Ableton Forum

Hey just working on some mash ups in ableton for me to play out. Im just wondering how everyone goes about doing this because if you throw mastered tracks in ableton it goes red. Is it a good idea to put a limiter on the master and turn up the gain? I want the mashup to be good quality and loud! thanks

Check out these videos by Moldover, he gives some very good tips on making mash-ups live.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2McDeSKiOU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dznjQIarboY

When working with full tracks, you have to keep in mind that they are processed so they peak at or near 0 dB and use the whole spectrum, that's why you immediately go in the red when putting together 2 tracks. So, it's better to take a subtractive approach. Go into your tracks clip view and take all their clip volumes down to -9dB, that will let you put tracks together without clipping and leave you some room for effects or other processes you want to apply. Then it's a matter of carving space what you want to sound from each track using EQs and filters.

Try to make your final mix peak at -3dB. That will leave you some headroom to fine tune your master. If your mix already peaks at or over 0dB and you add a limiter it will compress the signal right off the bat without much you can do, while having a mix with more headroom lets you use the Drive to adjust how much compression you really need. Same if you use an EQ on the master, without headroom you'll probably be fighting your EQ and levels to avoid clipping.

Also, grab the TT Dynamic Range Meter plug-in http://www.pleasurizemusic.com/ . Put it at the end of your Master effects along with Spectrum so you get a good idea of what you're doing with your levels.

That guy is so organized. Great stuff!

rbmonosylabik wrote:Check out these videos by Moldover, he gives some very good tips on making mash-ups live.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2McDeSKiOU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dznjQIarboY

When working with full tracks, you have to keep in mind that they are processed so they peak at or near 0 dB and use the whole spectrum, that's why you immediately go in the red when putting together 2 tracks. So, it's better to take a subtractive approach. Go into your tracks clip view and take all their clip volumes down to -9dB, that will let you put tracks together without clipping and leave you some room for effects or other processes you want to apply. Then it's a matter of carving space what you want to sound from each track using EQs and filters.

Try to make your final mix peak at -3dB. That will leave you some headroom to fine tune your master. If your mix already peaks at or over 0dB and you add a limiter it will compress the signal right off the bat without much you can do, while having a mix with more headroom lets you use the Drive to adjust how much compression you really need. Same if you use an EQ on the master, without headroom you'll probably be fighting your EQ and levels to avoid clipping.

Also, grab the TT Dynamic Range Meter plug-in http://www.pleasurizemusic.com/ . Put it at the end of your Master effects along with Spectrum so you get a good idea of what you're doing with your levels.

thanks for the reply! alright makes sense, except if im lowering the volumes how do i make the whole project loud like a mastered song? About to watch the vids btw

The idea is to first lower your clips level so you can mix and process them without worrying about clipping. Then, once your mix is done, you master it by using compression and limiting to bring it up to the loudness you want without distortion.