Hey guys, I was wondering if you could help me out with something I have issues with…
I find the levels of a track I’m working on are just fine, but the dBmetter reaches 7.50! If I lower each track level for the master to show the normal green level, I feel it doesn’t sound as good as other tracks (too low). Should I leave this volume increasing for mastering or what?
I really appreciate your help.
Thanks a lot.
Ok, I read recently that there are some VST that can boost basses and increase the synth volumes without saturating the db levels… Any advise?
keep everything in the green!
and then turn ur speakers up!
What i do with levels is bring my master volume down to -50 then all the tracks channels right down (inf )then i bring each sound(soloed) in individually so i can just about hear them when ive done all the channels i then bring my master up …
hope this helps man:)
Eventhough my speakers are up, it still sounds a bit lower than some other tracks… Anyways, I rather take this advise, honestly, I prefer to lose some ammount of dB instead of losing sound quality (besides, volumes between tracks vary very much). I’ll solo the instruments to try to get the sweet point ;). Thanks a lot guys! Very Helpful…
Regards…
You have to keep in mind also that your sounds aren’t going to be as big as a sound on a finished professional track. That sound has been mastered to be as loud and big as possible without breaking the threshold. Just to humor yourself, you should burn a copy of whatever your working on, with the levels the way you like it, and go listen to it in your car or in your ipod. You’ll notice real quick that some of the levels are blowing out etc etc etc. If you have really good monitors they wont show you that like a cheap or car system would. They’re designed to take abuse at all frequencies. Seriously, just listen to whatever your working on on different sound systems. If it still sounds good on everything you listen to it on, then stick with it. Ultimately, it’s your track, so if it doesn’t sound the way YOU want it to then whats the point? Right?
Raymond
the rule of thumb and technical rule, is never go in the red. i did want to make that clear if you were just looking for the should you technically answer.
LOL XD Great! I just tested my track with some really BIG monitors and it sounds completely different. I just wish tracks’d sound like mastered the same way they do when you’re working on them.
Bad luck… 
Thanks Ray, I wont distract myself by trying to sound as good as mastered tracks… I always get influenced and that makes my works to get stuck…
Learned the lesson.
As a rule of thumb, I always keep my master channel nudging around -6db. I keep the fader at 0db.
I simply turn all my other channels down.
I tend to mix at low levels most of the time only checking stuff at higher levels to make sure it sounds good.
Once I start putting a comp on my master channel and limiting it etc… I find my sound still has the dynamics I need and getting it loud is easy using a limiter or multiband comp.
Remember it’s not until the final stages you are going to be comparing to a finished commercial track. During the creation phase I never worry about my tune being too low in volume.
As has been already said, I turn up my speakers! 