Hey guys, I'm mixing a track that is going to be released on a label right now and I'm wondering what volumes I should mix around. I want to make mastering easier, so I guess mixing around 0 dB might be a good idea. Also, Is it fine if my master channel is peaking (because I have no limiter or anything on my master track) even though my individual tracks are not?

Any input is welcome. Thanks in advance

No, everything you said is incredibly bad. You don't want any clipping on your master bus, and mixing everything to 0 dB gives the mastering engineer NOTHING to work with. Mix to like -10 dB. No clipping on anything.

+1.

It took me 8 months and about 30 mixes to work that out, and another 4 months to form the new habit

Its true, you don't want ANY peaking, this causes distortion and other sonic problems.
Just make sure your peaks are under 0dB. Don't worry about the mastering folks, they can deal with levels easily.

Its MUCH harder to remove distortion and artifacts, or impossible.

GOOD LUCK!

No, don't just keep peaks below 0db, keep your entire mix at around -10dB. A mastering engineer would never want to lower your entire mix and then raise it again later, nor do I think he would actually do that, he/she would hopefully ask you to resend it with levels adjusted. Imagine taking a mix at 0 dB, bouncing it, lowering it to -10, raising it to 0 dB, and then repeat this process. Eventually after a few tries the entire mix is destroyed from terrible noise and artifacts, so doing this even once will introduce this slightly. If you (or your label) is paying good money to get a professional sounding master done, you don't want to shit everything up because you sent it in at 0 dB. You want everything to be perfect.

Thanks a lot guys! Instead of remixing everything, can i just put the master volume down by like 8-10 dB? Will it effect anything or will I have to re-mix my track? because It's already pretty much mixed at around 0 dB.

Keep your master at 0 dB. Select all your tracks, and just move all the faders down at the same time. I'm not sure if that's easily done in other DAWs, but in Logic its as simple as that. I guess you can just move the master fader down though, theoretically, as long as no individual track is clipping. Someone correct me if I'm wrong in that. No need to re-mix anything though.

thanks for the response, I was just wondering if moving the master fader down in volume will affect the mastering process in any way.

I think it depends more on how much compression and limiting you use on all the tracks while mixing.

It's easy for a mastering bureau to adjust overall volume - it's as easy as you can move the fader on master channel. Just keep it below 0dB.

But if you compress/limit everything and have no dynamics left - there is no rescue when mastering.

While mixing, if you use a limiter on master buss that raises levels at most 2-3dB you might listen to something that mastering will do, so you can check if anything becomes too much upfront etc.

But remove that limiter when doing the final mix to leave for mastering.

But talk to the mastering bureau and see what they say. If professionals I'm sure they come back to you if they get something they cannot work with.

Get the master peaking at no more than -3db and you'll be fine. If you have any comps or limiters on tracks, adjusting track volumes at this stage will alter the sound of your mix.

If in doubt consult the mastering engineer (or label).

Check out a spectral frequency plot as well as a sonogram to see where all the freq energy of your track is. The idea is to get a consistent balance spread across the entire spectrum. I tend to use the T racks metering to get an idea of the general freq ranges of different styles, but only as a guideline. I usually try to have the maximum peaks around -20db on the spectrum analyzer as this gives any one who wants to master a lot of range to play with. Also if you try this out and check some other tracks or sample libraries(good ones) and take a look at what their tracks and samples are mastered like, I like to do this with the artist series just to let me know if I am hitting the right areas, but as guidelines. If you use an equalizer with spectrum catch for your master you can save and transfer different EQ plots from material already mastered to get ideas too. It makes me laugh when I read comments on peoples tracks such as "really powerful bass man" and "whoa feel the bass" but they have not evened attempted to roll off any of the bottom end whatsoever. Subwoofer overload.

Also if you get a consistent and good mixdown done, its even better when the mastering engineer has next to nothing to do but get it up to an acceptable loudness with all his top of the range processors which normal people cannot afford to have.

There's nothing wrong with lowering the master down -10db and mixing/sending like that. The precision of current DAWs is so high there will not be a significant amount of distortion/noise added to this.

People fret over the bit resolution thing too much, just get good sounds and mixing and you'll be fine.

You're vastly over exhagertating what actually happens there.

http://www.musicradar.com/tuition/tech/25-mixing-tips-33907

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb99/articles/20tips.478.ht ml

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun98/articles/20tips.html

medway is right. If you like the way your mix sounds, just lower your master volume fader. Most hosts work in at least 32 bits so there won't be any problems.