Track and Master volume relation

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
Post Reply
MonoTeksist
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2018 6:29 pm
Location: The Ableton forums
Contact:

Track and Master volume relation

Post by MonoTeksist » Thu Mar 30, 2023 9:55 pm

I'm very confused with the link between the master volume and the track volumes. I have a project where some of the tracks are clipping badly but the master track isn't, so I thought, "I'll just lower the master volume and the tracks will stop clipping."
Wrong :(
My master is at -33dB now yet those 3 tracks are still clipping, hence the topic title.
I've disabled all master fx save for the gain plugin I'm using.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!...

chris harbin
Posts: 254
Joined: Mon Mar 20, 2023 11:23 pm

Re: Track and Master volume relation

Post by chris harbin » Thu Mar 30, 2023 9:57 pm

I don't know, maybe I'm way off here but ......

I never touch the master. I always keep it at unity.

I use VU meters (mostly the very well priced Klangham) at -18 (the standard setting) to check tracks.
Live 11.x Suite, Push 2, AMD Ryzen 7900x @ 4.7 GHZ, Windows 11, 32 GB ram, Volt 2, Nektar T4 and Atom SQ.
Also a new lappy: i7 1269, 32 gigs of ram.

The Rabbits
Posts: 129
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2020 2:23 pm

Re: Track and Master volume relation

Post by The Rabbits » Fri Mar 31, 2023 4:07 am

The master level control doesn't affect individual track levels at all.
Track levels control the output of each track. All the tracks are then combined, the signals are all added together, then this signal goes through any master channel effects and finally through the master level control.
To stop a track clipping you have to lower the level in that track. Dropping the master to - 33 dB reduces the level of the final output, but it has no effect on the level of the individual tracks, so they're still clipping.
To reduce the levels of all your tracks while keeping their relative values intact, you can adjust them all at once. Select all tracks, except for the master, then change any tracks level. All of them will change together. Maybe reduce them by 10 dB then bring the master up by the same amount. Continue until no tracks clip.

MonoTeksist
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2018 6:29 pm
Location: The Ableton forums
Contact:

Re: Track and Master volume relation

Post by MonoTeksist » Fri Mar 31, 2023 10:58 pm

Ok thanks for enlightening me; I also didn't know you could change all the tracks' volumes at once.

Post Reply