normal decibel level/master mix

[djkiller]

does anyone know the proper decibel level the master fader should be set to during a bounce? i have some audio i run live and i need a better decibel level and eq/master.

[PsyCoNo]

I think clarification is needed... is this the CD being sent to be mastered or are you talking about mastering itself? Also, I don't know why the master fader should be changed much beyond zero if the mix is good.

[djkiller]

i think i figured it out. i thought the master channel needed to be at 0db. i did that and added a dither and L2 i'm re bouncing all my tracks right now and they sound awesome. no it's not for a cd it's for live audio.

[rockrev]

Did you add the dither after the L2? Did you know that the L2 comes with an internal dither process already (that can be disabled)? All the L2 does is squash your waveform - IOW it's not enhancing anything, it's simply making it louder. Louder does not mean better, so take it easy on the brick maker (you'll thank me later). For best results, set your master fader to unity gain (0db), make sure it and no other tracks "red out," then send it to a real mastering engineer (you'll thank me for that later too).

rockrev

[Chris Cavell]

it's for live audio

Then why are you limiting at all? Just turn up the gain at the mixer...

[djkiller]

sometimes my band doesn't have a sound guy and it's up to me on top of having my hands full playing guitar to catch things live. so i need all the tracks set to the exact same volume as close as possible. it's not the point of limiting the tracks it's getting them set exact. so far thoug i played a kick ass show last night with the mix i said i used and it's working just fine