drumnbass.be forum » Production » Production questions & answers » Mixing and Metering? Mixing and Metering? Author Post Sephiroth Master Producer Registration Date: 11-04-2006 Posts: 741 Helpfulness rating:  This has been confusing me for a while now.....chronic mentioned in a thread that when preparing a track for the mastering studio, to aim for between -6dB and -10dB (im guessing rms level not peak). but, ensuring there is no clipping and keeping the level between these values is prooving real difficult. even when the levels are scrapping the 0dB mark (peak), the rms level (according to voxengo span) seems to barely be reaching -10dB RMS. Is this a mixing issue on my end, i.e. better eq'ing, levels, compression etc would improve the rms reading or have i completely missed the mark here and headed in the wrong direction? __ Sephiroth Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/sephiroth_rees Sephiroth Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/sephirothdnb C-Sonix Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/c-sonix C-Sonix Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/csonix 11-06-2008 22:55 Muad'Dib Andrejnalin Registration Date: 02-12-2003 Posts: 4,197 Helpfulness rating:  If it sounds EQ-wise fine to you, keep the maximum peaks to -6 to -10 dB. __ Thinking about becoming an Image-Line/FL Studio customer? Want a 10% reduction in price? Use this affiliate link: http://affiliate.image-line.com/BADEBDG473 There is no such thing without its opposite -Bene Gesserit 12-06-2008 02:16 Sephiroth Master Producer Registration Date: 11-04-2006 Posts: 741 Helpfulness rating:  this is whats confusing me.....should i be aiming for -6dB to - 10dB RMS or peak level? im guessing RMS cause that value in a peak meter will be low..... __ Sephiroth Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/sephiroth_rees Sephiroth Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/sephirothdnb C-Sonix Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/c-sonix C-Sonix Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/csonix 12-06-2008 13:09 BattleDrone 2161... the future. Registration Date: 30-12-2005 Posts: 6,413 Helpfulness rating:  Aim for 6, peaks at 3. If your peaks are too high to get these levels you might have to master the tune differently (limiter, compression) or even check the individual sounds to see if there's anything that causes unusual heavy spikes or is loud on the very low end (<30Hz). Just my €0.02 __ Check my soundcloud (exclusive tracks on there) 12-06-2008 16:15 thechronic admin Registration Date: 01-11-2002 Posts: 5,293 Helpfulness rating:  If your music hits 0dB the waveform is cut off which causes distortion. The last thing you want is distortion on your master. So take down the master volume so the waveform doesn't come near 0dB. You should always watch this in peak metering, in RMS you are never sure what you are seeing, if the waveform is very 'spikey' the RMS reading can be much lower than the peak reading and this can be misleading. If you have very dependable meters you can drop the volume so it peaks at -0.01dB and safely send this off to the mastering studio. Unfortunately the metering in many software mixers are not great, so I usually propose to drop the volume 6-10dB to be on the safe side. If you are very paranoid about distortion and are bouncing in 24 bit, you can drop to -20dB, but in 99% of the cases 6-10dB will be sufficient. __ If you find spam on the site, please hit the button and select my name. I'll personally kick it to the murky depths of hell where it belongs! 12-06-2008 16:30 Muad'Dib Andrejnalin Registration Date: 02-12-2003 Posts: 4,197 Helpfulness rating:  quote: Originally posted by BattleDrone Aim for 6, peaks at 3. If your peaks are too high to get these levels you might have to master the tune differently (limiter, compression) or even check the individual sounds to see if there's anything that causes unusual heavy spikes or is loud on the very low end (<30Hz). Just my €0.02 Or maybe he just wants that dynamic sound...? __ Thinking about becoming an Image-Line/FL Studio customer? Want a 10% reduction in price? Use this affiliate link: http://affiliate.image-line.com/BADEBDG473 There is no such thing without its opposite -Bene Gesserit 12-06-2008 16:41 drumnbass.be forum » Production » Production questions & answers » Mixing and Metering?