Sometimes those rogue peaks are very few. If it's a question of 10 to 15 places in the music where the peaks go +6dB higher than anything else, then simply bounce the track as 32bit float, open it up again in Cubase or an audio editor and manually volume automate the peaks to get them nicely in with the rest of the track. Then just lower the track to -1dBFS to make sure youtube/whatever isn't messing with it too much (though it's not at all that simple.. youtube and the others are doing their own sort of average/rms measuring and sets the levels accordingly).
This is by far the most invisible way to tweak this kind of situation. However, if there are hundreds of peaks going way past 0dBFS then you're better off using a limiter/clipper (if you don't own any I can highly recommend the free Limiter No6 and use just it's clipping part) and set output to -1dBFS if that's what you need.
Screw the meters hitting red...I want it my way
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do_androids_dream do_androids_dream https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=164034 - KVRAF
- 2908 posts since 26 Oct, 2007 from Kent, UK
Leave the master fader at 0 - grab all your track faders and lower them - job done. They should 'scale' just fine - giving you the exact same mix.
If it's only going over by the odd dB here and there then stick a limiter on the master - it should be near transparent on those peaks.
Try to develop good gain staging habits. Always leave your master at 0dB - that's your reference point. If you move it around you won't know where you are in relation to whether you're clipping. Mix so that your loudest peaks are hitting -6 to -4 dB and you should never have a problem with headroom. Use your interfaces output control to get the required volume you like to mix at - not your DAW's faders. Apologies if some of this you already know..
If it's only going over by the odd dB here and there then stick a limiter on the master - it should be near transparent on those peaks.
Try to develop good gain staging habits. Always leave your master at 0dB - that's your reference point. If you move it around you won't know where you are in relation to whether you're clipping. Mix so that your loudest peaks are hitting -6 to -4 dB and you should never have a problem with headroom. Use your interfaces output control to get the required volume you like to mix at - not your DAW's faders. Apologies if some of this you already know..
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- KVRAF
- 10361 posts since 3 Feb, 2003 from Finland, Espoo
This is unfortunately rarely that simple. At least I don't have a single mix where I can just lower the faders without affecting tons of things.do_androids_dream wrote:Leave the master fader at 0 - grab all your track faders and lower them - job done. They should 'scale' just fine - giving you the exact same mix.
Some main subgroups maybe but not all basic faders (as they feed to busses and auxes post fader, to fx that are very non-linear in nature).
This is good advice. Though having said that, I mainly gain stage for sound color rather than keeping virtual floating point metering from hitting zero (except the master fader, there I usually aim for a few dB below full scale. This usually does mean that none of my busses nor tracks hit over dBFS but I'm not exactly worried either if they do.do_androids_dream wrote:Try to develop good gain staging habits. Always leave your master at 0dB - that's your reference point. If you move it around you won't know where you are in relation to whether you're clipping. Mix so that your loudest peaks are hitting -6 to -4 dB and you should never have a problem with headroom. Use your interfaces output control to get the required volume you like to mix at - not your DAW's faders. Apologies if some of this you already know..
Last edited by bmanic on Sun Feb 12, 2017 1:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Wisdom is wisdom, regardless of the idiot who said it." -an idiot
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do_androids_dream do_androids_dream https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=164034
- KVRAF
- 2908 posts since 26 Oct, 2007 from Kent, UK
Maybe I'm being naive as to how most folks set up a mix.. Yes there will be things that may not sound exactly the same.bmanic wrote:This is unfortunately rarely that simple. At least I don't have a single mix where I can just lower the faders without affecting tons of things.do_androids_dream wrote:Leave the master fader at 0 - grab all your track faders and lower them - job done. They should 'scale' just fine - giving you the exact same mix.
Some main subgroups maybe but not all basic faders (as they feed to busses and auxes post fader, to fx that are very non-linear in nature).
The OP could always create a new buss before the master fader and route everything to it - then simply lower the gain there.
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- KVRAF
- 10361 posts since 3 Feb, 2003 from Finland, Espoo
Indeed. That would equal the suggestion I gave.. rendering at 32/64bit float and then simply lowering the gain before dithering down to 24 or 16bit. 
"Wisdom is wisdom, regardless of the idiot who said it." -an idiot
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simon.a.billington simon.a.billington https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=341278
- KVRAF
- 2375 posts since 12 Nov, 2014
Gain staging well can also often have the nice sideeffect of helping to keep most of your faders around a nice, usable region in your mixer. Not too low, not too high, but it somewhere in that Goldilocks zone.
This is most useful for fine adjustments and automation.
This is most useful for fine adjustments and automation.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 4276 posts since 8 Mar, 2005
Which would be the same as lowering the pre-gain on the master output, yes? i.e. why have a proxy master channel when you have the pre-gain built-in?bmanic wrote:Indeed. That would equal the suggestion I gave.. rendering at 32/64bit float and then simply lowering the gain before dithering down to 24 or 16bit.
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- KVRist
- 243 posts since 17 Sep, 2006
Dont overcomplicate, just do one of the following
- lower pre-gain on your master channel
- add a plugin in the insert slot of your master channel that has a gain parameter
When individual channels go of the 0dB point it doesn't matter at all a 32 / 64 bit mixing engine, so lowering all individual channels at this stage of a mix is dangerous and unnessessary. Only the last part in the chain (the master channel) must not go over 0dB if you want prevent digital clipping (or -1dB if you want to optimize it for some of thise digital distribution platforms). I have also formed a habit to export to -1dBTP.
However as already mentioned above: Develop the habit of gain-staging for future projects. You will have more headroom on the master channel and remember that many modeled plugins (if you should use those) do have a sweet spot where they sound best just as their analog counterparts.
Cheers,
Codex
- lower pre-gain on your master channel
- add a plugin in the insert slot of your master channel that has a gain parameter
When individual channels go of the 0dB point it doesn't matter at all a 32 / 64 bit mixing engine, so lowering all individual channels at this stage of a mix is dangerous and unnessessary. Only the last part in the chain (the master channel) must not go over 0dB if you want prevent digital clipping (or -1dB if you want to optimize it for some of thise digital distribution platforms). I have also formed a habit to export to -1dBTP.
However as already mentioned above: Develop the habit of gain-staging for future projects. You will have more headroom on the master channel and remember that many modeled plugins (if you should use those) do have a sweet spot where they sound best just as their analog counterparts.
Cheers,
Codex
