Question about something with making a mixdown

[thesh3ll]

i was reading through this:
http://www.wikihow.com/Mixdown-Music-wi ... g-Software

first it says to put a compressor on everything basically

and then when it says this

Set all the active channels to approx. -20db. Solo each channel one at a time and see that the master meters shows approx. -20db.

do i lower the compressor output gain to do this? or do i lower the faders on the mixer? or input gain ?

[SCH]

Since it says channels I would guess on mixer channels, and set a neutral input gain?

[thesh3ll]

thanks for the fast response, i'm just getting confused now because on one of the final steps it says

"Set your master faders so the song is peaking at approximately zero DB."

now what if i set the master fader to full, and it still only reaches -2dB or something, i'm guessing it might be best if i give all sounds a little gain with the compressors on the group channels and then i'll have more control with the channel faders

but i'm not sure if that is what i should do

[Exit Mind]

Set all the active channels to approx. -20db. Solo each channel one at a time and see that the master meters shows approx. -20db.

do i lower the compressor output gain to do this? or do i lower the faders on the mixer? or input gain ?

It completely depends on what you want the compressor to do
since the input gain/ mixer fader (channel strip fader -> compressor -> make-up gain) affects the behaviour of the compressor and the make-up gain doesn't.
but with a "clean" compressor (threshold set to 0db) its irrelevant for now if you decrease the makeup gain or the mixer fader.

... on one of the final steps it says
"Set your master faders so the song is peaking at approximately zero DB."
now what if i set the master fader to full, and it still only reaches -2dB or something, i'm guessing it might be best if i give all sounds a little gain with the compressors on the group channels and then i'll have more control with the channel faders

but i'm not sure if that is what i should do

this step is not necessary and doesn't affect the sound quality at all, a headroom at about -6db on the final mixdown is quite normal (before mastering). but if you want the project to be louder just increase the master volume, additionally if the master fader is on its max you could add a plugin with simple gain boost ability
(e.g. compressor with 0 threshold, EQ etc.), ofc you could also increase the volume of every single mixer channel to get the same effect.

[thesh3ll]

It completely depends on what you want the compressor to do
since the input gain/ mixer fader (channel strip fader -> compressor -> make-up gain) affects the behaviour of the compressor and the make-up gain doesn't.
but with a "clean" compressor (threshold set to 0db) its irrelevant for now if you decrease the makeup gain or the mixer fader.

I think you're getting a little mixed up, or else i'm confused

the mixer fader should not affect the behaviour of the compressor right? since the mixer faders are output gain not input gain and also I thought the make-up gain affects only the level of the compressed signal so it doesn't matter about the threshold being at 0dB with that, it would only matter if you changed the input gain

... on one of the final steps it says
"Set your master faders so the song is peaking at approximately zero DB."
now what if i set the master fader to full, and it still only reaches -2dB or something, i'm guessing it might be best if i give all sounds a little gain with the compressors on the group channels and then i'll have more control with the channel faders

but i'm not sure if that is what i should do

this step is not necessary and doesn't affect the sound quality at all, a headroom at about -6db on the final mixdown is quite normal (before mastering). but if you want the project to be louder just increase the master volume, additionally if the master fader is on its max you could add a plugin with simple gain boost ability
(e.g. compressor with 0 threshold, EQ etc.), ofc you could also increase the volume of every single mixer channel to get the same effect.[/quote]

yeah I suppose that doesn't matter really