did someone move this thread??
this article is NOT about "hardware"
this article is about technique of mixing INSIDE THE COMPUTER with software..
to avoid bad summing... "Bad mix"
please move this thread back to DAW reference area
i was just about to share this article which discusses the topic further
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep13/articles/level-headed.htmIf you don't understand gain structure, you may be undermining your recordings and mixes without even realising it.
the advice in this article all boils down to the need to allow headroom on all your DAW channels, but, due to the difference in metering types used in the analogue and digital domains, this can seem more complex in practice than it sounds. You could, if you wished, insert virtual VU or PPM meters on every channel of your mix, but I'm unaware of a DAW that allows you to change the channel metering in the mixer to an averaging type, so there's no way that you can see at a glance what all those insert meters are doing. We have to work with the tools at our disposal, although if you're working entirely in the box you don't need to mimic the analogue signal flow so precisely. You don't even need to think about the headroom of your interface's A-D or D-A converters, except in as much as it interfaces with your monitoring chain (another subject about which you'll find half-baked advice all over the Internet!). However, you can make use of those almost-useless peak meters.
If you take the sound with the highest peak levels and set it so that it peaks at between -12 and -18dBFS, you shouldn't run into problems with plug-ins or summing on the mix bus. If these figures look different to those I discussed in relation to analogue gear, remember that the meters are different, and you're actually leaving about the same 20dB headroom. I wouldn't expect to see peaks on the channel meters reading more than -8 to -10dBFS (and lower is often better). The highest level track in your mix will vary, but in rock and pop it's usually the kick or snare. Set a rough balance of your other tracks in relation to that track and you should be good to go.
this may be basic to some - but life changing to others who try to mix like analog in digital/"inside the box" daw mixing..
the first thing i would do when working on tracks is always jack up my kick to almost 0db and this is the worst thing u can do
when trying to get a good mix of alot of elements inside any computer based music program!
the simple advice of having the master level at 0db.. and the individual channel fasders backed off to between -12 & -18
makes for much better mixability in the software.. regardless of which app you use.. ableton.. vs reason.. vs cubase vs protools
this makes a huge difference in reason especially... i used to blame the program thinking the mixer sucked inside reason.. and that it
just sounds better when u use external audio out to a real mixer....or rewired to a different daw mxier like cubase/logic/dp
i really wish they made the levels have more visual resolution (literally "longer")
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Topic: good article re: 'mixing in the box' (channel faders vs master levels) (Read 9079 times)