Members I was The Funk Posted June 19, 2007 Members Share Posted June 19, 2007 So, I'm finishing up a record. couple of overdubs left and a final spit and polish and its out the door. I've gotten records mastered before and typically I mix the levels down so they peak at -6db. But I was thinking.....don't I lose bit depth by doing that? Some of this music is pretty dynamic and generally I like an old school/new school hybrid approach that has modern sounds but preserves the dynamics (doesn't brick it). How low should I mix so that the maximize my dynamics while still allowing the ME the headroom he needs to work? Will cross post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted June 19, 2007 Members Share Posted June 19, 2007 Don't worry. 24 bits, assuming that's what you are doing, is more than enough. Don't get hung up on this. -6dB is plenty hot as it is. Mix it so that it sounds as great as it possibly can. That way the ME can just apply a little bit of compression while having his legs up on the desk eating pizza and writing out your bill!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wztonz Posted June 20, 2007 Members Share Posted June 20, 2007 You should not be concerned with the peak but the nominal level of your recording. Taget this level to the 0dbu reference of your converters. Typically this is between -20 and -12dbfs. If you cannot get this spec, use -15dbfs. Burn your unmastered mixes as DATA, not audio files at the highest sample your ME can accept as dual mono, not stereo tracks. Ask your ME if there is anything specific in the format they wish, AIFF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members I was The Funk Posted June 20, 2007 Author Members Share Posted June 20, 2007 You should not be concerned with the peak but the nominal level of your recording. Taget this level to the 0dbu reference of your converters. Typically this is between -20 and -12dbfs. If you cannot get this spec, use -15dbfs. Burn your unmastered mixes as DATA, not audio files at the highest sample your ME can accept as dual mono, not stereo tracks. Ask your ME if there is anything specific in the format they wish, AIFF Out of curiousity, why dual mono instead of stereo? they'll work on the file in stereo. Oh, and I will definitely burn data. this stuff is all 96khz 24 bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wztonz Posted June 20, 2007 Members Share Posted June 20, 2007 ME's typically prefer to master separately the left and right, as they may need different processing to balance out. If it's dual mono, they can always become stereo at the mastering facility, but if you mix them as a stereo file, it's difficult to split them again without artifacts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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