Into the Red - Logic Pro Channel Strip Headroom

[MultiSideboob]

To everyone who's asking about headroom in DAW's have a read of this: popmusic.dk/download/pdf/level­s-in-digital-audio.pdf

[hardstyleaddictedNL]

Please some help!

My kicks (wich are heavy distorted hardstyle kicks with lots of reverb and eq's) always go into the red just like my master, even if I put compressors and limiters on it it clips.

Only If I put all the volume's down and/or limit the kicks heavy it doesn't go into the red, but than when I bounce the track (with or without normalize on) The volume of my track is very low.

How can I solve this?

[steve1287]

@hardstyleaddictedNL what is your db level as you record in?

[hardstyleaddictedNL]

@steve1287 dB level of my master?

But I think how I can fix it, by keeping the volume of all the tracks low so it doesn't clip.

Then export it (without normalize) and then import it again in a new file with the stereo master plug ins and boost the volume with the noise gate and expander.(this worked when I exported a small reggae track)Now I'm gonna try it on my new hardstyle track which is a lot more difficult because of the 4 layered bass with huge amount of sub-bass,distortion,guitar-amp­s etc

[steve1287]

@hardstyleaddictedNL when you record in it is good to keep it under about -6db that way you have plenty of headroom to add dynamic processing and other plugins. you might want to try busing the track/ tracks to an aux track then adding compressor, expander, gate, limiter and anything else you think sounds good to the aux track. that is one way of doing things other people might know of a different way. there are plenty of good resources online you just have to dig for them.

[MrTroposphere]

best info, more music

[Rrrrobbo]

great info cheers

[oali94]

So how do you get a really fat big sound when you bounce it then?

[Philso69]

Good Work very helpful! Was wondering if you could solve another one 4 me? What Level Do you want to record at if you have all this headroom?

I know this will obviously vary depending on type of instrumentation/mix ect?

but lets say an electric guitar solo or lead vocal?

[Philso69]

...In todays climate of mastering everything to 0dB what level to you record at ?what peak level do you shoot for?( to have a good strong dynamically interesting signal!!!)

Any help or advise with this would be greatly appreciated!

[MultiSideboob]

@Philso69 As a very rough rule -10dB on the channels as this equivalent to 0dB on an analogue mixing desk (presuming your working at 24bit), your peaks can go higher than this depending on the nature of the audio (remember low frequency material has more energy). No professional mastering engineer will accept your tracks if it has less than 6db of headroom, so your master should be peaking at -6dB. I personally always keep my master at 0. Hope that helps.

[MultiSideboob]

*I personally always keep my master GAIN at 0

[ThePhillips85]

cheers for the response.

[ThePhillips85]

what are the advantages of going into the red?

[pointblankonline]

@ThePhillips85 There are no major advantages apart from potentially enabling you to create a louder overall mix. This video is just demonstrating that if you are peaking slightly in your channel strip, you don't necessarily need to worry as long as your master channel is not peaking as well.

[MarcioYTchannel]

@pointblankonline thank you so much!

[steve1287]

@pointblankonline that is not true you never want to peak anywhere with digital recording, now if it was analog its a different story.

[emoboi86]

I've been wondering this for some time, so glad you were able to address this!

[gdub12345]

is this true for all DAWs or just logic? Although i avoid the red always and leave headroom on the stereo out and then apply limiting.compression in Ozone 3 after.

[enzymeblack]

yeh, most of them are 32bit float.. and yeh, it's best to avoid the red really... if only for aesthetic reasons when mixing.. despite the fact they can cope.

[pointblankonline]

@dave2k4

not sure how your comment got deleted sorry! To answer your question, Danny is using screenflow to record this.

[ixfluffxi]

thanks danny, nice to know (:

[mrdlopes90]

thanks for that advice..i never knew that either

[Westsound191]

Wow that's something I never knew - but still I always try not to go into the red on individual strips.