How do I prepare levels for mastering?

[SWBoatman25]

Hello, amateur audio enthusiast here

I have Pro Tools 11 and I record instruments and vocals in my room. I have recorded everything except vocals, which is my next step. I always make sure to keep at least -8 db headroom for anything I record.

For mastering:

I am confused on how to adjust my tracks to have a -6 db headroom on my master fader so that I can send it to mastering properly. Should I:

A) With my master fader at 0 db. Should I adjust all my levels to what I think sounds best then lower the master fader to -6 db?

B) With my master fader at 0 db. Should I adjust all my levels so that they peak at -6 db?


If there are any tips or advice on the easiest way to go about this or what I can improve or what step to take, that would be appreciated.

Thank you! :)
-Spencer Boatman

[JFreak]

If you want to target some specific level such as -6dBFS, then here's what you need to do:
- Insert a limiter to your master fader
- Set its threshold to -6dBFS
- Mix as long as it sounds good with the limiter doing absolutely nothing.

But you don't have to mix to any specific level. Mastering engineer is happier to get a mix with peaks at -20dBFS than at -2dBFS. Getting the levels where needed is his job, not yours. When you mix, you only care about how it sounds. If the levels are too low for you, just turn up the volume knob on your monitors!

Hope this helps.

[elicious]

hey boatman, you're on the right track.
either you're "a" method or your "b" method both have merits.

mixing so that it sounds best to your ears and then adjusting the master fader down if you have any peaks is legit.
only issue with that is,
if you have sub mixes down farther down in your mix
or any effects sends, they could be clipping. (along with any plugs instantiated).

what I do in that case is I have a group labeled "all audio tracks" and, like it sounds, it's only the audio tracks,
and then if my gain staging gets a little hot
I activate that group and just trim them till necessary.

also, if i am going to use any buss compression, i usually wait till my levels are pretty close, then i start mixing in to the comp.

A great little tool to use is this one (only bout 12 bux):
set the VU PPM ref level to -15 and then adjust your levels
so that your at about 0VU on the meters;
that's sort of old-school analog but it's a great way to go about learning proper gain staging…

finally, a big help when we master is to also receive stems from the artists.

e,
for the record

[JFreak]

Umm, yea... and a free of charge tip for monitoring AUX levels would be to make the Master Fader (for that output) visible.

There is always a master fader for every output, whether you see it or not -- and it is pre-AUX-input. So let's say you have a "drum kit" buss that goes to "kit" aux that goes to "MASTER" output for monitoring. It's a no-brainer to make the "MASTER" output Master Fader visible, but just the same way, the "drum kit" buss output has a Master Fader which you can use. That track will show you instantly if your drum kit sub-mix clips or not. And if it does, lowering that sub-mix master fader lowers the levels before the sub-mix hits the "drum kit" buss.

For everyone that hasn't been with DAW mixing in the last millennium, I strongly recommend to read this post over and over again as long as you get it.

[shtik]

I think that the major issue here is lowering the master fader to give some headroom vs. lowering the individual elements of the mix.

If I understand correctly, your peak level on the master bus is too high.

In this situation, since you already have your balances going in the mix, the easiest thing to do will be lowering the master fader to have the peak level you're aiming at.

Keep track of how much lower you needed the master fader to be, and use that as a reference to how much lower you need to start your mix. For example, if you started your mix with peaks at -6 and now you need to lower the master fader by 4 dB's to get your level right, start your mix with peaks at -10 next time.

Proper gain structure from the start is always a good practice.

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by shtik

If I understand correctly, your peak level on the master bus is too high. In this situation, since you already have your balances going in the mix, the easiest thing to do will be lowering the master fader to have the peak level you're aiming at.

Yes. But in case some tracks go through busses, all of those need to be checked as well. It is very easy to clip a -say- drum kit buss and wonder why it sounds bad. If you don't have a master fader visible and your plugins on the drum kit aux are doing tons of stuff, you may never see the red light that the master fader would show instantly.

Originally Posted by shtik

Proper gain structure from the start is always a good practice.

+million!

Just a few tips for beginners:
- Use the master faders
- Don't record hotter than peaks at -20dBFS
- Turn up the damn volume on your monitor controller instead of lifting faders
- Buy a SPL meter and calibrate your listening levels to 83..85dB(A)

Use these as a rule written on stone if you don't know what I'm talking about. Once you know, we can discuss these further :)

[SWBoatman25]

Thank you so much everyone! Very helpful information for me to start with, I will start with these tips and if I have any questions or trouble I will refer back to you guys.

Thank u!
-Spencer Boatman

[waltz mastering]

Originally Posted by SWBoatman25

Hello, amateur audio enthusiast here

I have Pro Tools 11 and I record instruments and vocals in my room. I have recorded everything except vocals, which is my next step. I always make sure to keep at least -8 db headroom for anything I record.

For mastering:

I am confused on how to adjust my tracks to have a -6 db headroom on my master fader so that I can send it to mastering properly. Should I:

A) With my master fader at 0 db. Should I adjust all my levels to what I think sounds best then lower the master fader to -6 db?

B) With my master fader at 0 db. Should I adjust all my levels so that they peak at -6 db?


If there are any tips or advice on the easiest way to go about this or what I can improve or what step to take, that would be appreciated.

Thank you! :)
-Spencer Boatman

I wouldn't be too concerned with the number -6dB.

Leaving "some" headroom as long as no channels or plugs are peaking is the main goal.

What I'm saying is, it seems like you want to go out of your way to make sure that your master fader is peaking at -6dB full scale, when it's not necessary to re-adjust, .. as long as there's no clipping in the project you will be fine.

The level of the mix will get re-adjusted anyway to accommodate what the ME feels is best to feed their analog chain if they're using one.

Bouncing/rendering at the native sample rate and bit depth of the mixing session, leaving at least some headroom, and really liking your mix are
a few of the things to keep in mind when having your mixes mastered. gl

[Bob Olhsson]

A software mix buss has hundreds of dB. of headroom unlike an analog console so there is no reason to lower all of the faders. There can be problems with clipping plug-ins but that needs to be addressed ahead of the channel fader.

I treat -10 as my zero peak simply because many D to A converters start sounding stressed at higher levels and I don't want that monitoring problem influencing my mixing decisions. Unlike analog, one wants to always error on the low side in the digital world.

[DC-Choppah]

Originally Posted by Bob Olhsson

A software mix buss has hundreds of dB. of headroom unlike an analog console so there is no reason to lower all of the faders. There can be problems with clipping plug-ins but that needs to be addressed ahead of the channel fader.

Indeed, clipping on an Aux bus means nothing actually regarding sound quality.