[ddots-l] Re: ideal peak levels help

Hello:
The one rule you should always remember is headroom headroom headroom.  Keep in 
mind that the level of your entire mix is a product of the sum total of all 
your individual tracks.  If you turn your control room monitor level down low, 
you'll hear what is standing out in your mix and causing your peaks to exceed 
acceptable levels.  I like to keep the master level below -3db or so if 
possible to give maximizing software some room to work.  A snare track probably 
shouldn't go above -6db, so if you want to get that really cracking out front 
snare sound on your track you should work from there.  Even though we are now 
in the digital domain and we have all our tracks up while we are recording, we 
should still do our mixes like the old school cats did, starting from the 
bottom up with the bas and drums, then adding rhythm instruments, sweetening, 
and last but not least, vocals.  If you find your vocals are burried, bring 
everything else down.  It's a natural tendency for you to just push something 
up to bring it out, but believe me, you'll get much better results if you think 
down instead of up.  Also, panning stuff in the right place will go a long way 
to making room for stuff to fit.  
Gord
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Darren H 
  To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
  Sent: Sunday, July 26, 2009 11:56 PM
  Subject: [ddots-l] Re: ideal peak levels help


  Hi.

  gordon, my starting point is to mix the vocals with the drum track.

  The snare should just about be cutting through the vocals, but without 
pushing them back.

  On a similar note, when mixing the bass, especially bass guitar with drums, I 
like to mix them so that the kick and the bass notes when they are playing 
together sound like one instrument.

  cheers
  Darren

    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: G. McFarlane 
    To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
    Sent: Monday, July 27, 2009 4:17 AM
    Subject: [ddots-l] Re: ideal peak levels help


    Hi 
    On the same subject, is there a general rule of thumb as to the balance 
between vocals (individual voice) and background music/instruments?
    Gordon McFarlane
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Omar Binno 
      To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
      Sent: Monday, July 27, 2009 12:12 AM
      Subject: [ddots-l] Re: ideal peak levels help


      No track's level should transcend -0.1. After knowing that, it pretty 
much depends on how you want your stuff mixed, and how you want each track to 
sound in conjunction with the other tracks.


      Omar Binno

      Website: www.omarbinno.com
      AIM: LOD1116
      Skype: obinno1
        ----- Original Message ----- 
        From: Mark Dew 
        To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
        Sent: Sunday, July 26, 2009 7:09 PM
        Subject: [ddots-l] ideal peak levels help


        Hello group, about peak levels.
        Pressing the f2 key shows the peak level.
        Normally, what would be the ideal peek level for a track?
        I realize there would be a different peak level for each track in a 
song.
        What peak level would be considered too high?
        Also, lets say you have 4 tracks drums, bass guitar and piano.
        A rough peak level for each track 
        would be what?

        Thanks in advance.

        Mark from St. Louis Mo.


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