Anybody using the reverse level approach?

[Tedmod]

How effective is the reverse feder leveling approach when fixing levels in mixing?

The standard in most mixing handbooks is to set all faders to nil and slowly "Bring it up".
According to this approach, Faders shoudl be all the way up and then slowly "Brought down" to taste. with the master fader at unity gain.
and the monitor volume is set in a way not to burst the magnets out of the cones, I see some sense in this approach. Any opinions?

[pk_hat]

I don't know, but personally, I don't think I'd be comfortable working that way. I'm all for subtractive eq, subtractive arranging, but for mixing, I think I prefer the age-old additive method. I don't think I could make sound decisions (ahem...) hearing everything all at once and then trying to figure exactly where my kick drum or bass line should wedge itself against the rest.

I think half the fun of mixing is creating the energy and dynamics needed for the song, which imo, comes by adding things slowly and creating a synergy. If all the $#!t's playing at the same time all at once right from the start, I'd lose perspective on what needs to be emphasized, I'd lose sense of what subtleties I can bring to the mix.

Interesting subject nonetheless...

[p.markham]

Boy I sure do use this method! Fire up all the tracks at unity and then balance them out so you can hear everything in a nice blend. I honestly thought this was how one does this. You mean it's not? lol!

[JFreak]

i've found that this method leads to keeping almost all faders on the plus side, as the additive method is psychologically easier to do. in theory this will eat headroom and lead to distortion at some point. if you don't want to start from silence, i'd suggest you set all your track faders to -10 instead of unity - and keep the master faders at unity if there is no justified reason to do otherwise.

[where02190]

Typically I put all tracks at -10 and start from there, typically concentrating on lowering what I have too much of, (akin to subtractive eqing). Putting all the faders at 0, unless you record absurdly low, sill result in redlining the master fader most likely.

And I agreee, keep that master fader at 0.