Headroom

W

wucao

New member
Hi

I got a tip that I should left some db headroom for the mastering. But, let's take e.g. -3db headroom.

Does that mean the loudest part of the track should peak at -3db?
And what if I have some effects in the track which comes e.g. in 1 second but go higher than -3db?

How do you guys manage that with the headroom?
 
You want little effects as possible, but it all depends on what sound your going for. The key is to be able to go into mastering with room to boost the volume as a whole.
 
It does mean that the loudest part of the track should peak at -3db, i'd even go lower than that.

Either you lower the volume of it or compress it. Either way that peak will most likely be compressed during the master stage.
 
Last edited:
Wallengard said:
Either you lower the volume of it or compress it.
Click to expand...

Id just leave this part to the mastering engineer.

I dont wanna start a debate in this thread too but this is kind of what I was talking about in the other one haha. Gonna quote Page 111 of the Mix engineers handbook Vol. 3 here.

"One of the problems with compressing too much is that it leaves the mastering engineer with a lot less room to work, and in the case of a track thats "hyper-compressed", it virtually eliminates the ability for the mastering engineer to be much help at all."

Its a GREAT book, full of amazing stuff and not a very long read at all.
 
Last edited:
Yumid said:
Id just leave this part to the mastering engineer.

I dont wanna start a debate in this thread too but this is kind of what I was talking about in the other one haha. Gonna quote Page 111 of the Mix engineers handbook Vol. 3 here.

"One of the problems with compressing too much is that it leaves the mastering engineer with a lot less room to work, and in the case of a track thats "hyper-compressed", it virtually eliminates the ability for the mastering engineer to be much help at all."

Its a GREAT book, full of amazing stuff and not a very long read at all.
Click to expand...

Actually I was only referring to that 1 second rogue peak that he was talking about.
I also clearly mentioned that even if he didn't compress it himself, it's be taken care of in the mastering stage. If you only put a Compressor on it to deal with that one point of a peak going higher than normal, it's probably going to benefit the mastering stage if you can do it properly, rather than hinder it. You have more control in the mixing stage to do those kind of things, so why not do it.

I feel like you think that I have no idea what I'm saying.
Geez..
 
Last edited:
This is such an antiquated debate.

If you render and send a 32-bit floating point WAV file to your mastering engineer, it doesn't matter.
Why?
Because a 32-bit WAV file retains the extra information above 0dBFS.

Test it for yourself:

Turn your master fader up so that your song is a distorted mess,
and then export the result as a 32-bit WAV.
Then,
start a brand new project,
and import into it the 32-bit WAV you just rendered.

Hit "play" after importing and it should still sound distorted.
However,
If you turn down the volume of the stem to the point where you've got some headroom,
you'll notice that the clipping distortion goes away simultaneously.

The reason Mastering Engineers don't tell people about this
is that it assumes that the person sending the song
is capable of understanding this and is willing to do it.
It's much simpler to suggest to scan the audio file to make sure it never goes above a particular decibel level.
It's also more likely to influence the Mixing Engineer to avoid mixing for optimal loudness,
asserting that the Mastering Engineer is more capable of driving overall loudness with minimal artifacts.

-Ki
Salem Beats
 
Last edited:
Salem Beats said:
This is such an antiquated debate.

If you render and send a 32-bit floating point WAV file to your mastering engineer, it doesn't matter.
Why?
Because a 32-bit WAV file retains the extra information above 0dBFS.

Test it for yourself:

Turn your master fader up so that your song is a distorted mess,
and then export the result as a 32-bit WAV.
Then,
start a brand new project,
and import into it the 32-bit WAV you just rendered.

Hit "play" after importing and it should still sound distorted.
However,
If you turn down the volume of the stem to the point where you've got some headroom,
you'll notice that the clipping distortion goes away simultaneously.

The reason Mastering Engineers don't tell people about this
is that it assumes that the person sending the song
is capable of understanding this and is willing to do it.
It's much simpler to suggest to scan the audio file to make sure it never goes above a particular decibel level.
It's also more likely to influence the Mixing Engineer to avoid mixing for optimal loudness,
asserting that the Mastering Engineer is more capable of driving overall loudness with minimal artifacts.

-Ki
Salem Beats
Click to expand...

Not sure if this clashes with what you said or not but its the first thing I thought of when reading. I'm aware you can't clip a 32 bit wav, but when you're Bouncing a 32-Bit Float file Pro Tools automatically applies dither whether you add it or not.
 
ok we have a lot of answers here now, but unfortunately I have only one response for this question here:

And what if I have some effects in the track which comes e.g. in 1 second but go higher than -3db?

What do you other guys think about it?
 
wucao said:
ok we have a lot of answers here now, but unfortunately I have only one response for this question here:

And what if I have some effects in the track which comes e.g. in 1 second but go higher than -3db?

What do you other guys think about it?
Click to expand...

haha sorry man. Highjacked this thread too.

Try using clip gain. Instead of having to turn the volume of the entire track down because there is just one certain spot that peaks over...

1.)find your spot/note that peaks over

2.)Make a separation/cut on each side of the note that peaks too much. If you don't separate the 'loud' note from the rest of the clip youll be turning down the volume of the entire clip with the next step rather than just the area thats too loud, which you don't want cuz the general volume of the whole clip is alright you said.

3.)This may vary with DAWs, but in Pro Tools you are able to adjust the volume of a clip in the edit window by turning up or down the clip gain fader on the bottom left of the clip if you have it showing..Im sure its easy to figure out how to adjust the gain of a clip in any daw. So now that you're loud note is separated from the rest of the clip, turn it down.

4.)Now just consolidate (put it back together) the note you cut out back in with the rest of the clip using crossfades or however you do it in your daw.

5.)Now you have one single clip just like before you began these steps, but the area that was over-peaking is now a bit quieter without affecting the rest of the clip.

Its really simple actually, if the above doesnt make sense let me know and ill try re explaining it.
 
Last edited:
wucao said:
ok we have a lot of answers here now, but unfortunately I have only one response for this question here:

And what if I have some effects in the track which comes e.g. in 1 second but go higher than -3db?

What do you other guys think about it?
Click to expand...

It seems you're really overthinking it.

If some peaks go higher than -3dBFS and your ME has asked for 3dBFS of headroom,
you simply turn down your master fader until they don't go over -3dBFS anymore.

It will likely sound quieter than you'd like it to be,
and that's fine,
because it's your ME's job to take care of that
(and, in fact, that's the reason he's asking for the headroom in the first place).

-Ki
Salem Beats

P.S.,
If loudness is important to you and you're sending to a professional ME,
make sure you mention explicitly that loudness is a concern.
Some elitist MEs are very concerned with dynamic range.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top