Rms level for mixing reddit. Your recording levels are totally independent of this.
Rms level for mixing reddit RMS is much closer and representative of the loudness than peak. Now with the track I'm mixing at the moment, I have my RMS levels at You're just wrong. so if you are looking at your Peak & RMS / LUFS meters, and using your ears, you're going to find a place where your ears are telling you its level matched, your hearing the change in dynamics due to the compressor, but the meters peak / rms / lufs DO NOT match. I've always had issues with my RMS levels being extremely loud (I'm talking like 0db RMS) but to be honest I didn't really know what RMS was and how it affected my tracks. 3db and RMS is at -6db, are those levels correct or no? This thread is archived New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast Peak level is technical. LUFS are not RMS. But you want to be within the -10 to -15 ball park to be competitive with other mastered songs. I’ve always heard you can make rms closer to peak with compression but have had very little success. I'm peaking at around -6db in the master VU at the loudest part of the song, but the thing is, my RMS levels creep above 0 and turn red, which concerns me. I never use limiters for mixing purposes, only if a sound is way to quiet so I make it louder with this tool. So a track that is "LOUD", just has a higher RMS level. To adjust, I panned it a bit right, but that makes the right channel peak higher. Eg if you use a saturation or distortion effect but the output of this causes the vu meter to spike and blink red, then you’d adjust the output level of the distortion until the meter is less crazy looking. Secondly. Setting the levels of individual sounds so they work well together and aren't overpowering each other. What RMS level does a mix down have to reach in order to still sound good after being limited to these levels during the mastering stage with the ozone maximizer? Reference artists are koan sound Odesza kill Paris and griz. If performed at the beginning of a mix before you touch a single fader, it gives you an immense amount of headroom and it gives each track an equal All sources have a crest factor. micromanagement of dynamics on individual tracks. If it is best practice to get the faders at 0 before beginning the mix, then I could see a benefit in being able to apply a Utility Trim instance on the last plugin slot on my chain, after all processing is done. clip gain, compression, limiting, automation. The red in that screenshot is not the clipping indicator, it is the RMS meter passing the threshold set in the master meter options. instrumentals What levels are you guys trying to target? Great overview but I'm confused about why he recommends a VU meter for mixing at the end. That said I don’t peak higher than -12 dBFS, and I also keep all audio at this level so all tracks (external audio and software instruments alike) are hitting the same, if I add processing I compensate to keep the peaks around the same level up to the channel fader. You generally may want to balance your mix in relation to your lead vocals or lead instruments, not in relation to numbers. I set my levels based on the levels of the recordings. -20dB is for highly dynamic projects such as Live Symphonic arrangements or Ambient mixes. Like a kick drum that hits -18 RMS can be louder/quieter than another kick on the same RMS levels because it’s has harder/softer transients? No, would you talk about is a peak; its value is the highest voltage that the waveform will ever reach. You should be considering harmonic content/EQ/sonics/space as well as peak levels and RMS levels. Like others have said in the comments, an RMS compressor uses RMS values, rather than the peak values, to determine whether to compress the signal. Just don’t clip. Bus mix channels are naturally slightly higher, mix bus higher still (i try Is the RMS level of song should be whole time at the same level? How many RMS should my song have? I did watch mastering TUT and guy said it should be 7. The crest factor is the difference between your average level, the RMS, and the peaks. Good luck Getting everything to sound louder requires a focus on loudness in the context of the DAW. If you normalize ever track in a mix the only practical difference will be that you can turn your monitors down a bit. It doesn't "bring everything to the same level" it's literally just setting the loudest part to be 0 for monitoring purposes and does not change relative levels. RMS + 3 is top of sine wave. If you do live work then you want to go louder than that somewhat closer to line level. use your ears to that, not the level meters on your DJ mixer. But doing so is just matter of taste aswell. Like u/Chaos_Klaus well pointed out, as long as you are not clipping on any channel, any level works. My RMS level is at -3 and my LUFS is showing -5, which is the same as the reference tracks I use. May 24, 2016 · Recording at -18dbfs RMS is to get a good level that is optimum to hit your plugins. -6 RMS is certainly way too loud to be mixing at. It will give you an average decibel number of the dynamic range. And even then, you're still wrong - setting levels properly is not going to result in a mix that can be pushed loudly; that has more to do with compression/limiting and controlling peaks. I have heard different opinions on how levels should be set but I'm trying to come to a final conclusion for my own workflow. It's usually expressed in dB. -12dB is for high energy "loud" projects like Pop, Urban or EDM. Signal level is top of sine wave while RMS is average. Using 24 or 32 bit changed everything and working at lower level (recording peaking -6 or below) is no longer a problem Then mix the premaster in with the kick and snare. K Metering. I'm not sure if it's the RMS levels that need to be below 0, or if it's Peak, or both. Also NO gear/software troubleshooting) Would like feedback on your track? You've come to the right place (NOT the place for promoting your music). iTunes radio streams at the lowest LUFS level that I know of, hence why I set my master LUFS level at -16. The RMS doesn't seem to change in even if I change the fader position. I balance my vocalse around kick and bass, if I compress or just lower them, in order to not go crazy with the RMS, I lose my balance with the vocals and everything. IME, -10dbu or around -26~-25rms basically works for everything. A few of the songs will be around 20-25 RMS, while others, though recorded via the same method, are around 30-40 RMS. Its always worked for me. Just depends. Trying to balance your mix to f Normalizing only brings the highest peak in a track up to 0db. Although they’re very similar. Most gates mute the signal completely while some allow you to set the compression to be just partial. Both L/R channels peak at same level but the RMS for the left channel is noticeably higher which causes a bit of imbalance when the clap hits. This will allow your mix to be as loud as most commercially released songs while still maintaining a healthy dynamic range and will keep your mix from sounding smashed to all hell It could just as well be -3 dBFS. The numbers are to be taken with a grain of salt, the golden rule is don’t clip For mixing: ensure no tracks, busses, or master clips. Even using RMS won’t always work, as loudness is very subjective and so many factors are at play besides overall level. I'm mixing a song with quite a few tracks, and recorded them all at about -18db. Generally mastered wav's have all the peaks shaved off, so your range between peak and RMS is going to be much larger than theirs. I have historically used the Slate plugins which I always enjoy using. single channel LU is technically defined as rms level with filtering. are you mixing it or just mastering it? -9 RMS is not crazy loud to shoot for. Should be monitored to avoid clipping inside plugins and at master/main out. 0db, sounding much louder than a track with max peak of -0. I'm putting together an audiobook for ACX and I'm having a problem with the RMS level being too low. Other used curves are A, B, C, M. The RMS (Root-Mean-Square) value is the effective value of the total waveform. check the specifications you really need. If you were to compare RMS levels (a side conversation can be had on what RMS means) on a peak meter, they would look closer to what you would see on a VU meter. For mixing I recommend the Studio One VU meter, making the audio 'peak' around 0dB on the VU scale. I think you may be confusing peak and RMS in your original question. I guess my main question relates to gain staging and mixing rather than setting recording levels. Some songs require a louder or quieter approach, but it's vital to make sure your levels aren't peaking, and each track is mixed accordingly. Just cover your bases ( Good stereo image, controlled fx, good levels, and Eqing) and it should be good enough for 99 percent of people. Additionally, insert a compressor somewhere in the middle of master channel, with following settings: Attack: 30, release: 60 000/BPM of your track/8 or 12, or AUTO-release, Ratio – 2:1, threshold -15 db. I would stick to classic pro tools metering in your case, I think it’s the most accurate. They tend to even out the levels a little more and will tend to read a little on the low side. How ‘loud’ you make your mix has to do with perception, what peak level it hits is a different thing. This subreddit is temporarily private as part of a joint protest to Reddit's recent API changes, which breaks third-party apps and moderation tools, effectively forcing users to use the official Reddit app. VU meters measure level, and he just spent the video talking about how important it is to know the difference between level and loudness. It's very similar to RMS level. If you’re between -20 and -14 RMS then you’re so when i mix my track at full peak level my track sounds roughly similar in percieved loudness to the reference track but when i gain match using a mixing reference plugin my peak level goes down by a few db and the reference stays the same level. Well I mix at 0db so yeah. For YouTube you would be looking to hit about -16 LUFS so you should mix RMS to -16. The unit is LUFS. You bring up a good point that A higher RMS doesn't necessarily mean a higher volume (at least I don't think?) by bringing up an example of a 20hz or 30hz tone. Mixing is hard to pick up, but it's a very valuable skill to have. -3 is very loud, but also okay. in a genre like this it should still sound solid at that level. I have heard people say that you should keep the tracks around -18dbfs throughout the entire mixing process. bx_Digital V3: This could be for any number of moves, but usually is for any small boosts or cuts across the mix. The use of gates during vocal mixing is to eliminate background noise in parts where the vocalist doesn’t sing/rap. Not only that but it's a super solid level that doesn't shift around very much. Hope this helps. But again, that's a level that engineers were setting with a VU meter so it's closer to an RMS than peak level. You aren't clipping; the -0. For instance, a sine wave has a 3dB difference between peak and RMS. If i want to hear the music louder. Make Wave Candy/other metrics plugin to show u RMS of master channel, we need these values for making a rought mix. A higher RMS level track will naturally be perceived as louder vs the same source with the same peak level but lower RMS. A pad peaking at-12 is much more louder than a hi hat peaking at-12. These levels are just guides because each mix will need different treatments, but it is a starting point. So it's easier to normalize something like that (I realize you're not mixing sine waves, but hopefully you get the idea). Average of -18. It's pretty simple. Have questions about the craft of mixing? (NOT recording. I've read that the RMS value is the most important, so I've been using that as my guide. What I mean by too dynamic is that you have a high crest factor. the meters on your mixer will tell you where your song is peaking, not RMS/average loudness/precieved loudness. Numbers are again irrelevant. So the mix is actually low volume. Mixing to peak levels is obsolete, -1dB TP is a technical safety margin, not necessarily a target. Hey hello, I'm using Presonus Studio One. I like traditional rms because it's the best "average" measure (audio rms is slightly different than electrical rms). Unless its truly bad. That's insane. All he cares about is RMS, but at a more advanced level of mixing you need to think in terms of Peak and RMS, and how the two are playing together. 0 volt RMS levels and 4. , to the kit, and check general phase everywhere. 01 dB. between 1-3 db of transparent clipping per channel adds up in the end. gated (too low signal is ignored) refers to signal level (AES-17), not to RMS level. You have peak level and you have RMS level of a track. I'm not 100% knowledgeable on the difference between LUFS & RMS, but I know the values are relatively close, so I've been mastering my tracks to: (approx) -10 dB LUFS / RMS for Hip-Hop tracks with vocals (approx) -13 dB for Hip-Hop/LoFi/Chillhop etc. So I'm producing and mixing a house track I wrote myself but I'm having trouble handling my RMS levels. Firstly, the -18dBfs "target" is meant for RMS levels (=average levels). But all my tracks are significantly quieter than commercial songs. (And also check the mix on high levels to make sure there are no ear piercing cymbals or hi-hats in the mix!) You spoke about a loud mix, matching the "the volume of professional songs" You can have a track with max peak -2. Like I said, RMS is typically pretty close to the same level as LUFS. Your average loudness (RMS) will vary slightly depending on the genre of music. The moment the RMS gets close to an acceptable level the snare in particular (and to a lesser degree the kick) begin to sound squashed and are pushed back in the mix. 743K subscribers in the edmproduction community. The K Metering system is good in practice but less accurate. The track itself is usually really dense after limiting. For audio applications, the RMS tends to be used to calculate the average power output of, say, a speaker, or, in your case, is used to calculate perceived “loudness” of a signal. VU isn’t relevant in a 2 track mix. Chris Lord-Alge - Chris Lord-Alge on Commanding Your Career: Wisdom From Five-Time Grammy Award-Winning Mix Engineer on Succeeding as a Producer/Engineer Thursday, January 25, 2024 Mixing Techniques - Always match the RMS level of your mix to the reference track (-12dB) - Use clip gating or normalization plug-in to get loudness without crushing mix Keep in mind when it comes to option 2. I use saturation to get my rms levels similar to my peak levels - Saturn 2 is great as it’s multi band. I feel that the -6db thing is more for preference than anything, in FL the faders go up to 125% so thats plenty of adjustment space. What volume you set AFTER the plugins with the fader is completely up to you, and what the right mix balance is. But RMS +3 db is such nice practical measurement because single channel measured in RMS +3 will have same value in stereo LU output (Except for K-curve filtering/gate part), Today instruments gauges (compressor, vu metter) are all in rms+3 because electronic reacting to I've tried this in Nuendo and the average RMS doesn't change while the max RMS does, although not as drastically as in your example. 0 volt peak levels would have 12 dB crest factor. When you say “the level of the mix” are you talking peak, RMS, LUFs, or what? An RMS of zero would be pretty damn loud. What's happening Level isn’t the same as loudness. And while I'm looking at LUFS also of course, I like to check RMS on the fly - specially cause I'm mixing/mastering mostly experimental music where LUFS are harder to use due to, well, weird music with no choruses, bridges etc, dynamics are extreme (as in, from quiet to full-on in In older days, having a "hot mixing" (peaking high) was even a bit necessary as the way audio is encoded in wav or other pcm file had a low bit depth (16 bit), and was therefore less precise in the lower levels. And you'll get more consistent results if you think about it from a mixing perspective, rather than something to solve at the end. So -18dBfs RMS in the digital world is what roughly equates to line level in analogue circuits. Dec 20, 2010 · For an RMS level I aim for 0VU [a RMS value] - which will often have peaks that will run 15+db hotter than that -- so, my question to you is are you trying to determine an RMS value while reading the PPM scale on the meters associated with DAW's? Aug 7, 2024 · Maybe 1-3 dB increase or decrease, to get the RMS level around -18 dB before turning any plugins in the chain on. Most of the times all my tracks are within -28 and -8. With genres like dubstep, it’s become pretty normal for the track to sit at like -4LUFS short term (measured over 300ms iirc), and a common way to get the track to be that loud is to just push the channels really hard instead of doing the normal mix thing of trying to go for like -18 or -14. 3 decibels of range between peak and RMS levels. The RMS is the average perceived loudness of the track. I'm working on mixes right now that peak at -9dB and . But you may want to check how your mix sound on lower levels, the most important part is to check how the vocals/lead sound. 'this means you may have to render different masters at diff LUFS for diff platforms. I didn't change my mixing method, so I really don't know why I find my tracks so loud in RMS, but lacking in LUFS (-13/-12). Its one of curves used for mimic human loudness perception. You got the levels mixed up. When mastering (learning to master!), I'm using its Mastering Workspace. Lining everything up would probably not give you very good results, as everything would be fighting to be the "main" element of the mix. Here's the issue: The track is an opening credit track that is composed of two sound files, one with my voice and one with background music. The Target Loudness on some meters can be calibrated. Once that's done I can push my limiter on my master crazy super hard. People build entire careers from this sort of stuff. You're distorting because you'd be clipping by that point and you probably don't have a limiter or you're killing your limiter. i think the big things: make sure it's mixed well. by slightly clipping the individual tracks and bus channels in a transparent way, that doesn't change the signal sonically, you can gradually increase the overall rms level of your mix. Even though the peaks are at the same place, a commercial track sounds louder because it has a higher average level. After some more testing, I've noticed that the level doesn't always change in the same direction and when testing with a sine wave, the peak value was slightly lower than the average value which should be impossible. I suggest you dive into some mixing tutorials. -6db is also for sending to mastering engineers so you dont have to send them massive bro, dont worry about the waveform when youre in the mix, you want to concern yourself with matching the precieved loudness of the tracks the best you can. Thats because in the first case the RMS values are very close to the max peak and in the second case the RMS values are very far, around -8db RMS for example. 3 dbFS. So that means your transients are as loud as the "meat" of Coming from another DAW where I set my levels quit conservative, I wonder how you do it in FL for best results? Is it generally advised to stay in the green (no peaks over -6db) on the master? the level meter isn't really showing RMS values so I am having a bit of a hard time. When mastering, you should be looking at true peak level and loudness levels. This is just a matter of taste. If the mix is good and the limiter is good, just adding gain will be enough to get you the loudness you are after. It represents better our perception of loudness. Mixing isn't about making everything be the same level of loudness, it's choosing which elements you want to push through and which can sit in the back. You can record at any level you want. Listen to Avicci- Levels its a meh mix but its good enough to break him out as an artist. I heard from mixing and mastering engineer Luca Pretolesi that the rms level is normally around -5 in edm music. If you mix too loud YouTube will turn your mix down and it will sound quieter because it will be less dynamic. -12db on a VU meter is very different from -12 LUFS, but he seemed to partially equate the two at the end there. I’ve read where the louder parts of the songs should ideally be around -10 for the RMS. When you get the mix right you can worry about how to master it for the loudness you are going for! (which isn't -14 LUFS!) When normalizing by RMS with a target of -36dB, the function will scan each track individually to determine its RMS value then raise or lower its gain so that the RMS volume of the track is -36dB. iTunes radio streams at -16 LUFS, Spotify at -12 LUFS and YouTube at -13 LUFS. I mainly mix aggressive music, but it’s not uncommon for me to pin the meters on an 1176/1176 plugin on each of my vocal tracks, and then usually hit the vocal bus with a second compressor or limiter. If you insert a non-linear plugin (dynamics, distortion, saturation) and don’t adjust it to taste based on what you’re hearing, then gain staging COULD give you a ‘different RMS measures the average loudness of the track, so if you’re using RMS and your meter is at -18, then that’s the average, and you’re probably recording a bit louder and/or quieter signal. 3 at the top of the meter indicates that the highest peak it has detected was -0. -6dB peak is actually perfect. A signal with 1. 3dB. Sine waves are 3 dB crest. RMS level is more natural. 5 volt RMS levels and 1. Edit: A plugin with RMS meters is better than VU imo. I don't know. But you almost never "need" professional level and even line level is a lot. I'm mastering an EP of ambient music and am having some issues keeping all of the tracks at a similar level. Which means over the certain amount of time that the track is playing. It will show you the peak level and RMS level. Thats the difference between peak level and RMS or average level. What you're talking about is MIXING. Another thing with all this, it's actually better to use RMS when figuring out your 0 point, and when dropping the level of your reference wav's too. I will occasionally mix and master demos for my band or my friends’ bands. They have to sound intelligible even at low levels. be smart, dont "feel it out" or some shit. So I thought that should've been the case for master track RMS. The ratio of the peak level of the signal to the RMS level of the signal (average of the absolute level). If first question is right should i set up RMS level in mixing or mastering? Any good tutorials about RMS? Please, be forgiving. When i record i try to keep my rms at -18 with peaks no louder than -6. at this point the software is telling me that at the same rms/luf value i have significaly less percieved loudness Sonnox Oxford Inflator: I can get some additional level out of this unit since it helps increase the RMS level, but it also helps to add some color and heft without destroying dynamics. RMS is significantly more important than peak levels when mixing, so get familiar with it. 16 votes, 14 comments. I mix alot of metal, and the way it clips the snare drum really enhances the power of the snare during breakdowns when there is alot of space to fill between notes. -14dB is for more dynamic mixes such as Acoustic, Jazz or Ethnic music. Thats why controlling dynamics is so important, if theres too much dynamic range in your drums for example its really hard to boost that average level without An attack (on the compressor settings) fast enough to catch the initial attack of the drum, with a release just long enough to time the initial transient will allow you to increase the average level of your drums significantly without peaking. How do I measure the volume of my vocals, and get a similar vocal level across my track? I don't want verse 1 to be louder than verse 2, etc. So if your mix's average volume is around -16 RMS and your peaks are up above at -1 dBFS that means there's a difference of 15 dB's. The sample loop is a bit weird. Signal level (for sine) = RMS + 3. I would just make sure it peaks at 0 and that everything sounds crystal clear. Use ears, not meters. Easier is to measure mono signal with RMS+3dB which is known as signal level and for stereo music it equals to stereo LU loudness without applying K-weighting detection curve. whatever it takes. I suggest you look up tutorials on mixing in general and compression and EQ'ing in particular. Its a timed average level. If you did the same at 4K you risk ear damage. Now typical RMS values differ depending on the genre, and the song. Do I just monitor peak & rms levels using logic's built in metering plugin, and try to achieve the same RMS across the verses? Aug 22, 2021 · The proper RMS value you're looking for also varies depending on the style of song and genre and will require its own approach to the mix to achieve the wanted RMS level. LUFS are K-weighted. Processed vocals usually have a REALLY consistent level; If you’re compressing and it’s still too dynamic, don’t be afraid to compress more. A practical guide to track compression (mixing): compression levels and attack/release times Compression can be daunting to beginners: compression is everywhere when producing popular music (all genres, really), and is even present on classical music to a minor extent, but dialing in that compression is really done on a case-by-case basis. This way you are bringing the ENTIRE track below clipping level without screwing up the balance you achieved during gain staging. Aug 30, 2010 · best practice though by far is to calibrate your room (large room to 85db spl or smaller to 79db spl) and mix by ear do a search here on how to do that properly. Mix around 0VU. If you blasted 20hz at -0 with your mains turned all the way up it still wouldn’t be that loud. The origin of -18 as a target is that it usually corresponds to 0dBU on analog or analog modeled gear. I'd suggest getting a reference track & analyze that to hear how you perceive that mastered song then try to apply similar tactics as mentioned above, especially EQ, multi band compression & finally a limiter. so you have This subreddit is about the stage of music production that involves mixing all the individual tracks of a song together. The Slate Mastering plugin uses an RMS scale instead of LUFS. Then when you mix, push the faders, and compressors, on the individual tracks, so that your mixdown is loud without clipping. Hey y’all, just curious as to what levels I should be aiming for when mixing my tracks with the intention of getting them mastered. The go-to subreddit for electronic music producers During mixing, metering is usually not important, as long as you are not clipping. Then mix the rest accordingly to the drums. A signal with 0. strangely the VU meter that I put on the master track seem to be give different RMS value by Fader movements of other mixing tracks but no change within the VU meter of those mixing tracks. It can be a fine starting point, but can’t possibly apply in every situation with every kick and every bass sound in my experience. When mixing i keep the rms on the drum tracks around -18. When everything is said and done my rms level is usually at -6 to -5. Set the target level to -12, -14 or -20dB depending on what you usually like to mix. Also, if you are mixing you should worry about the mix and not the final loudness level of your track. 0 volt peak levels would have 6 dB crest factor. Decreasing the dynamic range will allow you to increase the RMS level of the mix for the same peak level. My question is this. You can increase the RMS level by pulling the threshold way down and adjust the out ceiling. Mixing should be all you think about, and this also matters when it comes to loudness, because a maximized perceived loudness can be baked into a mix. If my tracks are streamed through iTunes radio, I know they won't be turned down. Completely agree with the above. I'm just finishing mixing down this song and am about to send it out to be mastered, my peak is at 0. Its better to get the “loud” during mix then mix lower and try to use limiter to push it all. A limiter makes sure the signal doesn't cross a certain peak level. from there you have enough headroom to keep everything in place, and then you can And unless you are clipping the output or had ridiculous levels all over the place, “gain staging” doesn’t affect the quality of the mix - just the levels. and mix your track at low levels, -18dB RMS is a standard for single tracks in a project. -6 RMS sounds more like a level you end up in mastering. VU Is used to make sure that you don’t blow out your speakers using analog gear, digital engineers also use it for plugin emulations of analog gear as they replicate the effect when the recording is too hot going into the plugins. For mixing, set your target level to -23 LUFS, and for “mastering”, set it to -16 LUFS. I turn the speakers up. I'm using Pro Tools 10 and I'm looking for a way to have PT analyze my current mix and tell me what the average RMS is for the whole thing. The rule is don’t clip. Besides having much better monitoring and more experienced ears than the artist or mix engineer, they also often have the 'special sauce' that can push loudness without audibly destroying it with distortion – usually an expensive converter that has super clean clipping if you push the input level (to a certain point). I can't seem to find a balance among settings that permits the snare being punchy, present and quite forward in the mix, AND have the final RMS at an acceptable level. For recording: only need to worry about input levels on record tracks, the bus and mix levels don’t matter because they can be adjusted later. Get a good limiter! If I made a mix that ended up being around -12 LUFS integrated and I wanted it to be closer to -7 LUFS, the very first thing I would try is just pushing more input level on the final limiter. Peak metering doesn't account for the actual sound of the instruments, which is FAR more important. RMS is the average loudness of the track. Get a loudness meter that is R128 compliant and read up on loudness targets. In my opinion the best way to achieve a higher RMS level in your mix is to control the dynamics in steps (individual tracks, busses and the mix bus/master) rather than just slamming a very dynamic mix with a limiter. Then final step in mastering the stereo mixdown use your limitor/compressor to squeeze the rest you need. Both files pass the ACX check. I get into a bad habit of making stuff too loud and end up with only around -1db of headroom (I think so at least… would headroom just refer to the level on the master track, in my instance on ableton, the number next to the volume fader?). This is where the full "MIX" is and I always set it to be around 0 on a VU Meter (calibrated at -18). its impossible unless your ratio is 1:1 or you never reach threshold on your comp. I'm familiar with PhaseScope but I'm not interested in a real-time readout as I have a whole movie here and I can't exactly watch through the whole thing and calculate out the RMS myself and then again I usually aim for an RMS (average) level sitting around -18 and peaks somewhere between -12 and -6 when tracking. It makes the snare sound like a shotgun blast if you have good room capture. RMS is wave average point. During recording, we care about peak levels. There’s also a lot more to loudness than decibels. The -18dbFS thing is to mimic console headroom, but it shouldn't be considered gospel. I mean when I put a VU meter in any track. There is no standard for mixing. To greatly simplify, the crest factor is the relationship between the peaks and the average level. I have never heard anyone (including me not listen to a song) cause of the mix. From here, check your phase on drums, make sure you align the OH, rooms, etc. Audio isn't that formulaic. Your recording levels are totally independent of this. That BUS (mix bus) goes into the Master Fader (master bus) and there I have a Clipper and off the clipper is where I get the volume to -9ish LUFS. I have a premaster BUS. Gate Processing Tips A gate processor mutes signals with low volume and it only modifies the RMS level of a signal. Level doesn’t matter, mastering doesn’t require headroom. 3 dbFS which leads me to believe you likely have a limiter on the master limiting to -0. Any plugins that are affected by input level will have a pregain pot. hope that helps you. kxfjscwqbpsvuzspzjsycfahyzjlmteaoxbrbblpmucocmiyhqzwl