Ableton Forum

Hi,

What is actually happening when the master meters are turning red? If its only just going red am I going to get digital distortion? Should I really try to stay in the green at all times. Does the same apply for individual track levels.It's for a dj mix and I want it as loud as I can get it without losing any sound quality.

Any tips?

Cheers.

I've always kept my track volumes at 0, not +6, but for a long time I kept the master just going into the reds(at 0 too), although I started noticing some parts of my mixes were distorting a bit, not much. I then dropped the main volume to about half and turned the volume on my amp up high and noticed the sound had a lot more dynamic. This level might be too low for recording a mix inside live, so with my last mix, I had the volume just low enough so that 2 tracks playing together wouldn't clip the red, and even though it is a bit softer, the distortion is gone. bla

i'm keeping all channel levels at -3 and most of the time ..

why not put a compressor/limiter on the master channel that keeps things below 0db.

Then you can pump the level a bit but not worry about distortion. You just have to keep the level low enough that it doesn't overcompress in a way you dont' want. (since you can't put effects post-fader on the master)