logic master output sensitivity?

[clarkycatdealer]

hi all


im on logic 7 and ableton and have a ****** thing with logic
the master is so so sensitive it takes the piss sometimes

i mean at times its impossible to balance a sub , kick and snare without peaking?? say ive got a beat that peaks between 3-4 db is limited to make sure of it to boot -> then ill add my sub (eqd totally off below 40 and sloped off down from 100) even if its at-11 it will totally rinse the head room into 1db even though its sidechained to the kick.

its driving me insane because it just dosnt make sense.


other odd things are for example ill play a loop 10 times and each time it will peak at different levels! how the fuck is this even possible if its the same wavs?? Or ill play a loop it will start at say 3db then jump up to 2.5 when the snare comes in, YET , if i increase the volume of the snare after this jump it doesnt increase the overall volume. i dont really understand , im on 7.2.3 and this is just so bizzare , ableton does not do this sort of jumpy metering. even more strange is that if i have a kick that ive 100% made mono , on the master it will be louder on the left channel sometimes!!! What the hell is going on?? ive got a motu ultralite running my sound btw.

an other example of odd behaviour is say i have just a sub totally cut off after 200hz and a snare totally cut off below 200hz , when they play at the same time i get peaking. is there somthing i'm missing? ? ? ?


thanks very much
cheers!

[tmu]

im experiencing samekind of behaviour with logic pro 7 and 8,
havent really used other DAWs so i tought all DAWs behave like this, and im just really poor doing mixdowns and thats why i get lots of peaking even with a sub and a hihat?

Well i know i suck at mixdowns, but would like to also know is that mentoined peakin normal, and how to get rid of it...

...maybe i should check ableton if it doesnt behave like that... although wouldnt like to change cos i like everything else in Logic.

[macc]

I don't know Logic very well (only older versions), so I can't comment on its metering.

But don't assume that eqing everything off with a sharp HP filter will decrease levels. It's a little known (and even less understood) fact that it can INCREASE peak levels in a great number of cases. And it makes perfect sense. I'd be happy to explain it if you like, but to cut a long story short, it's best not to cut unless it really needs cutting.

As for the last thing, irrespective of frequency, playing two sounds at the same time will still give a higher peak level. they still add up! If your LP@200 sub and HP@200 snare play at the same time, the signals will add. It's perfectly natural. If they clip, turn everything down.


Sounds to me like you're doing lots of stuff you don't need to for reasons of getting everything as close to 0 as possible. To repeat something I've banged on about a lot since joining here; In a modern sequencer, provided you are mixing down to 24-bit, there is absolutely NO REASON to try to get as close to 0dBFS as you can. No reason at all.

Sorry if any of this comes across wrongly, just trying to help

[macc]

why i get lots of peaking even with a sub and a hihat?

Because they are too loud.

Well i know i suck at mixdowns, but would like to also know is that mentoined peakin normal, and how to get rid of it...

Keep sensible levels throughout your gain structure. To put it another way; turn shit down

maybe i should check ableton if it doesnt behave like that... although wouldnt like to change cos i like everything else in Logic.

It's not the tools

[tmu]

maybe i should check ableton if it doesnt behave like that... although wouldnt like to change cos i like everything else in Logic.

It's not the tools

i know, i know man, as i said; i suck at mixdowns lol (dont know shit what i'd suppose to do with a EQ or compressors and whatnot), thanks for the help, its greatly appriciated.

[macc]

Think of it like a tree.

The branches are always smaller than the trunk. Follow that principle and you'll never go too far wrong.

It's okay to have your drum track peaking at -12, your bass at -12 and your master at -6. Really, it's ok - it doesn't make you any less of a man or anything Headroom isn't a sign of weakness.

[setspeed]

Macc, tell us about cutting frequencies increasing peaks!

is it something to do with a sharpish rolloff inducing resonances around the frequencies where you, er, roll-off?



wasn't going to ask, but i think i encountered it this afternoon