Is exporting a mix with the Master Fader not a ZERO WRONG ?

[chadsxe]

Your still not gonna have a truly awesome product if you overlook what Metalkingdom pointed out, its all the small (well small....) things that add up to that one big awesome production!

Intresting, I did not notice that Metalkingdom pointed this out but none the less. Besides who is overlooking anything. I think both me and Metalkingdom were in agreement as far as gain staging goes.

 

[metalkingdom]

Give a noob the best equipment in the world and he still would never sound as good as oh lets say Stevie Ray Vaughn on a 100 dollar knock off guitar.

That's true, but not a technical issue related to the science of studio engineering. Your example has more to do with music production specifically than just recording in general. There are many facets to recording audio that have absolutely nothing to do with music. No matter the situation, as long as there is recording going on, signal flow and gain staging will be the most important aspects to creating a professional product.

 

[chadsxe]

That's true, but not a technical issue related to the science of studio engineering. Your example has more to do with music production specifically than just recording in general. There are many facets to recording audio that have absolutely nothing to do with music. No matter the situation, as long as there is recording going on, signal flow and gain staging will be the most important aspects to creating a professional product.

As you said I guess it just depends on what angel you look at it from.

To get back on topic though...

It does amaze me how often this is over looked. People tend to overdrive there gear for the sake of getting volume when the often overlook the fact that they are working outside of the "sweet spot". Analog gear was driven to a certain level to get past the noise floor the was introduced. In a very general sense there is no noise floor when working in digital. Hence there is no reason to drive the front-end (your actual AD convertor) any harder then nominal level 0dbVU. That is where covertors are made to work best (-12 / -18dbFS)

 

[metalkingdom]

People tend to overdrive there gear for the sake of getting volume when the often overlook the fact that they are working outside of the "sweet spot". Analog gear was driven to a certain level to get past the noise floor the was introduced.

Sometimes, the "sweet spot" is where it shouldn't be... Anyone who really knows what they're doing on a 4k can tell you that. Experience and knowledge of gear overrides the rules.

 

[cobrahead1030]

Maybe not the most important but up there none the less right at the top. I think that it is however one of the most over looked aspects in the whole process of recording.

i'd never heard either of those terms, prior to this thread

i'm also the only here i guess, who usually has the master fader around -5 to keep the peaks around -3 or so

 

[KeithRT99]

Gain staging and signal flow are the most important aspects to recording. Learn it well.

well put.

 

[chadsxe]

Sometimes, the "sweet spot" is where it shouldn't be... Anyone who really knows what they're doing on a 4k can tell you that. Experience and knowledge of gear overrides the rules.

Yeah for sure. I guess I neglected to mention that fro simplistic sake. But by all means the application and type of equipment always determine the gain staging. For example with my Great River MP2NV I tend to find the sweet spot for Vox much higher then then that of guitars. It is about learning your equipment and what it does. But, as far as convertors go I have yet to hear a set that does not perform best at nominal 0dbVU. Anything before that is a diffrent story.

 

[xmarcelx]

Why not mix at 32 bit and get a (semi) infinite headroom ?

I thought this is how all modern DAWs work... they use 32bit or higher floating point numbers for mixing... so there is no problem with headroom..

 

[WeeFace]

When mixing, yes. But the question is about the final export, which isn't going to be played back in the DAW.

 

[::XeS::]

So, if I've understood correctly, when i start a project I have to put all my faders under 0db (-5dB).. or not?
Usually I have all my faders at 0dB and subsequently I raise or lower them..with this method at the end of my last project I had all the faders under 0dB (minus toms that are at +3.5dB/+4dB) and master fader at 0dB (with level max at 0dB).

There is something wrong with my method? It's better to start with -5dB everywhere?