hi guys ive been producing for a while on Cubase now and I'm in the process of now doing my first mix and am veryyy confused regarding levels and such, not balancing, since i want to do that after getting peak levels understood and set. I got some advise to have my individual tracks around -10 to -12dbfs on the "peaks" and with all my tracks playing on the master fader no more than -6dbfs in peak levels. My project was way out of wack clipping almost all way through. So what ive done all week is prepared the project by taking out all compressors, setting all faders including master to unity, and went 1 by 1 with every wav and vst in my project and adjusted volumes so they peak around 10-12dbs. So i now play my project all the way through and look at the mixer, and made it so no individual track goes over 10dbs. But i look at my master fader and its peaking average around -3 to 0 dbs. PLease what am i doing wrong? Any advise much appriciated, thnks
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thnks so much for the advice :), really clears a few thing up, j
thnks so much for the advice :), really clears a few thing up, just alittle confused about last part about adjusting the master fader to bring entire mix up to -6 or -3. Do u mean that like now with the sum of all my tracks around -3 to 0 dbs, i can bring down the master fader from unity to minus something to get it in that -3 to -6 range? or i should lower all my tracks a few dbs and push the master fader up above 0dbs?... sorry about the stupid question just want to do this right, thnks
Sorry, hard to be complete on a phone. Leave the master at 0dB.
Sorry, hard to be complete on a phone. Leave the master at 0dB. Adjust all of your individual faders down if need be to achieve a balanced pleasing mix. If you want to hear more vocals and that individual track is already peaking at -6dB the last thing you want to do is boost it. You need to pull down everything that is obliterating it in that same frequency range. Once you have everything adjusted then look at your master fader. If it is clipping or too hot then pull it down. If the master is now low then push it up to -6dB or -3dB. Faders move two directions for a reason.
All those different tracks add together and the sum will ALWAYS
All those different tracks add together and the sum will ALWAYS be louder than any given part. Also, you don't have to use the makeup gain on a compressor. Do not be afraid to pull the faders down. Tracks that peak at -12dB are perfect. Now that they are recorded that hot you use the faders to adjust. In your first round or to you should pull fades down to achieve good balance-subtractive in other words. Once you have a good mix you adjust the master fader to bring the entire mix up to -6 or -3 in order to send out for mastering.