The Loudness War

smy1 said:
Notuern: where do you get a benefit from peaking at -6?

I hit the master bus at -12/-14, but then go through a chain of plugins which raise the volume again ...
Click to expand...

What I meant is that nothing in the mix ever goes over -6, and ive found it to work quite good with the methods i mix drums etc. so that the final mix never quite hits 0.
So my final mixes might end up louder then -6db, the whole point is to make it easier to not get clipping.

Edit:

Did the same mistake in my expressions again!
What I mean is that the seperate tracks never go over -6db, but the master channel might be higher.
 
Notuern said:
What I meant is that nothing in the mix ever goes over -6, and ive found it to work quite good with the methods i mix drums etc. so that the final mix never quite hits 0.
So my final mixes might end up louder then -6db, the whole point is to make it easier to not get clipping.

Edit:

Did the same mistake in my expressions again!
What I mean is that the seperate tracks never go over -6db, but the master channel might be higher.
Click to expand...
This is good advice.
 
I've yet to get into good gain structuring in Cubase. I don't know why, but it's a bad habit I got into when I first started recording. In analogue, my gain structure is always optimal, but in digital since so often you can't hear any of the redlining within the channels and plug-ins I seem to just let it go! The master never goes over though. It's something I'll actively work on and think about in the next project.
 
I'm still having a hard time getting this down right. I usually just go with whatever sounds good, but I do try to pull back on shit as much as possible. It's hard when all I have to mix with are Extreme Isolation Headphones and unless I hook up my firepod to my laptop (isn't always feasable), I'm struggling to hear things as good as they can be.
 
Me to, Andy's mixes sound really good, and they arent over compressed right ?
But it's still on level with mixes from Machine Head or Unearth.

I am still wondering: How do i get the same volume level as sneap, without clipping ?
I have my current mix around -6 db. Sounds really good, but how can i level it up without clipping ?

I got it on -6 db and if i put it a bit up the red square pops up at nuendo.

I huge mystery for me still.
 
Mendel said:
Me to, Andy's mixes sound really good, and they arent over compressed right ?
But it's still on level with mixes from Machine Head or Unearth.

I am still wondering: How do i get the same volume level as sneap, without clipping ?
I have my current mix around -6 db. Sounds really good, but how can i level it up without clipping ?

I got it on -6 db and if i put it a bit up the red square pops up at nuendo.

I huge mystery for me still.
Click to expand...


Are you 100% certain that you didnt get clipping when you recorded the stuff?
Because you should be able to get up to 0 without hurting the signal. o,0
 
I think you mean that peaks are at 0dB.
RMS around -6dB.

Compress even more to raise the limit of the RMS, but then you kill transients - and then you end up squashing the mix into a horrible death-magnetic mess.
 
When we mastered our last album the label complained that it was 'too quiet' so we sent them a slammed copy and sent the dynamic copy to the pressing plant. The mastering engineer was thrilled to finally have someone interested in something other than volume.

I was listening to teh band Elbow from the UK and noticed in their liner notes an organisation called "turn me up" and they addressed this whole issue. The funny thing is that I'm so used to squashed recordings that the dynamics of their last album scared the shit out of me the first time through while listening at fairly high levels.

http://www.turnmeup.org/
 
It is cool to hear things loud but I absolutely cannot stand listening to music when it is just slammed and there is zero dynamic range.
 
Listen to the latest Coheed & Cambria Records. First song starts with an acoustic guitar only. At the point where I hear the first note I have to turn down my stereo because it's so fecking loud! Man, it's an acoustic guitar... %)
 
copy/paste from another forum here on UM:

"Dude, you can't be serious. Formation's mix is worse than Death Magnetic. Have you ever looked at a wave form of a FoD song? It's a solid brick with absolutely no quiet spaces. For the life of me I can't figure it out. Andy Sneap is a pro, Eric has mixed other Testament albums perfectly. But Formation is so bad it's painful"
 
Fragle said:
copy/paste from another forum here on UM:

"Dude, you can't be serious. Formation's mix is worse than Death Magnetic. Have you ever looked at a wave form of a FoD song? It's a solid brick with absolutely no quiet spaces. For the life of me I can't figure it out. Andy Sneap is a pro, Eric has mixed other Testament albums perfectly. But Formation is so bad it's painful"
Click to expand...

I think the opposite
 
Fragle said:
copy/paste from another forum here on UM:

"Dude, you can't be serious. Formation's mix is worse than Death Magnetic. Have you ever looked at a wave form of a FoD song? It's a solid brick with absolutely no quiet spaces. For the life of me I can't figure it out. Andy Sneap is a pro, Eric has mixed other Testament albums perfectly. But Formation is so bad it's painful"
Click to expand...

Not that I agree with this statement at all (love Formation), but...the MIX is bad...or the MASTERING is bad? Two different things. Be clear.
 
maybe i should have made clear that it wasn't me who originally posted it....and i whole heartedly disagree with the statement.
 
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