Playback volume when mixing

[verstft]

This might seem like a really obvious questions but how loud do you monitor through your speakers. If you play something too low then bass isn't accurate and if it's too loud, I guet ear fatigue and my neighbors will probably end up hating me.

I calibrated my speakers by blasting pink noise and making sure my output is 80db when set to 100%. That's great for comparing your source audio with a commercial track to compare but what about playback along the way.

Is the answer simply, not too loud, not too quiet. Whatever gives me the most clarity?

[RRuskin]

Originally Posted by verstft

............

Is the answer simply, not too loud, not too quiet. Whatever gives me the most clarity?

That's about the size of it. I monitor at the level where I'm comfortable and not "rattling" anything in the room.

[rick-slo]

I believe Bob Katz suggested monitoring around 84 decibels. In part it has to do with human hearing and sensitivity to lower and higher frequencies at different volume levels (equal-loudness contours). Of course the frequency response of the monitors plays into it, neutral monitors being the most reliable to work with.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

I believe Bob Katz suggested monitoring around 84 decibels. In part it has to do with human hearing and sensitivity to lower and higher frequencies at different volume levels (equal-loudness contours). Of course the frequency response of the monitors plays into it, neutral monitors being the most reliable to work with.

When I mixed my last CD, I tried to be consistent, just so I wasn't fooling myself between tracks, and kept a Radio Shack meter on the desk. That general range is where the Fletcher-Munson curve is the most flat, if I recall. But I find that pretty loud. It does tend to keep you naturally away from having levels be too hot. I just don't want to keep pushing the volume beyond that point! I think I backed off to around 80, just to be more comfortable.

[Bob Womack]

It is recommended that you mix at 85 db because, indeed, the ears' response is flattest there. It also happens that according to OSHA standards, the ears can tolerate 85db for eight hours without damage. However, I am awake for longer than eight hours and my cumulative exposure would be higher if you total up the work exposure and the day's listening to music and TV programs.

I've got my console and monitors calibrated so that when the console meters show "0db" and the monitor control is set to a marked position I get 85db. I mix music typically around 80 and move the volume up and down to see how my mixes are holding together. It is wise to also listen to your mixes quietly because many non-musician simply won't listen up at 85db.

You might be interested to know that at the end of the '60s and beginning of the '70s many people were monitoring very loudly. One record from the period carries the legend, "Made loud to be played loud." Many recordings from that period, including this one, had limited bass and treble. Probably part of the problem was excessive monitoring levels that caused the treble to sound shrill and the bass too full resulting in the producer and engineers pulling them down.

Bob

[verstft]

Sound like I almost had the right idea. I have my console calibrated so I get 80db when set to 0.

I can see how you could end up with a thin mix (compared to today's pop mixes) since most people don't listen on hi-fi anymore but it seems like the best way to keep your frequencies under control...especially since I lack the experience, and it's easy to overdo it with the bass or get really offending frequencies.

Thanks again.

[Joseph Hanna]

I'm gonna jump on board with 85dB.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

One record from the period carries the legend, "Made loud to be played loud."

James Gang, right?

[Ty Ford]

I'm pretty sure it was a Beatles record.

Chart success
Instant Karma! was released in the UK on 6 February 1970, as APPLES 1003. It entered the singles charts on 21 February, and peaked at number five. In all it spent nine weeks on the charts.

The b-side to the single was an acoustic ballad, Who Has Seen The Wind? It was written by Yoko Ono, produced by Lennon, and recorded privately. The label had 'PLAY QUIET' printed in large type, in contrast to the a-side's 'PLAY LOUD'.

Its US release came two weeks later, on 20 February. It was issued as APPLES 1818. It peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100

Instant Karma! was the first solo single by a former member of The Beatles to sell more than a million copies in America.


As has already been suggested, around 80 85 dB is a good place to hang. I also change during the session to hear what a mix sounds like at low or higher levels. I'm listening for instruments that might drop out and also just to shake my listening up a bit.

I like actually hearing the vocals rather than burying them in a mix, so my biggest concern is losing the rhythm section due to road noise while playing the CD in the car.

Apart from that there's the problem of playback systems. These days, people expect to listen in computer and even cell phone speakers. It's pretty difficult to get any sort of bass out of a cell phone speaker without doing some tricks.

Regards,

Ty Ford

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

James Gang, right?

Yep. Rides Again. A great album. Bill Szymczyk, producer/engineer.

Bob