clipping in the master track question

[filtersweeperVCO]

When I play each individual track solo'd, they don't clip the master output, but when they play together it clips. What could I do to help this. I tried eq'ing each track but it still does a bit. Does anybody have any tips or suggestions that I could do to "master" the track. I need the bassline to be really deep and heavy (prominent in the mix) but I also want the drums to be punchy. All advice is appreciated.

[Tony Ramone]

Turn down the level of the master out? Or run it through a compressor? Just a couple of ideas...

[scribe]

hi there,
maybe you should watch your levels when you are tracking. Dont go over -12dBFS.
Cheers

[P.P.T.]

Turn down the levels of each track.
There is no need to keep the faders at 0.
This is mixing. Get all of the track volumes sounding good relative to each other.
If the master is too hot then turn down each track.
The final mix can be hitting the master at -6db or -10db. It doesn't matter that much.

Once you have the mix sounding good, then you can bring the level up to what you want it to be which would be slightly below 0db.
You would do this to the rendered mix.
You first get the mix right. If it is hitting the master at -6db that is OK.
Render the song down to a 2 track and process that to get it up to just under 0db.

Then, if you really must, you can use a maximizer to get it up to commercial levels.

[filtersweeperVCO]

wow, amazing info. That was all news to me boys. I didn't know any of that! If I bring the whole mix down to two tracks, does it matter what is contained within each of those tracks? Should I have lets say, just drums and vocals in one track, while bass and pads etc in the other? How might that work. Thanks for the help thus far.

[filtersweeperVCO]

Originally Posted by Tony Ramone

Turn down the level of the master out? Or run it through a compressor? Just a couple of ideas...

run the whole track through a compressor. Like something I'd find in cubase? Or real hardware. I'm not too expert yet at adding fx tracks or anything like that. I'm using a version of cubase that came with my personus firebox, so it seems to shut down when I try to apply fx to audio...