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Old 08-11-2022, 07:23 AM   #1
for
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Default -6db before mastering, question

i understand that the song should be approximately -6db before proceeding to mastering

my question is

do most mixing engineers aim for -6b almost across all sections, i.e Verse/Chorus/Bridge all reaching approximately -6db

or should the verse be -10db for example and chorus -6db......i.e to have some difference in levels (once again before mastering)
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Old 08-11-2022, 09:26 AM   #2
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i understand that the song should be approximately -6db before proceeding to mastering
Says who?
This is not analog tape, but files with data. You can go easily up to full scale. It is just numbers. Or you can go even above full scale. As long as you are not clipping too much, you are fine. Even some 3db clipping of peaks is fine.
Or just output 32bit floating point files, no matter the level, there will be no clipping. Don't worry too much. At mastering stage level is adjusted anyway, who cares about few dB up or down.
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Old 08-11-2022, 09:48 AM   #3
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The only thing that matters are the levels going out of the master effects. Everything up to that has crazy amount of headroom
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Old 08-11-2022, 09:49 AM   #4
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Says who?
This is not analog tape, but files with data. You can go easily up to full scale. It is just numbers. Or you can go even above full scale. As long as you are not clipping too much, you are fine. Even some 3db clipping of peaks is fine.
Or just output 32bit floating point files, no matter the level, there will be no clipping. Don't worry too much. At mastering stage level is adjusted anyway, who cares about few dB up or down.
i don't know what manufacturers say like ozone i heard sometimes they recommend headroom?
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Old 08-11-2022, 10:02 AM   #5
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Quote:
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i understand that the song should be approximately -6db before proceeding to mastering

my question is

do most mixing engineers aim for -6b almost across all sections, i.e Verse/Chorus/Bridge all reaching approximately -6db

or should the verse be -10db for example and chorus -6db......i.e to have some difference in levels (once again before mastering)
No... A recording should not be clipped. That's all.

The request is usually to have some dynamic range and not deliver a limited and crushed to death recording.
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Old 08-11-2022, 10:43 AM   #6
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No... A recording should not be clipped. That's all.

The request is usually to have some dynamic range and not deliver a limited and crushed to death recording.
Yep. It depends on the preference of the masterer and the project, but if it is going to a masterer it really doesn't matter if it peaks at -8 or -.5. As long as nothing in the chain from original wav, up the track, through busses to master, hits anything so as to clip it (which won't necessarily show itself in the master level). Headroom throughout the signal flow is good as far as a mixing state of mind, but the master level peak itself doesn't have a critical goal, just a general reasonable one. If you ask 5 masterers they'll have 5 different answers, but it's really more a request for files the way they prefer to work with than a strict mastering bible answer.
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