exactly the same here, I keep all my volumes on the midi tracks at 127, and tinker with the volume on the synth, and control my audio volume there after. ----- Original Message ----- From: Phil Muir To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Saturday, February 21, 2009 3:31 AM Subject: [ddots-l] Re: 0 dB or higher? Yup. That's what I do here. Regards, Phil Muir P J Muir Productions, Music And Audio Production Telephone: US (615) 713-2021 UK+44-1747-821-794 Mobile: UK +44-7968-136-246 E-mail: info@xxxxxxxxxxxx URL: www.philmuir.com/ ----- Original Message ----- From: D!J!X! To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 5:33 PM Subject: [ddots-l] Re: 0 dB or higher? It is suggested that you keep all your midi volumes at 127 (max) and just control the audio volumes instead. If using an external synth then fix it's hardware volume. Of couse there's exceptions to every rule, so it's not a definite thing. HTH, D!J!X! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bobby Lusk Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 7:15 AM To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [ddots-l] Re: 0 dB or higher? Hello. I have a question. I set all my audio volumes to 0 DB, but what's a good recording level for midi tracks. With the vocals set to 0, when I play my project back, I can hardly hear the vocals without increasing the volume. Should I lower the volumes for my midi tracks? ----- Original Message ----- From: D!J!X! To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 10:41 PM Subject: [ddots-l] Re: 0 dB or higher? -0.1 is the max you can go up to. Try compressing some tracks and playing around with indevidual track volumes, or try using a limitter to see what it does. Take in to consideration that if you want your mix to breathe or have some natrual ambiance to it, it will never sound as loud as today's comercial rock and hip hop stuff, just because those cds have the crap compressed out of them. It all depends what you are working with. Not that compressing is bad, but it's an art that must be mastered to be done right. Some of your tracks might have some peaks here and there which is what's holding your volume down a bit, with a compressor or better recording techniques you might be able to sort this out. I'm sure others will chime in here with better suggestions and/or tips on how to fix your problem. HTH, D!J!X! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Stacy Blackwell Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 11:23 PM To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [ddots-l] 0 dB or higher? Hello again. My new question is that I have maxed the outputs of a project until it sounded balanced. I pushed everything to the 0 dB output level. I thought the mix was good, but when compared to a regular CD, the overall volume was a lot lower. To match the volume, I had to max out some buses to 6 dB. I shouldn't have to do this, should I? I thought 0 dB was where the volume should be for a quality recording. Are my original recording levels too low? I don't think they were that far below 0 dB. My MP3 conversion was also quieter in volume. Any suggestions? S.B. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Windows LiveT: Keep your life in sync. Check it out.