguing and giving advice about stuff they know nothing about. The stickies are the only things that put me of dsf

Re: Does it matter when mastering if your tune peaks above 0
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 6:27 pm
by therapist
Strange how so many posters have learnt so much from that thread if it's just arguing and bullshit, but ok.
Re: Does it matter when mastering if your tune peaks above 0
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 6:27 pm
by deadly_habit
get a solid mixdown under -3 db and then send to master
when your rms is great and the peak vol means shit you have a tune
Re: Does it matter when mastering if your tune peaks above 0
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 6:39 pm
by chazzyy
I agree - waste of time sending it off. The moneyshot thread has helped me so much with mixing down, definitely check it out!
Re: Does it matter when mastering if your tune peaks above 0
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 6:51 pm
by RandoRando
Earjax wrote: And btw don't know if you heard but the moneyshot thread is shit.
what?
Re: Does it matter when mastering if your tune peaks above 0
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 7:21 pm
by benjam
Earjax wrote:And btw don't know if you heard but the moneyshot thread is shit.
Yea lets all clip our tracks instead....
Re: Does it matter when mastering if your tune peaks above 0
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 7:42 pm
by wormcode
You can send it in at 0db, they will turn the volume down before processing. This will make for a quiet master. If it's clipping above, they will probably facepalm too if that counts.
Re: Does it matter when mastering if your tune peaks above 0
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 7:50 pm
by VirtualMark
if its rendered in 32bit it won't clip anyhow, so i wouldn't worry about it, just send it off in 32bit 44.1khz and let the mastering engineer do their job.
Re: Does it matter when mastering if your tune peaks above 0
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 7:52 pm
by wormcode
Just 24 would work, most would probably convert down anyway
Re: Does it matter when mastering if your tune peaks above 0
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 9:50 pm
by Earjax
just my opinion man, but I never learn anything from stickies

Re: Does it matter when mastering if your tune peaks above 0
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 10:24 pm
by VirtualMark
Earjax wrote:just my opinion man, but I never learn anything from stickies

no. no valuable information whatsoever in stickies.
http://www.dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.p ... =moneyshot
literally on the first page someone explains headroom....
Re: Does it matter when mastering if your tune peaks above 0
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 10:27 pm
by VirtualMark
wormcode wrote:Just 24 would work, most would probably convert down anyway
yeah it'll always end up at 16bit for cd anyhow. i just was referring to keeping everything at 32 during production to prevent clipping. i was watching a steinberg video and they recommended this due to:
cubase processing everything internally at 32bit, so less cpu load as no conversion is required
more headroom, as its practically impossible to clip 32bit
but for the master output, i've noticed that it will clip if i put the volumes up too loud, so i guess he was referring to internal clipping.