Commercial records clip at 0dB or 6dB? (Maximizing Song Volume)

  • Thread starter Thread starter illapino
  • Start date Start date
whodie_slimm said:
what tha hell is wrong wit chall mayne, i've been doin this for 6 yrs, my whole hood tells me damn, where yall record yall music, i tell them, in my damn house, and they still don't believe me... I get much respect on my mixing and mastering... master of fact, i got a couple people coming in a couple of dayz for me to record and master they ****... You just have to know what your doing, understanding what you r doing.
Click to expand...

what a fine grasp on english you have there my friend lol. This is just another thought maybe your home mastering are just good enough to fool those who dont know any better? In recording and mixing you can get about 70% with just knowledge and crapy gear but your not going to get professional masters with cracked software and a home grown studio no matter how much you know. Bob katz wouldnt take his mastering setup and dump it into a bedroom and think any diffrent.
 
Straight said:
glad i could help ya. you just mixed the meters

so if you want to know where your stuff peak, use the upper meter in FL. it shows the real dBfs
Click to expand...

Huh? The "Upper" Meter? What is that
 
I was taught to go with -0.5dBFS just to be on the safe side but I think they both work fine. I would recommend the Waves Mastering Bundle, they are essential plug-ins and many of the Top Hits you hear on the radio go through the Waves L2, whether it be the Rack or Plug-in.

Increasing the amount of limiting (threshold) can change the sound of a mix by making it "louder". This is due to the fact that we are raising the RMS level of the mix against a fixed peak level, thus increasing the overall perceived loudness of the mix.
 
Marol said:
... Alot of cats around here get caught up in the technical talk and still dont have a deep understanding of what makes music beautiful. Worrying about 0db, 0dbFS, dbV, dbmV, etc will get you no where if you dont do good music. ...
Click to expand...

Just a note, THIS IS A PRODUCTION FORUM!!! If you're worried about "making music", GO TO A MUSIC FORUM!!! People here talk about the "technical stuff" because this is the place for it.

And it has A LOT more to do with making "good music" than you think. And it has EVERYTHING to do with recording that "good music". You either need to know it, or you need to pay someone to know it for you. End of story.

EDIT: This post seems angrier than it actually is.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
and I'm here because I NEED to know the technical sides of music
I KNOW the tehnical side can enhance my music.
That is why I am HERE.
I am just frustrated that I am unable to pick up such basic concepts that everyone else seems to be so fluent on ... Really frustrated.
 
illapino said:
Huh? The "Upper" Meter? What is that
Click to expand...

I'm not perfect at english so sometimes I may create words.

I meant "the other meter on the top of the screen".

Hosey said:
Just a note, THIS IS A PRODUCTION FORUM!!! If you're worried about "making music", GO TO A MUSIC FORUM!!! People here talk about the "technical stuff" because this is the place for it.

And it has A LOT more to do with making "good music" than you think. And it has EVERYTHING to do with recording that "good music". You either need to know it, or you need to pay someone to know it for you. End of story.

EDIT: This post seems angrier than it actually is.
Click to expand...

angry or not you're right, sound design and mixing plays a big role in hiphop beat making
 
Last edited by a moderator:
illapino said:
As you may know I come on here complaining about my mixes being alot quieter than commercial records. And as you may know, I always tried to avoid letting the master volume meter enter the Red Zone in my mixing software (which begins at 0dB). So all of my mixes have been peaking at 0dB all this time, and nothing above. Is this why my mixes are so quiet? Are commercial records louder simply because they peak up to the 6dB level? The Red Zone in my software mixer is from 0dB to 6dB

Is the 0dB to 6dB range not prone to clipping? I'm starting to assume that it is only past 6dB that tracks start clipping ... This would really explain why my tracks are so quiet ...
Click to expand...
Illapino, ignore the smart idiots that have nothing better to do than rub the fact you were confused while making your statement in your face. Everyone on this board with an IQ of over 12 knew exactly what you were asking, but felt the need to correct and overanalyze your post to make themselves feel smart. In the process all they did was further confuse you.

If a chick tells you "come take this azz for a ride" you don't say "actually that's your vagina", you don't say "how can I physically take a part of your anatomy and travel from on point to another with it?" and you damn sure don't hop in a car. Sometimes you guys are overtechnical for no reason at all.

To answer your question, albums are usually released professionally at 0db. They accomplish this by using limiters which add the noticeable ammount of "loudness" you hear on finalized records. While mixing you shouldn't use limiters and should keep everything below 0db, that keeps it from clipping, and as long as digital audio doesn't clip, if an engineer needs more headroom, he can just turn down the volume. Doesn't matter if it's -8db or -0.00001db. Don't worry about "loudness" until the final steps of your music creation process.
 
Last edited:
deRaNged 4 Phuk'dup said:
If a chick tells you "come take this azz for a ride" you don't say "actually that's your vagina", you don't say "how can I physically take a part of your anatomy and travel from on point to another with it?" and you damn sure don't hop in a car. Sometimes you guys are overtechnical for no reason at all.
Click to expand...
That was one of the best and on the point analogies I've seen so far on FP. People are always talking about cars and how it doesn't drive without gas and all that old stuff, I'm really wondering how you came up with that creative analogy lol... :victory:
 
Straight said:
you are using FL, right?

I'm talkin about the Peak Meter
Click to expand...

"Peak Meter" now?
lol
Does it say peak meter somewhere in FL?
I feel like I'm missing out here ...

"Meter at the top", "upper meter", "peak meter"
lol .......................................
 
lol or not it IS called peak meter

with an effort to write your last 3 posts you could easily find that

if you roll the mouse over it, it shows "Peak Meter"

maybe try to find it instead of posting
 
ok sorry. i'll look for it, but i don't recall that exact name ... thanks
 
Fruity Limiter is just as capable if you know how to use it.
 
It can be used but i personally don't like the way it saturates when reaching the threshold, Isotope has an almost a vintage valve driven sound when it is limiting and the L2 is gr8 for simple transparent yet impressively high gain.
 
The saturation can be controlled. There are other limiters(Nomad Factory comes to mind)that boast about these capabilities. I think it's more about what the person behind the tools wants. I could just as easily argue that the L2 isn't as "transparent" as the L3 or that both fall short to products by Sonnox and UAD..but that would all be opinion when everything being discussed is capable of doing the job at hand well in the right hands...including the Fruity Limiter.
 
Last edited:
J4YM5 said:
theres alot of confusion in this thread
Boosting to 0db is an art use waves L2 or Izotope Ozone and not fruity limiter
Click to expand...

I'm confused on why it is so difficult to boost to 0 dbfs. You can normalize and you're at 0 dbfs. I don't think that's what you meant but it's hard to clarify confusion with further confusion. I also don't see the point of bumping an old thread just to bash a limiter.
 
Straight said:
FL gives you 6 dB headroom.

+6dB on FL's master meter equals 0dBfs

if you amplify it even more, then it'll be distorted, because you can't go above 0dB (on the meter its +6dB)
Click to expand...

never heard this before but now it makes a whole lot of sense
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top