Is that +62dBFS headroom a really really bad idea?

[aquashack]

Remember that a large proportion of Live's functionality is aimed at performing live. In this situation the live performer doesn't really have time to spend ages gain staging everything that they add to the performance.

They only have to keep an eye on the master channel and not have to worry about what's going on under the covers. This assumes that only built-in devices are used and no gain sensitive plugins.

That's a fair point. Personally I'm not DJ-ing but I can see how that would come in handy as a safety net.

[aquashack]

Bearing in mind a lot of the technical stuff can become seem occult to the newcomer, my advice is :

The magical headroom is a safety net, not a foundation. Try to keep all your meters out of the red, try to keep everything in the safe zone, and all will be well. Live does have a lot of headroom in its internal paths, but a plugin or an External Instrument could still screw you over. Pretend the magical headroom isn't there. It's your fairy godmother, looking out for you just in case you need a wish granting.

One thing that keeps ringing true is that keeping my signals in the safe-zone seems to be a sensible working practice.

Out of interest, would you suggest that -18dBFS is actually a good level to be gain-staging at (since I'd only be trading off 3 bits of possible headroom to keep things at a safe level)?

[aquashack]

Thanks everyone for sharing your knowledge, I appreciate all your input. I can see I have plenty more to learn. You've more than cleared up my questions and given me plenty of food for thought.

Cheers.

[CooCooCaCha]

Bearing in mind a lot of the technical stuff can become seem occult to the newcomer, my advice is :

The magical headroom is a safety net, not a foundation. Try to keep all your meters out of the red, try to keep everything in the safe zone, and all will be well. Live does have a lot of headroom in its internal paths, but a plugin or an External Instrument could still screw you over. Pretend the magical headroom isn't there. It's your fairy godmother, looking out for you just in case you need a wish granting.

One thing that keeps ringing true is that keeping my signals in the safe-zone seems to be a sensible working practice.

Out of interest, would you suggest that -18dBFS is actually a good level to be gain-staging at (since I'd only be trading off 3 bits of possible headroom to keep things at a safe level)?

-18 seems quite low. Keeping things a few dB below zero should be fine and if things get too hot then lower some volumes, compress, etc.

[Tone Deft]

Bearing in mind a lot of the technical stuff can become seem occult to the newcomer, my advice is :

The magical headroom is a safety net, not a foundation. Try to keep all your meters out of the red, try to keep everything in the safe zone, and all will be well. Live does have a lot of headroom in its internal paths, but a plugin or an External Instrument could still screw you over. Pretend the magical headroom isn't there. It's your fairy godmother, looking out for you just in case you need a wish granting.

One thing that keeps ringing true is that keeping my signals in the safe-zone seems to be a sensible working practice.

Out of interest, would you suggest that -18dBFS is actually a good level to be gain-staging at (since I'd only be trading off 3 bits of possible headroom to keep things at a safe level)?

it comes with practice. my method is to mix hot and lower as things get too hot. I use groups to make keeping track of it all more sane.

for example, with drums I start with the kick. if there are a lot of drum tracks then I keep it low (-6dB? whatever I'm feeling) knowing that soon it'll be well into the red. if there's only kick, snare and hats I can start with the kick at 0dB, the snare and hats won't push things too much into the red.

then I group the drums and work on the other groups. then I mix the groups in the same manner.

like all things, it's about PRACTICE. trust your ears and listen critically. don't overthink it. often it helps to NOT look at a knob/slider's value while you tweak it.


with DJing, when pics are posted of the DJ's screen the tracks are usually in the red.