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omgitsblake wrote:I like the vibes of the song and the potential in it, however, the drums sound relatively weak compared to the rest of the mix, give them a little more punch via EQing, compression, and maybe duck the synths behind the drums with a tad bit of sidechaining, don't set it too a 100% in the mixer. I am admittedly, a very huge fan of sidechaining haha. Good luck with the tune mate!

Sorry if it isn't really answering your question, but -3 is way too high.

Remember that 6dB is half. So if you have one element at -6, that is half your headroom gone. Two elements at -6dB each = all your headroom gone. Having the drums at -3 will leave you fighting against clipping and struggling to keep everything down and under control.

Rather, set your drums for *around* -8 / -10 (ie, a bit less than half). The bass - if we are talking a pure sine sub - would probably sit best a dB or two below that, any distorted/fullband bass sounds should be effectively treated as different entities and mixed appropriately (due to Fletcher Munson).

This leaves you with a few dB headroom, and everything else is just parsley. No more fighting anything, you *will* get repeatable and consistent levels in your mixes, and better mixes as a result.

It's just good, sensible mix practice

- You'll never have to move your master fader again

- You'll never get clipping again (unless you're really doing something wrong)

- You'll mix more consistently as you won't be 'chasing your tail', pushing things up on the left and turning them down on the right (sound familiar anyone?)

- You'll get a sense for where tracks should sit peak-level-wise depending on what they are (drums ~ -8 to -10, bass a bit lower, pads maybe -18dB, shakers down below that etc).

- following from that you'll start getting the sound right at source, and find yourself moving the faders less = better fader resolution for finer level tweaking

- Your tunes are more likely to be easily master-able (no clipping or shoehorning under 0dB happening)

- Your ME will thank you for it by making it sound fucking huge

omgitsblake wrote:No problem. You should take a look at this thread if you haven't already; I believe everyone should:
http://www.dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=74832

My two favorite posts being:

Sorry if it isn't really answering your question, but -3 is way too high.

Remember that 6dB is half. So if you have one element at -6, that is half your headroom gone. Two elements at -6dB each = all your headroom gone. Having the drums at -3 will leave you fighting against clipping and struggling to keep everything down and under control.

Rather, set your drums for *around* -8 / -10 (ie, a bit less than half). The bass - if we are talking a pure sine sub - would probably sit best a dB or two below that, any distorted/fullband bass sounds should be effectively treated as different entities and mixed appropriately (due to Fletcher Munson).

This leaves you with a few dB headroom, and everything else is just parsley. No more fighting anything, you *will* get repeatable and consistent levels in your mixes, and better mixes as a result.

It's just good, sensible mix practice

- You'll never have to move your master fader again

- You'll never get clipping again (unless you're really doing something wrong)

- You'll mix more consistently as you won't be 'chasing your tail', pushing things up on the left and turning them down on the right (sound familiar anyone?)

- You'll get a sense for where tracks should sit peak-level-wise depending on what they are (drums ~ -8 to -10, bass a bit lower, pads maybe -18dB, shakers down below that etc).

- following from that you'll start getting the sound right at source, and find yourself moving the faders less = better fader resolution for finer level tweaking

- Your tunes are more likely to be easily master-able (no clipping or shoehorning under 0dB happening)

- Your ME will thank you for it by making it sound fucking huge