M
MASSIVE Mastering
Guest
REpost by REquest - Experiment concerning recording levels - Get past the "record it hot" goofiness out there and try getting a mix to truly sound the way it WANTS to sound -
-------------
The "rule of thumb" is to be at the level your gear wants to be at. Generally, 0dBVU or around -14dBFS. Soome gear is calibrated differently (some around -18dBFS and some up to -12dBFS=0dBVU) but having the "meat" of the signal around -14dBFS is a good place to be. Tracking AND mixing.
I think a lot of people don't realize how important it is to keep a good amount of headroom through the entire process. This is a fairly new developement - even in home recording. I'm really not sure where it all started, but I really hope it stops soon.
As a mastering engineer, I get projects in all the time at both extremes - Projects that have been "absued" at every possible chance - Clipped and overly compressed at the track level, mixed too hot and then limited - And then the client asks for "more volume" on top of that - which is quite difficult.
Then there are the projects that come in with airy, open sounding highs, great headroom, little unecessary compression or limiting at any stage, peaks at -6, -8, sometimes as low as -12dBFS (PEAKS we're talking about here) that have SO much potential for sheer volume that it's silly. Why? Because if you're going to use up all your headroom, it's best to do it ONCE - And that's as late in the game as possible (normally during the mastering phase).
But hey - Don't take my word for it. Do yourself a favor:
Record a project with really hot levels. Something simple (because you're going to do it twice) without too many tracks. Kill everything as much as you want. Compress tracks on the way in, during mixing, at the groups, at submixes, go nuts. Make sure you mix it through a limiter on the 2-buss.
Now record the same project using very conservative levels - Don't compress anything unless it actually *needs it* to fit into the mix. Keep the levels reasonable (nothing ever peaking above -6dBFS at the very most). Maybe put a dB or two of compression at the group or buss levels to "gel" things together (again, only if it actually benifts the mix - Not for the sake of volume) and complete the mixdown.
Put mix A (the really loud one) on an empty track in an empty project. Put mix B (the one that wasn't smashed) on another track. Turn mix A *down* to match the *apparent* volume of mix B and then MUTE it. Play the tracks, SOLO'ing mix A (so you hear it instead of mix B) back and forth.
Honestly - Mix B is going to absolutely SMOKE mix A in raw sound quality. If it doesn't, something is seriously wrong somewhere.
Now that we've established that smashing levels sounds like a$$, do something bizarre - NORMALIZE mix B (yes, it's generally a bad idea, but go ahead and do it) and turn mix A back to unity.
Now, strap a limiter onto mix B and just ram it in until it's as loud as mix A. Now we're *increasing* B instead of *decreasing* A - Just by ramming it into a brickwall limiter. Doesn't have to be anything fancy - Hell, just clip it at the track level if you need to.
Now, SOLO A/B them back and forth again and tell me that mix B doesn't hold up to the volume of mix A with MUCH better sound quality and general clarity.
The headroom you kept on the B project is like money in the bank as far as the *potential* quality and volume of the finished product is concerned.
"Some" headroom - Every track, every mix, every subgroup, everywhere - all the way through the project.
This is how it's done downtown.
-------------
The "rule of thumb" is to be at the level your gear wants to be at. Generally, 0dBVU or around -14dBFS. Soome gear is calibrated differently (some around -18dBFS and some up to -12dBFS=0dBVU) but having the "meat" of the signal around -14dBFS is a good place to be. Tracking AND mixing.
I think a lot of people don't realize how important it is to keep a good amount of headroom through the entire process. This is a fairly new developement - even in home recording. I'm really not sure where it all started, but I really hope it stops soon.
As a mastering engineer, I get projects in all the time at both extremes - Projects that have been "absued" at every possible chance - Clipped and overly compressed at the track level, mixed too hot and then limited - And then the client asks for "more volume" on top of that - which is quite difficult.
Then there are the projects that come in with airy, open sounding highs, great headroom, little unecessary compression or limiting at any stage, peaks at -6, -8, sometimes as low as -12dBFS (PEAKS we're talking about here) that have SO much potential for sheer volume that it's silly. Why? Because if you're going to use up all your headroom, it's best to do it ONCE - And that's as late in the game as possible (normally during the mastering phase).
But hey - Don't take my word for it. Do yourself a favor:
Record a project with really hot levels. Something simple (because you're going to do it twice) without too many tracks. Kill everything as much as you want. Compress tracks on the way in, during mixing, at the groups, at submixes, go nuts. Make sure you mix it through a limiter on the 2-buss.
Now record the same project using very conservative levels - Don't compress anything unless it actually *needs it* to fit into the mix. Keep the levels reasonable (nothing ever peaking above -6dBFS at the very most). Maybe put a dB or two of compression at the group or buss levels to "gel" things together (again, only if it actually benifts the mix - Not for the sake of volume) and complete the mixdown.
Put mix A (the really loud one) on an empty track in an empty project. Put mix B (the one that wasn't smashed) on another track. Turn mix A *down* to match the *apparent* volume of mix B and then MUTE it. Play the tracks, SOLO'ing mix A (so you hear it instead of mix B) back and forth.
Honestly - Mix B is going to absolutely SMOKE mix A in raw sound quality. If it doesn't, something is seriously wrong somewhere.
Now that we've established that smashing levels sounds like a$$, do something bizarre - NORMALIZE mix B (yes, it's generally a bad idea, but go ahead and do it) and turn mix A back to unity.
Now, strap a limiter onto mix B and just ram it in until it's as loud as mix A. Now we're *increasing* B instead of *decreasing* A - Just by ramming it into a brickwall limiter. Doesn't have to be anything fancy - Hell, just clip it at the track level if you need to.
Now, SOLO A/B them back and forth again and tell me that mix B doesn't hold up to the volume of mix A with MUCH better sound quality and general clarity.
The headroom you kept on the B project is like money in the bank as far as the *potential* quality and volume of the finished product is concerned.
"Some" headroom - Every track, every mix, every subgroup, everywhere - all the way through the project.
This is how it's done downtown.