Discuss the various methods you use in music production, from compressor settings to equipment type.
By Mau11111 Sun Aug 22, 2021 7:35 am
Hi guys, wonder if anyone can set me straight on this, I layed down a song was like 7 tracks i went to each individual track used a VU meter on each one level to -18dbs , totally noticed the main output signal that was off course clipping before i gain staged, drop a lot , then used EQ and one or two effects on some tracks at this point the output signal is still low no red at all, but went ahead put a VU meter on the master output and it was clipping, so.......???? do i need to further lower inputs on the tracks, do i use a gain tool on the master output or leave it alone? why does the VU meter tells me im clipping and the output signal not ? Im using MPC software btw rite.,,,, any help thnx peace .
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By v00d00ppl Mon Oct 04, 2021 4:38 am
Check the levels of your low end tracks. One of the low end tracks (bass, kick) is causing you to spike into the red. It’s the most common issue when using the Mpc program. I would recommend picking one low end track then dropping the track by -6dB. Are you still clipping at the master channel if you dropped one of the low end elements ?
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By Ultros Wed Oct 27, 2021 2:13 pm
Or cheat it, and put a limiter on the master and dial it in to a tollerable place so it doesnt wash out but knocks the punch off the drums a bit while keeping them loud.
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By The Jackal Sun Nov 21, 2021 2:04 am
Level kick first, then bass. Then mix to that. I went from never producing anything consumer grade ever in my life i.e. I recorded stuff and never cared and could sound like complete garbage depending what you play it on...to putting out decent tracks over the summer because I started to finally understand and take into account gain staging (doesn't sound like shit on phone speakers basically). I was doing shit where the signal was probably already coming in hot and still cranking the input, compressing something that should have been gain staged properly to begin with, etc. Then one day I was like "holy shit there's like 4, 5 different steps in the chain to getting this to sound right, you don't just plug shit in and go".

Like I literally just follow the same formula and it always works regardless of the genre I'm working on because if you gain stage right, you don't really have to mix anything. I'm all hardware, but I just run each channel in the "Solo" function first to make adjustments to incoming signals, then set all channel faders to -U-, channel gain all the way down (unless it didn't sound hot enough in Solo), main mix fader to somewhere between -20 and -30, and I'm usually sitting at -10 by the end of everything and that's because I sometimes do slight compression on the master bus that brings it up a bit to -6. I figure mastering can worry about it from there; I've basically decided I'm not going to master my own shit, so I mix down in regards to that.
By Mau11111 Thu Dec 30, 2021 7:21 am
v00d00ppl wrote:Check the levels of your low end tracks. One of the low end tracks (bass, kick) is causing you to spike into the red. It’s the most common issue when using the Mpc program. I would recommend picking one low end track then dropping the track by -6dB. Are you still clipping at the master channel if you dropped one of the low end elements ?

thnx
By Mau11111 Thu Dec 30, 2021 7:22 am
Ultros wrote:Or cheat it, and put a limiter on the master and dial it in to a tollerable place so it doesnt wash out but knocks the punch off the drums a bit while keeping them loud.

thnx
By Mau11111 Thu Dec 30, 2021 7:23 am
The Jackal wrote:Level kick first, then bass. Then mix to that. I went from never producing anything consumer grade ever in my life i.e. I recorded stuff and never cared and could sound like complete garbage depending what you play it on...to putting out decent tracks over the summer because I started to finally understand and take into account gain staging (doesn't sound like shit on phone speakers basically). I was doing shit where the signal was probably already coming in hot and still cranking the input, compressing something that should have been gain staged properly to begin with, etc. Then one day I was like "holy shit there's like 4, 5 different steps in the chain to getting this to sound right, you don't just plug shit in and go".

Like I literally just follow the same formula and it always works regardless of the genre I'm working on because if you gain stage right, you don't really have to mix anything. I'm all hardware, but I just run each channel in the "Solo" function first to make adjustments to incoming signals, then set all channel faders to -U-, channel gain all the way down (unless it didn't sound hot enough in Solo), main mix fader to somewhere between -20 and -30, and I'm usually sitting at -10 by the end of everything and that's because I sometimes do slight compression on the master bus that brings it up a bit to -6. I figure mastering can worry about it from there; I've basically decided I'm not going to master my own shit, so I mix down in regards to that.

thank u
By Mau11111 Thu Dec 30, 2021 7:24 am
v00d00ppl wrote:Check the levels of your low end tracks. One of the low end tracks (bass, kick) is causing you to spike into the red. It’s the most common issue when using the Mpc program. I would recommend picking one low end track then dropping the track by -6dB. Are you still clipping at the master channel if you dropped one of the low end elements ?

thnx
By Mau11111 Thu Dec 30, 2021 7:45 am
hyena wrote:one trick is to put a limiter on your kick drum. this will give you a bit more headroom but also avoid your compressors (if you put a compressor on the whole drum program for example) being driven only by the punch of your kickdrum.

thnx