Audio Metering And Leveling

[Becharax]

Hello Folks,

Does anyone know of any reading material or manual where I can learn how to setup correct levels for my mix ???

My mixes always sound low and lacking depth in the low end ...

I am using Genelecs 8040s for reference ....

I have got my hands on a Waves Mercury Bundle ! :)

Any advice would be appreciated

[Emcha_audio]

What's your room like? What's your listening level at out of your main?

[Becharax]

There you go
A pic ... I have all the room treated with rockwool then woodwool then absorbers and bass traps ...
What do u mean about levels? Out of my monitors?

[Southsidemusic]

Listening Levels = dB out from main speakers i.e 76db 85dB etc

Usually we drive the mains at a steady 84-85dB and never change while working. Only time we drive them harder is when we listen to the finished product


Chris

[JCBigler]

So you're doing all electronic music? No open mics?

[Emcha_audio]

Yes if you use a SPL reader you should set the level of your monitors (DB) to be around 75-85 DB. Also Even though you have the bass traps in the corner, the monitors are snug to the basstrap/walls, that will still amplify your bass, so on the back of the 8040's have you adjusted the bass response?

And other question is have you calibrated your room? I know it's not the best way to go at it, but when you have a small space you can always cheat a little. Take a measurement of your room with a good Dayton EMM calibrated mic (i'd get the premium package not expensive) and use REW to get the calibration measurement. Use that to guide your choice of settings for the 8040 calibration on the back. Then here's the cheating part. Take an other measurement with the mic and REW and use Waves GEQ in modern mode to do the correction. Set the pluging in the very last insert of your master buss. Now if you see that you would need over 12 db of correction for a frequency, in GEQ drop the input level by 6 db this way when you correct the frequency by 12 db it should not pause a problem for your system. You can compensate to get back to the 75-85db from your interface.

This will in essence calibrate your mixing position, it won't calibrate the rest of the room but where you are sitting, which is the important part.

Once that's done you should have much better results.

Oh, Don't forget to actually bypass the GEQ when you are stemming or bouncing your tracks else you will have the GEQ correction printed, and that's not what you want.

And ninjad by Southsidemusic for the db levels :P

[albee1952]

+1 on levels. The Auralex corner foam is actually almost worthless as a bass trap(it would need to be more like 3-4 feet deep to affect the bottom octave or two. And, as mentioned, your speakers are tucked into the corners(not so good) and they are rear-ported(which likely exaggerates the issue). You have a big buildup of low end like this so your mixes can't help but sound thin on other systems.

In my room, which is also well-treated with traps and 703 panels, the dimensions of the room create a huge null at 74Hz, right in my mix position(previous speakers nulled at 50Hz in the same room)). So naturally, mixes were bass-heavy. My old room(with less treatment) had a nulls of -13db, and 2 peaks of +12db, all between 50 and 170Hz. Its not so easy to get even low end without serious money spent. Knowing what's going on is the first step in solving the issue and to that end, I recommend trying to find a sound company near you and asking if they have anyone(an engineer or system tech) that owns SMAART or SpectraFoo, and knows how to use it well, and pay them to come "shoot" your room(this will reveal any issues, especially in the low end). My solution was fairly simple as I only needed to fill in the valley at 50Hz, which I did using a subwoofer(KRK Rokit10) and a digital crossover that allowed me to shape the filters and tweak the sub properly(the onboard crossover of most mid-priced subs are crap). Now I'm not saying you need a sub, just offering how messed up things can get. I would start(in your space) by setting the low switches on the speakers to the minus position, or maybe add something like the JBL MSC1 controller, which might be able to smooth out the low end response of your system. While using a plugin to do this can work, the MSC1 does its "magic' outside the box, so you can leave it engaged.

[Emcha_audio]

Originally Posted by albee1952

+1 on levels. The Auralex corner foam is actually almost worthless as a bass trap(it would need to be more like 3-4 feet deep to affect the bottom octave or two. And, as mentioned, your speakers are tucked into the corners(not so good) and they are rear-ported(which likely exaggerates the issue). You have a big buildup of low end like this so your mixes can't help but sound thin on other systems.

In my room, which is also well-treated with traps and 703 panels, the dimensions of the room create a huge null at 74Hz, right in my mix position(previous speakers nulled at 50Hz in the same room)). So naturally, mixes were bass-heavy. My old room(with less treatment) had a nulls of -13db, and 2 peaks of +12db, all between 50 and 170Hz. Its not so easy to get even low end without serious money spent. Knowing what's going on is the first step in solving the issue and to that end, I recommend trying to find a sound company near you and asking if they have anyone(an engineer or system tech) that owns SMAART or SpectraFoo, and knows how to use it well, and pay them to come "shoot" your room(this will reveal any issues, especially in the low end). My solution was fairly simple as I only needed to fill in the valley at 50Hz, which I did using a subwoofer(KRK Rokit10) and a digital crossover that allowed me to shape the filters and tweak the sub properly(the onboard crossover of most mid-priced subs are crap). Now I'm not saying you need a sub, just offering how messed up things can get. I would start(in your space) by setting the low switches on the speakers to the minus position, or maybe add something like the JBL MSC1 controller, which might be able to smooth out the low end response of your system. While using a plugin to do this can work, the MSC1 does its "magic' outside the box, so you can leave it engaged.

I wouldn't say they are totally worthless they do have an impact, but maybe not as much as one would expect. I would also recommend using something outside the box, but my suggestion is considering cost. The mic will cost you 90$ and it's calibrated to do room measurements, the plugin is 79$ now on sale. So for 169, you'll pretty much do what a 300$ piece of equipment will do. Although it's not that expensive either. Although I'm not sure how good their measurement mic is. The one I linked you to is calibrated by a company that specializes in measurement microphones.

[Becharax]

Guys i have the dayton mic !! I bought for this specific reason .. But never knew how to use it ... I got a mac and rew does not work on my max

[Emcha_audio]

Originally Posted by DJ Bechara

Guys i have the dayton mic !! I bought for this specific reason .. But never knew how to use it ... I got a mac and rew does not work on my max

Have a friend that has a PC laptop?

BTW REW does have a version for mac.

http://www.hometheatershack.com/foru...oads-page.html