issue with sound quality after ive added the master fader

[Duckett]

hello board,
ive spent hours mixing my tracks, done all my EQ and editing. its finally time to add a master fader and finish the track. when i add the fader, my levels are normally to high and cause peaking. so ive grouped all my tracks to bring down the faders as a group,but once ive dropped all tracks below the point the master faders peaks,leaving plenty of room for the mastering crew to do their job,my song volume is extemely low amd has a muffled/smothered sound. im runnin PT9, focusrite 2i2, win7 (64-bit), with a shure mic. is there any advice you guys can give me that may help?

[Top Jimmy]

If you're using a Master Fader, you don't need to pull down all the other tracks. All you need to do is pull down the master fader. And if you want to hear it the way you were previously, turn up the output volume on your interface.


Buttdialed by me & Tapatalk

[YYR123]

Originally Posted by Top Jimmy

If you're using a Master Fader, you don't need to pull down all the other tracks. All you need to do is pull down the master fader. And if you want to hear it the way you were previously, turn up the output volume on your interface.


Buttdialed by me & Tapatalk

Yes and it may tell you of holes in your mix - ie hear it at low volumes do the drums or bass disappear ?

So you can eq your drums and bass to come out more even when it's not blasting the volume

[Duckett]

thank you both for replying. ive give that a try. i was only leaving the master fader levels alone because i thought i was suppose to remain at 0.

so after i pull down the master fader and it stops peaking, tweek the sound levels of my tracks again to fit tha master fader level before i bounce?

[YYR123]

Sounds good - are you asking ?

Bounce it the out some meters on the track and see where it peaks

My statement was observing the mix at low volumes to tweak the mix so it's sounds very close at both high volumes and lower volumes

[Duckett]

once i've lowered the master fader and it's no longer peaking. what can i do to raise the overall strength of the finished track? once i lower the master fader, the song as a whole is lower. could that be a mistake i've made during the EQ process?

[YYR123]

Originally Posted by Duckett

once i lower the master fader, the song as a whole is lower.

No mistake you turned the volume down - and the peaks went Down

So u can send this to a mastering engineer and ask him to do it $

Or you can do a little homebrew mastering -

Disclaimer - I am not a mastering engineer nor do I play one on TV (nor the APAC either)

Look at ur bounced waveform- does it look relatively smooth? Or is it peaks and valleys ?
Because you don't want to over compress a waveform that has super high dynamic range - because you will clip the high peaks and the lower valleys will still be too low (if this is the issue - read up on gain staging)(at the mix and record point)

If it looks pretty smooth (zoomed out of course) go ahead and drop a compressor on top of that master buss - then drop a nice eq - maybe a touch of analog channel vibe - and bounce it again

Should have more volume - that's it
you have finished your first home brew mastering engineering class - certificates will be mailed out in 4-6 weeks

[albee1952]

Here's my 2 cents Re turning the master down, if I need to pull it down more than 4db to get rid of clipping, I will, instead, pull tracks down, BUT(the big BUT) when I do that, I make a group of all AUDIO and INSTRUMENT tracks only, and bring them down(maybe 5-6db). If you started this by pulling ALL tracks, that's a huge reason for the mix to fall apart. Consider this, any AUX track that is fed by a post-fader send, does NOT need to be lowered, because when you lower the tracks(audio and/or instrument) that feed the AUX, you are lowering the level going TO the AUX, which maintains the correct balance.

If you are going to use a mastering engineer(which I always recommend) then you are done(its the ME's job to hit the final volume target). If you plan on doing it yourself, you need a good mastering limiter. 2 I highly recommend are; Massey's L2007(good AND cheap at $89) and Slate Digital's FG-X(more money but really, really good IMHO). I have used Waves L2 for years(also quite good) but the Slate plugin is replacing L2 for me

BTW, even when I "self-master"(in quotes because having mastering tools DOES NOT make me a mastering engineer), I still leave it as a separate step. I bounce the session at its same sample rate and bit depth. Open the 2mix in Wavelab and apply mastering tools(hi-pass, EQ if required, FG-X and dither(which CAN be done inside FG-X). Yes it takes longer, but I am convinced the result is better

Here's a 3rd cent; don't be afraid to turn up your speakers....

[YYR123]

Agreed aNd totally overlooked that - pulling down the fader !!! Revolutionary !!!

[Bill Denton]

As Albee said...

Here's a 3rd cent; don't be afraid to turn up your speakers....

BTW...There is a specified "refernce" level for studio monitors.

I think it's 85 db-something or another. I've been told that you can use a cheap SPL meter from Radio Shack to set everything up.

You should be able to find all of the "exact" information on the web...Google it.

This does not mean that you have to do all of your mixing at 85 db-something or another, but you should do some sanity-checking at that level...