[ddots-l] Re: ideal peak levels help

Hi Nevil.

I used a bit of judicious compression to give the drums some extra punch, and 
some compression on the over all mix.

Also, I tend to compare the over all volume against 2 things.

1.  against a CD who's sound I'm very familiar with.

2.  Strange as it might seem, I compare against how loud Jaws is.  When I play 
music on my computer, I'm very familiar with how well I can hear Jaws through a 
piece of music.

If I can hear jaws, but jaws is only just intelligible, that's about as loud as 
I want it.

It is very rare these days that I get any clipping using the above 2 
comparisons.

Cheers
Darren

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: neville 
  To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
  Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 3:52 AM
  Subject: [ddots-l] Re: ideal peak levels help


  Hello Darren,

  How did you get your tracks to sound so loud? Usually when I have lots of 
instruments, my track sounds too soft even with the master at minus 1. If I try 
to make the track sound louder, then I have problems with clipping. 

   

  May the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your heart and mind 
in Christ Jesus

  God Bless You!

  email neville@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

                                                  Website 
http://www.nevillepeter.com

  phone number 407-222-4488


------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  From: ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
Behalf Of Gordon Kent
  Sent: Monday, July 27, 2009 9:20 PM
  To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  Subject: [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.


          PLEASE READ THIS FOOTER AT LEAST ONCE!
          To leave the list, click on the immediately following link:
          ddots-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe
          If this link doesn't work then send a message to:
          ddots-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
          and in the Subject line type
          unsubscribe
          For other list commands such as vacation mode, 
          click on the immediately following link:
          ddots-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq or
          send a message, to 
          ddots-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
          and in the Subject line type
          faq

  Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
  Version: 8.5.392 / Virus Database: 270.13.25/2256 - Release Date: 07/27/09 
17:59:00

Other related posts: