Getting Your Levels Just Right

[dubz]

Is so fucking hard - anyone have some tips they could share when sorting them out?
ie. bassline no more than -9db, kick no more than -8db

I saw something floating around about a db calculator, any use in using that?

[macc]

You can't mix with a calculator

Listen to it - that tells you whether something is too loud in the mix or not.

Look at your meters, that tells you whether your gain structure is too loud or not.

That's all you need to worry about. The numbers you refer to are guidelines to prevent the red light going on, not rules. Read the sticky at the top again, and again, until it sticks

[2nd chance]

Depends on the song, dude. Guidelines don't mean jack when you got a unique song. Listen to it, really listen. Turn the tv off, throw the food and crap out the window, put the sequencer out of view and just listen. You'll get it that way.

[dav.id]

You can't mix with a calculator

Listen to it - that tells you whether something is too loud in the mix or not.

Look at your meters, that tells you whether your gain structure is too loud or not.

That's all you need to worry about. The numbers you refer to are guidelines to prevent the red light going on, not rules. Read the sticky at the top again, and again, until it sticks

you must have told this like a 100.000 times and you still take the time that is a great quality!

[jsilver]

your ears, faders and monitors

[ketamine]

You can't mix with a calculator

Listen to it - that tells you whether something is too loud in the mix or not.

Look at your meters, that tells you whether your gain structure is too loud or not.

That's all you need to worry about. The numbers you refer to are guidelines to prevent the red light going on, not rules. Read the sticky at the top again, and again, until it sticks

you must have told this like a 100.000 times and you still take the time that is a great quality!

At this point I'm sure Macc cut and pastes his answers

[macc]

At this point I'm sure Macc cut and pastes his answers

WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THATTT???!?

[Littlefoot]

I think Macc should have to interview people before posting on here for the first time, or pass some kind of 11+ exam

[Disco Nutter]

At this point I'm sure Macc cut and pastes his answers

WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THATTT???!?

I think you did a while ago

[Depone]

I think Macc should have to interview people before posting on here for the first time, or pass some kind of 11+ exam

it would actually clean this place up proper!

[future one]

I think Macc should have to interview people before posting on here for the first time, or pass some kind of 11+ exam

it would actually clean this place up proper!

There wouldn't be many people left.

[Depone]

I think Macc should have to interview people before posting on here for the first time, or pass some kind of 11+ exam

it would actually clean this place up proper!

There wouldn't be many people left.

"Some day the rain will clean the scum from the streets"

[future one]

I think Macc should have to interview people before posting on here for the first time, or pass some kind of 11+ exam

it would actually clean this place up proper!

There wouldn't be many people left.

"Some day the rain will clean the scum from the streets"

lol

[macc]

God I love that film.

And I don't copy-paste anything!

[nowaysj]

In all honesty though, it is hard getting your levels right. Volume is the very base of the mixing pyramid. Eq and compression, moving up the pyramid are decreasingly less important. Getting the volume just right is hard and crucial.

Two things - keep working at your mixes, new mixes old mixes, just keep mixing. It is hard, anyone that says it isn't is lying, stupid or a prodigy.

Gain staging is the foundation of the foundation. I'll let macc explain what gain staging is, if he'd be so gracious as to not copy and paste for once, oh wait, he's probably got that copy and pasted too... but I will say this - you should have your monitoring and daw locked down so that -10db always sounds like -10db in your room. Then when you have a stationary target, you can start to take aim at the perfect mix. It's hard dood.

[Mad_EP]

If it were easy, anyone could do it.


The general rule of thumb for those who do it well usually goes something like this -

1) listen to it 10,000 times in different situations (headphones vs car vs monitors vs boombox vs transistor radio, etc...)

2) once one is confident, send it to 5-10 of the best ears you know (other artists, engineers, djs, dogs, etc)... ask for their harshest critques...

3) swallow your pride, and try to find a middle ground from all the opinions you just received....

4) A/B your original version vs the suggestions version. listen to them 10,000 times and pick a winner.

4) repeat step one...

(repeat if necessary)

[antics]

This levels thing is a tad misleading as it suggests that elements should be at certain volumes, this is infact not the case, but people are setting these volumes so that the end track doesnt go over 0db and also is well balanced.

An easier technique i have found is to set all the channels to 50% volume before starting, that way you can tweak up and down appropriately during your song. By leaving it this low you ensure that when your midway through your song and you suddenly realise that you want something to come in but for it to be louder you still have a few db to spare.

I have a habit of starting with drums and having created your drum loop there is a very easy way to control the volume of it. Simply having made your loop forward all the mixer channels to one channel instead of directly out, this means that later on you can adjust the volume of your entire percussion section in one go, that way all the volumes still remain the same relatively and it is instead just the overall volume that goes down...

[macc]

Gain staging is the foundation of the foundation. .... you should have your monitoring and daw locked down so that -10db always sounds like -10db in your room. Then when you have a stationary target, you can start to take aim at the perfect mix.

Nicely put

*deliberately ignores copy/paste stuff *

An easier technique i have found is to set all the channels to 50% volume before starting, that way you can tweak up and down appropriately during your song. By leaving it this low you ensure that when your midway through your song and you suddenly realise that you want something to come in but for it to be louder you still have a few db to spare.

You're right of course, though the even easier technique is simply to get the sound right before it even hits the mixer/fader - ie get it right from the word go. Then the fader is at unity gain allowing even more precise adjustment as most DAW faders have better resolution at/around unity. This is essentially the crux of the sticky thread up top on this forum

[potato-mob]

hello, my name is andres gomez i am potato-mob from culture assault and dub frequency records... i recently made a couple of tunes hope u can enjoy it cuz it is pure nasty n filth the way of da future dub-step hehehehehe..however, i got a realeased and i am making some promo 2 it.....

this is my space

www.myspace.com/potatoakamob

the name of the e.p is IUS IN BELLUM (law in war)



1. sensitomethry
2. i`ll dub them potato remix
3 my dream
4 diaherria and no bathroom

http://www.digital-tunes.net/labels/dub ... cy_records

http://www.beatsdigital.com/label/dubfrequencyrecords

http://www.chemical-records.co.uk/store ... cy-Records


tell me if da levels r right

pz

[lowpass]

I've seen this done before, shameless plug aside.

This is the situation:-

-you've worked really hard on a track and are happy with it
-you put it out through a label and they are happy with it
-you then ask for feedback? what's the point (ignoring the fact that you are only asking for the promotion)

what are you going to do if someone says yeah the mix is completely off, you need to fix A,B and C

you're music is already out there, there's nothing you can do