How to adjust levels of tracks you dont have any master for?

[Caine123]

hi!

stupid question i guess but maybe i forget something. i got 20 tracks here which 1 is not clipping and i want to adjust all other tracks' volume to that one.

the target track is about -13 LUFS int and the others are around -10 and even -20 LUFS, so all you gotta care is sliding the volume control until you hit the (around) -13 LUFS with the other tracks, A/B by ear to check if it matches not only the numbers and thats it correct?

or would you check something else?

in the past i just ran an autogain in Winamp, Foobar or something but that is not very reliable.

thx

[andivax]

Our ears are very sensitive in 2-8 kHz. So your tracks should be balanced BEFORE the adjusting levels.
Then:
1) analyze the loudest parts of the tracks using meters
2) analyze the loudest parts of the tracks by ear to make sure it's ok.
I am using K-metering for many ears to match volume. Hope LUFS meters are OK too.

Hint: For "auto" balance try Zynaptiq products.

[Caine123]

Our ears are very sensitive in 2-8 kHz. So your tracks should be balanced BEFORE the adjusting levels.
Then:
1) analyze the loudest parts of the tracks using meters
2) analyze the loudest parts of the tracks by ear to make sure it's ok.
I am using K-metering for many ears to match volume. Hope LUFS meters are OK too.

Hint: For "auto" balance try Zynaptiq products.

thanks a lot!
for LUFS Metering i use Pro-L itself and True Level from sonible.
one thing is i do it for a client and the tracks shall not be changed soundwise etc. so just volume matching.

[andivax]

it's not a good idea to "not to change a track's sound and just match the levels". IMHO
I love VUMT for metering but I think Pro-L meters are totally ok.
YouLean metering is great and it's cheap.

[N 4 LIFE]

if you are a logic user, they have now added a gain parameter to every channel strip and you can adjust gain on any audio clip or the entire track...

[Caine123]

thx guys, yeah 1 track was very strangely mixed and mastered. it had a lot of high end and the LUFS meter jumped to -5 wow but the track was even there not loud enough compared to the reference track so good example not to just check the LUFS meter but also by ear. while aligning and preparing all tracks i first adjusted them all to the reference track -13 LUFS and then checked with headphones and studio monitors by ear A/B'ing the whole time, taking a break now cause of ear fatigue and checking later again.
i might EQ 2 tracks with permission as the high end is there just not well, maybe izotope's new Ozone could really come in handy in such situations where you dont have the STEMS itself but only mastered tracks.

[BertKoor]

> tracks you dont have any master for?

What you're doing right now is the mastering

[Flowstatemusic]

I am not sure I never learnt that

[imrae]

LUFS is measured in dB; changing the (clean) gain or fader after FX by a number of dB will change the LUFS by the same number of dB.

So if a track is at -10 LUFS and you want to match the LUFS to -13 LUFS, just turn it down by 3dB.

The usual caveats apply, i.e. "use your ears", "not everything has to be loud" etc.