BUT, if the main/stereo out meter is over-level and you didn’t go over-level on any of the individual channels, simply pull the fader down a few dbs until it isn’t. And your levels will be perfect for mastering, leaving enough headroom. Usually, if you don’t go over-level on any of your individual mixer board channels you automatically won’t go over-level on your main/stereo out. How To Set Mixing Levels And Know They’re Good For Mastering Note: If you run into this exact same problem again, you can keep repeating this process until you have a nice track to track volume balance. Now you can start raising the volume on the tracks that need it.

Then pull down the faders (roughly -5db) on ALL of the tracks in the entire song.Įvery track is now at least -5db below 0 level, if not more.

Highlight ALL the tracks in your mix and link them all together.

They need to make one track louder to cut through the mixing, but in doing so, it goes way over-level. This is a VERY common problem with sound engineers who are new to mixing. What If You Need To Make A Track Louder, But Can’t Without Going Over-Level? The fix – Simply pull down the fader on Guitar track 2 a few dbs so it’s no longer over-level!! This is VERY basic stuff here, but you’d be surprised how many sound engineers out there don’t know this! Guitar Track 2 is several dbs OVER 0 level and will badly distort.

Guitar Track 1 peaks a few dbs under 0 level and is great. The photos below are level meters from two different guitar track.

There’s really no need to because overall volume boosts are done in mastering NOT mixing! And, most of the time going over-level means instant distortion on the track. The mixing levels for each instrument should NEVER go over 0 level, and your mixing levels on your main/stereo out should never go over 0 level. You also have a main/stereo out that has a level meter for ALL the tracks combined. Each channel on your mixer board has a level meter for the individual vocal and instrument tracks you’ve recorded.

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