Hello,

my mastering engineer told me I should send my unmastered track with at least 8db of headroom and RMS value of -18DB.

I never heard of RMS value.. What is this and how can I measure it in a easy way? Any hints?

options (amongst others)

- Voxengo Span has a RMS display

- rms buddy
http://destroyfx.smartelectronix.com/extras/

- some DAWs (eg Cubase I think) have an offline RMS measurement option

very roughly speaking, RMS value can be used to describe (perceived) loudness of a track (and can give a hint how much a track is compressed)

loud (mastered) tracks can go around -9db RMS or so

when your ME says he wants a track of -18 db RMS he wants something with a pretty high dynamic range so he got something he can work with

The easiest way to do this is with the free Voxengo SPAN. Put it at the end of your effects chain on the master bus and use the K-14 preset in Mastering mode. As long as the meter hovers around the 0db mark, bouncing up to maybe 3db above it on the loudest passages, you'll end up with levels that your mastering guy will love.

If you want a more precise measurement, an audio editor such as the free Wavosaur can calculate average RMS for the whole file. However, this should not be necessary other than to satisfy your own curiosity.

is this ok? i print screened it on the most full part of the track.. what means the red line? what should the peak be? there is now around -9b headroom in this part.. peak is at - 8.8db.. That should be fine or?

Now I have a really stupid question... Lets say I have a perfect mixdown.. but i want to increase the headroom for 3 DB.... Is there a difference if I just pull down the master fader for 3db or must I lower every fader of every track for 3db?? .. I know it is a stupid question but ok.. and another question.. when you say meter... you mean the 2 green bars or the two white lines which are bouncing up and down... ? which on you were pointing to hit the 0db mark?

and thanks to all, you are very helpful!

The red/white horizontal lines are your peak values. In your screenshot they're hitting at -6db, which leaves your mastering engineer plenty to work with. It's the two green bars you're watching for RMS. They'll turn yellow when it's starting to exceed the target, which is OK in the loud sections. If they turn red, then you're probably a little too hot - but even then it may be acceptable if it's brief, just during the very loudest sections.

BTW, those peak markers are only showing the highest peak over the past 1 second, not necessarily the highest value over the entire song. I find it more helpful to increase the peak level hold time to a longer interval (click on the Settings button).

If that's the loudest part of the song, you should be fine. No need to bring it down. But if you did want to lower it 3db, then you could do that by simply lowering your master fader 3db. However, this would normally not be necessary when you're sending the song out for mastering. If the ME thinks it needs another 3db of headroom, he can do the same thing.

tnx!!! you were so helpful, that is the spirit..

kitkonis, I hope you're still reading this thread...I had a brain fart above: you want to use the K-20 scale, not the K-14. Sorry.

Haha. No problem man.. tnx for the message!! I really dont know when i would switch to k-20 if you didnt told me.

Now.. I think I get it now.. My track seems perfect, the green bar mostly hits the 0db range and when the track is most intensive it hits just between 2-3db like here in the picture:



maybe I should add that this is a minimal track, minimal progressive/trance but i think its something new.. If you listen to electronic music I can give you a soundcloud link to this song which is far the best of me and you can give me some advice if you ears are better. I dont have even a studio, only two hs80s and good headphones. And I hope it will be my second track on beatport that is why I am trying to make it sound very good.
But I dont know, some engineers say soundcloud changes music, and das a weird compression on it.. does it? tnx again for everything. Im learning, im learning

Sure, post your SoundCloud link here, I'm sure others would be happy to critique it for you.

SoundCloud does not compress music. I've tested it. What it does do is stream at 128kb/s regardless of what bitrate you encoded the music at. So it won't sound as good played from SoundCloud as it does played from your own computer.

If you want people to hear your stuff at higher quality bitrates, you'll have to open a paid account at a music-hosting site such as SoundClick. You can get a free account there, but they convert everything to 128kb/s too.