Levels (in ableton) for basslines

[solidus]

To make a big, drawn-out explanation short, I'm working my basslines in Ableton and the synths coming out of Massive are outputting at different levels. That is, the volume across the track is not even.

As I am chopping the pattern, is fixing this an issue of putting a limiter on each channel and earing it off to make the levels roughly even? Or is there a way to group multiple channels under a limiter channel "master" and relativize the individual levels to something even overall?

[Attila]

I just use the volume slider

[mikeyp]

uh, what? gain structure. why limit them?

[outdropt]

I only limit/compress if the sound is seriously changing in volume and i dont want it to. Some basslines need to be at a stable volume, others drop out for effect. Its up to you to decide if you need to keep dynamics or squash the sound. For synths i would keep the drops in volume, depending.

But i would check your ADSR on your oscillator's. If you have a long attack that is starting at low volume and gradually increasing, the overall volume will follow.

What does chopping your pattern have to do with volume

[nowaysj]

You can automate a utility plugin to get consistent values, or when you render to audio, you can normalize everything and then turn everything way back down, or just render to audio and then set them by ear, with a sneaky eye on the meter. Limiting is used to control dynamics, and in truly out of control situations like live performance and live radio.

[solidus]

uh, what? gain structure. why limit them?

It's not just slight fluctuations, it's major differences between one bassline to another that would come out in the master bad if left unchecked.

I only limit/compress if the sound is seriously changing in volume and i dont want it to. Some basslines need to be at a stable volume, others drop out for effect. Its up to you to decide if you need to keep dynamics or squash the sound. For synths i would keep the drops in volume, depending.

But i would check your ADSR on your oscillator's. If you have a long attack that is starting at low volume and gradually increasing, the overall volume will follow.

What does chopping your pattern have to do with volume

Fair enough, it's not the dropping down that I'm worried about, I'm not trying to massively gain the low sections, but reduce the levels of the high sections. Will check attack and other osc profiles later.

The chopping itself doesn't have anything to do with the volume per se, it's the fact that on the faster chops the inequality (which isn't a mild one) between channels creates random blasts that are louder than the surroundings. It's an undesirable effect, not only in the increase, but the drop back at the end of that chop section.

I put it through a hard mixer to get a feel for it, dialed gains and EQ'd for the normal sections. Chops clipped right off the bat.

[outdropt]

When you chop sections of audio be careful. Make sure the sound ends on 0db, in other words right on the line, you might have to zoom in and stretch to the best end of your sound.

If you dont you will get loud clicks, sometimes the sound comes back in a bit due to effects/ADSR/filters so i usually end it on a a down point in the clip where all surrounding areas are quieting down, so the end is not so abrupt.

Some sounds will not sound fluid next to each other, you might just need to switch around which sounds are next to each other. Maybe add some filter sweeps for effect towards the end of one send into the the beginning of the next to make the transition a bit smoother.