Quick mixing tip - simple but hugely effective.

BeatBoutique

New member
One of the first pieces of advice we give when asked how to improve mixing, surprisingly, doesn't include any plugins.

Leveling your individual tracks so that the master track peaks around, at most, 6dB will result in a much clearer sound. You will notice that this is very effective in allowing instruments to breath, rather than merge together through compression and/or limiting at high volumes.

It's also a good idea to set these levels before mixing, rather than after, as it will ensure your mix translates as you want it to at the final volume.

Finally, many beatmakers have asked if they could just turn down the master volume, instead of turning down every track individually. We would seriously advise against it, as even though the overall volume will lower, it cannot be guaranteed that headroom and space of your beat will improve.
 
turning down the master fader does not create balance period so it should not be done unless being used for effect as in a fade out
 
Agreed, I hope we didn't imply it did.

was only explaining more clearly why we do not use the master fader to fix headroom issues if we are trying to achieve level balancing

and, yes, Mad Phonetics, most folks will read having 6dB of headroom as meaning -6dBFS, but it should be explicit rather than implicit
 
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