my master volume is in red...

[montreal]

on a track i have, my master volume reach the red many times in the track but stay in the green always except those little peaks... is it a real problem considering i cant hear any evident distortion ?

[Murt]

Try to keep it out of the red. Record at somewhere between -12 and -6dB and you will achieve better dynamics when it comes to mastering. Use a trim plugin on your tracks to check the level as you record.

[montreal]

oh really ? you mean when i finished a track i must dont go further -6db on my master volume ? ...
and to be honest im not sure to understand the profit to set a trim plug in to record...? can you explain a bit please ?

[Bender]

How many tracks? The master fader is the sum of the tracks. You can lower the faders to keep from peaking the faster fader. You could use a limiter to control it but listen for distortion, don't look for it.

[montreal]

i think there 's a misunderstanding because of my poor english..
the red is reached in the master fader volume track... not in all the tracks composed in the song... am i clear ?

[Amin7b5]

In Pro Tools LE you can just lower the master fader volume and it won't clip.

[montreal]

i think you did not understood my question either...
let me explain again... during my song, the master volume track reach the red few times. i cant hear any obvious distortions...
i know which tracks caused thoses red intrusions of course, but my problem is that if i want no red clip at all i need to lower master volume of more than 10 db to have no red clip at all during all the song but my song comes out at -14 db or something... i mean i lose such a dynamic ! what would you do guys ?

[Amin7b5]

If you know the tracks in question, can you compress them to get rid of the peaks?

Why does it matter if your master fader is -10dB anyway? You're not going to lose dynamics from doing that. I assume you will be mastering it later to bring the overall level up?

[Murt]

Don't compress them to get rid of the peaks. No matter how subtle, Compression will compromise your dynamics. Dynamics and volume are completely different things. I can't explain them here as they are too complex to describe in a few lines.

If your master fader is clipping it's because the tracks before it are too hot and are making it clip. Red is bad on any track, let alone the master fader.

Go back to the tracks you have already recorded, insert a trim plugin as the last insert. If the trim is showing more than -6 use the slider on the trim to bring the peak down to between -6 and -12. Do this on every track.

[The Dougfather]

It's interesting, i have always followed the trend of keeping all faders down and not clipping the mix bus but recent tutorials and links to Digidesign white papers contradict this, certainly in the case of the Pro Tools HD mix bus. It specifically states that the mix bus is designed to be used like an analogue console so you can run the tracks hot and lower the master fader.

Anyone know the Digidesign standpoint on this for the Le mix bus?