I as understand back in the day there were things such as noise floors, so you wouldn't want to record your audio too quiet, but not too loud as you don't want it to clip. And I understand for headroom reasons you'd want room to master your audio up to 0dBfs but why is it so important to have it at -6dBfs?
Why couldn't you just for example mix it to 0 and then just drag the master fader down to -6? I feel like this has to be more than an old practice that has carried over from the strictly analog days. So what is it? Why do you have to mix to -6dBfs?
Why do we have to mix to -6dBfs?
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itsanotherthrowaway itsanotherthrowaway https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=406520
- KVRer
- 2 posts since 19 Oct, 2017
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- KVRian
- 1158 posts since 6 Jan, 2015 from London, England
You don't. Just make sure you're gain staging all the way through each output chain to avoid clipping at the master. You can set your own master output level however you like. For example, making electronica, I make sure each channel in my DAW is no higher than about -12 to start with and then keep my eye on the master output as I add tracks. If the master starts going over 0 - and I can't remember the last time it did, I'll select all tracks and reduce their gain until the master is back under 0. (In practice, I actually use a bus track for each type of instrument or each frequency range, and reduce the output volume on all of the buses.)
But when making trance, I'll usually add a limiter to the master post-fader and then drive all of the channels into it to get the right overall volume of about -1dB, then juggle with clip output volumes, or the gain on a Mixtool (general purpose tool including gain), or with automation on each track.
You might want to read up on the K-System, invented by Bob Katz, and gain staging in general.
But when making trance, I'll usually add a limiter to the master post-fader and then drive all of the channels into it to get the right overall volume of about -1dB, then juggle with clip output volumes, or the gain on a Mixtool (general purpose tool including gain), or with automation on each track.
You might want to read up on the K-System, invented by Bob Katz, and gain staging in general.