Quote:
Originally Posted by jim1960
I was, as Doug pointed out, referring to LUFS. If you weren't referring to LUFS when you said "the mix track rides between -4 and -6," then you have to be more specific about what the numbers reference. Most people reading what you said would take it as a reference to the LUFS number for the mix.
What metering plugin are you using to determine levels?
|
Right. I haven’t gotten to the LUFS stage yet with this song, although I have fiddled with that parameter before in my early bumbling on the Project page with previous songs.
On the mix track, I’m using K-20 metering, based on a rule of thumb I picked up from Joe Gilder. The mix fader is sitting at about -10.6 dB, so that, as the song plays, the bars dance around between -4 and -6 dB. Again, a rule of thumb I picked up from a couple of How to Master a Song websites.
But wait! While writing this reply, I tinkered with the metering method. There are four options: Peak/RMS, K-20, K-14, and K-12. The sound level thingies bop about in the same location no matter which metering mode I choose. What does change is the location of 0, and, in turn, the dB value at the top of the thingies (vocabulary, please). This tells me that K-20 seems to be simply the most conservative yardstick, probably to give the best chance of creating headroom. But to your point, just stating the highest dB is meaningless without giving the metering method. It’s like saying it’s 50 degrees or my distance was 30. So, thanks for that.
Now, what should be 1) my go-to metering setting for mixing and 2) my target highest thingy range?
Lastly, for some unknown reason, I do have a post-fader limiter on the mix track, also using using K-20 metering. The ceiling is -0.48 and the threshold is set at -1.08. It looks like I nudged the limiter’s Gain up to 2.61. I know that last item presents a confounding gain-stage variable, but it’s entirely consistent with the narrative that I’m kind of lost at this point.