Loudness/Clipping help

[ticky]

I Need some help, how do you guys get your mixes really loud without clipping, my mix sounds good but it just doesn't seem to be as loud, when I master it in T-Racks or Ozone.

This is how I usually do it.
1. EQ - If it needs a little bottom end, or the synths need brightness, I eq the bottom and the top end around 1.5 db.
2. Compressor - In T-Racks I put the input to around 2db, Ratio at 2:01, Output at 0db
3. Limiter - I usually have overload on full, and input 2db, output 0db or -0.1.

I make sure it isn't clipping, but when I compare the waveforms & loudness to other tracks like Theracords and so on, Theracords seem to be so much louder, and everything seems to be limited to hit the top peaks, even in the intro. Mine only hit the peaks around the climax.

Any help with this would be very helpful.

[D-Mon]

As everything in producing, it's a matter of practice and playing with knobs...and you can't use the exact same settings for every track you master...
You just gotta understand what every tool does and find the right settings

stuff that helped me:
http://harderstate.com/tutorials-f22/to ... t8497.html
http://audio.tutsplus.com/series/mastering-elements/

[ljk32]

A powerful master comes from a powerful mix. If the mix is done well, the volume basically sets itself out and the master just adds a tiny bit to that. Also, like D-Mon said, you can't use the same settings for every track because every track is different. Now, I can already tell you are doing things wrong with the first point. If are boosting something by 5dbs on the master channel, you've done something terribly wrong in the mix. You can't just ignore the fact that the mix isn't nice and clean, and try to fix it up with mastering. I could be wrong, but I really think that you(as long as many new producers) are completely misinformed about the process of mastering. Mastering is not to fix up what you haven't done in the mix. Also, when building a track, don't try to make it as loud as possible from the start. Get a nice gain structure going - so try to have the end result peaking somewhere at -3db(it can be lower or higher, just as long as there is some headroom to work with). Adjust all the elements in the mix as you work on the track so they work nicely with each other and all have their rough volumes.

Quoted from a mastering engineer(it's from a Dubstep forum, but you should still get the idea):
"Good fundamental gain structure from the word go is the easiest way to get a good mix. You should, IMHO, always be looking to get any/all sounds as right as possible, as early as possible in the signal chain IMHO. Think of a top notch jazz band - they play at the right level, it gets recorded, no mixing/eq/compression, no editing, no fuckin nothing. And it sounds the absolute bollocks."

It's just good, sensible mix practice

- You'll never have to move your master fader again

- You'll never get clipping again (unless you're really doing something wrong)

- You'll mix more consistently as you won't be 'chasing your tail', pushing things up on the left and turning them down on the right (sound familiar anyone?)

- You'll get a sense for where tracks should sit peak-level-wise depending on what they are (drums ~ -8 to -10, bass a bit lower, pads maybe -18dB, shakers down below that etc).

- following from that you'll start getting the sound right at source, and find yourself moving the faders less = better fader resolution for finer level tweaking

- Your tunes are more likely to be easily master-able (no clipping or shoehorning under 0dB happening)

- Your ME will thank you for it by making it sound fucking huge


I hope this helps a little, though I think you should look a bit more into mastering.

[ticky]

Thanks for the advice, thats just a basic idea on the mastering, the mixdown sounds fine.
I don't master every track like this, but i'm not actually boosting anything by 5db the eq is only about 1.5 because I was taught never to boost above the 4db on the eq levels, i was told that you might as well go back to the mixing.