Quote:
Originally Posted by buckaroo
As i start to build up a track most things start clipping as i add more tracks to the master fader which i suppose is obvious.. but does anyone have any tips for mixing and how the professionals mix ITB?
I have heard that the biggest mistake is keeping all the channel faders quite high around 0db and bringing down the Master - so you end up with a normal looking mix but your master is like -25db right at the bottom!
Should this be the other way around? master at 0db and faders brought down?
Any help on this would be great as ive never felt that confident mixing ITB due to how easy it is to overload. But I hear some fantastic loud pop records ie: Britney, Rhianna etc that all seemed to be mixed this way and obviously no clipping?
If there are any ITB mixing tutorials online or references that would be great, as i do think i need to change from the outboard mixing style to get to grips with this..
|
The first step in getting a good mix ITB is to track correctly. Your mix should be pretty close to the final with ALL THE FADERS set to 0dB. Your average level should be a little under halfway up the protools meter. Don't think 0dBFS is the same as 0dB VU!! There is roughly an 18~20dB difference in volume between them.
It's not a tutorial, but there is some great info from some amazing sound engineers in this thread talking about some of the issues you are running into...
http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/ind.../t/15038/1561/
It's not your job to make it loud, it's your job to make it sound good. Making it loud is a different step altogether....
If you have to pull any fader down by 25dB, then you should check to make sure you didn't record it incorrectly... From a mixing stand point you want to try to keep all your faders around 0dB. Why? Because the faders are logarithmic. Moving the fader down by 1" starting at 0dB will roughly reduce the volume by 5 or 6dB. moving the fader down by an inch starting at -20dB will reduce the volume by about 20dB!!! You have more subtle control over levels the closer you can keep the faders to 0. Mixing with all your faders down around -25dB means every tiny little movement you make on the faders will yield drastic volume changes in those tracks. It is much harder to mix that way.
Track lower and keep your faders at unity as much as possible.