How to keep levels consistent when mixing a LP

[Pedro Teixeira]

I'm mixing an album right now, and I'm struggling a bit with keeping the levels consistent throughout the whole album. I did a project template which I'm using in every song, but there are songs that have different levels, such as guitars, oh's, hihat, bass, etc.. so I have to adjust a lot for each song, right now it's turning out fine, I have 5 songs done and they sound pretty equivalent, but for my picky ear I noticed somethings that are higher/lower in each song... and so I have to do a trial and error go back to the mix and lower/raise that specific thing and bounce it out... it's a pain in the ass :\ How do you guys keep all levels consistent throughout an album?

 

[Unavailable]

Well as long as you weren't messing with the input gain on your preamps in the middle of tracking, it's just the dynamics of the instruments, which aren't something you want to eliminate. Unless, of course, the dynamics are due to poor playing.

 

[Pedro Teixeira]

I didn't track them, I'm just mixing. Some songs seem to have been played through different amps as well :\

 

[Force666]

In all reality, that's what mastering is for. One major purpose of mastering is taking say 10 mixes and turning them into 1 album.

So I hear anyways

 

[sedit1]

^
That's true
If you listen carefully, many worldclass acts has very different sounds in each tracks. In many cases the big hit single is mixed by some top producer/mixer and the rest of the album is mixed by someone else.

 

[egan.]

yes, the "every track must sound identical" thing is pretty unique to metal I'm afraid. It's not uncommon to have different mix engineers for different tracks in other genres.
I would rather have 5 killer mixes than 5 compromised mixes so the levels stay consistent.

 

[LeSedna]

Sptz, I don't know your knowing of mastering, but this is how I do it when mastering several songs together : you have to check if there's a limiter on all of them, and you have to check the dBRMS, because the dBRMS inform you of the power of the sound, even if limited by the 0 dBfs. In theory, 2 very different songs will relatively sound "at the same volume" if there average level is at the same dBRMS value.

if there are still takes that sound too loud etc in the songs, the pb is the recording that didn't follow a good method, maybe because it was recorded by different people at different place or time. Then, there is nothing to do. Maybe you can try to keep all volumes consistent through the whole album for every specific instrument, but that seems tricky.

 

[crazykarl]

I just went through a similar experience. What I did was keep the drums at exactly the same volume and effects presets on every song, only tweeking things if it was absolutely necessary. When the drums hit around the same spot, you'll be able to mix everything else about the same. Keep the master fader the same too of course.

...Makes mixing drums a whole helluva lot easier too! If someone moved the drum mikes between songs (which I encountered) just try and keep them hitting around the same db on the master fader and you should be golden.