elimination of peaking during mixdowns

[Tarekith]

Well, there's no 'right' way to do it, and lot of times using found sounds cerainly requires a lot of EQ and compression to get musical results. If we're talking synth patches or samples though, I find it's just easier to spend the time getting the best sound I can right off the bat, versus trying to smack it into shape later on.

Each his own though, certainly no rules for this stuff.

[The Phat Conductor]

word.

hey, you should check out this dope mixing secrets video by this russian cat andi vax (if you haven't already) http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea ... =314207847

so fucking rad, and the guy is obviously a total sweetheart too.

[friend_kami]

louder ≠ more powerful

club music should be punchy, imo. Rock music can be loud.

if you flatten the peaks on drums so you can make them louder, they will sound louder AND flatter.

I just wanted to bring up the concept that you can make your music both weaker and louder at the same time through the use of multiple stages of compression and limiting....

I'd avoid using limiters on every track as a basic method, instead use where necessary.

+1

speaking of dynamics, how about headroom and all that then?

[The Phat Conductor]

can we move it in here? http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=86956

it would be great if our discussion was in a more useful thread. i want this thing to be a reference for everyone else on the board if it's possible.

[josherman9]

Learning stuff from 2005! Wow! How cool! A budding ill gates asking questions like I now have. Now he's a super super producer. Makes me feel inspired! Thanks guys!!!

[Guff Tong]

OT: Since I got new monitors (KRK RP6's set @ -6db) Ive been writing, mixing etc... at around -20 db (main tracks that is, master is always set @ 0)as they are so much louder than the crappy behringers I used before.

Q: Will I loose any quality not driving Live as loud or am I still ok at -20db?

(Finished tracks are processed in wavlelab to get up to a reasonable levels etc...)

Spectrum Anyliser could almost be said to be showing negative clipping on quieter tracks (if you get me) so i'm worried I'm missing some dynamics this way/////?

I have very old, abused ears so rely on maths and gadgets to some extent....

cheers,

w.

[Quantize]

You're all good - no loss in Quality

[Guff Tong]

You're all good - no loss in Quality

Thats what i thought!

Thanks for the confirmation.

....I still like the term 'negative clipping' though.

[Quantize]

Read all about a negative clipper here http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_3/chpt_3/6.html

[anybody human]

My mixes got a lot better when I started leaving ample head room from the get go. Some types of music purposefully break the rules in favor of loudness, this is neither right nor wrong, limiting a kick for instance. Still, headroom allows you options later. What Tarekith said about choosing sounds and the effect of arrangement really applies, as does sculpting with eq and consider how compression etc. changes tone and perceived loudness also. I'm not really adding anything here, just rambling. I'll check out the links, thanks.

As for compressing bass, I was having trouble controlling low end with an analog synth and an engineer told me to try tracking with light compression, very subtle like you would track a band. It's barely there, just a precaution really but maybe adds harmonics to a degree. Generally I'd agree with Tarekith though.