Cubase LE 4 audio mixdown

[captainL]

Ok. Now that I got going. Cool stuff.
What is a decibel?

a little cut and past:

The dB is a logarithmic unit used to describe a ratio

Remember that decibels measure a ratio. 0 dB occurs when you take the log of a ratio of 2. So 0 dB does not mean no sound, it means a sound level where the sound pressure is equal to that of the reference level. This is a small pressure, but not zero. It is also possible to have negative sound levels: - 20 dB would mean a sound with pressure 10 times smaller than the reference pressure, ie 2 μPa.


Recording level and decibels
The obvious level to choose is one volt rms, and in this case the level is written as dBV. This is rational, and also convenient with modern analog-digital cards whose maximum range is often about one volt rms. So one has to remember to the keep the level in negative dBV (less than one volt) to avoid clipping the peaks of the signal, but not too negative (so your signal is still much bigger than the background noise).

Ok I am enlightend with my research, but still confused.

[tacman7]

The only reason to have the ability to turn down the master output, as far as I can see...

Is when your setting up tracks and you keep adding tracks and effects and when you get done your mix is too hot. Now do you go back and turn down all those channels and effects one by one? or just back the master fader off a bit?

Other than that it should be full volume or 0db.

[Electriclight]

Originally Posted by captainL

Easy tiger. Go have a beer or something. Not blaming anyone, just exploring possibilities. A simple no would have worked.

Here's where I'm coming from:
There are many beginners on this forum using Cubase LE and LE4. I've been around this forum for a while now, and your innocent speculation about the limitations of the software is exactly the kind of rumor than can spread like wildfire around here. Then we have people spending hundreds of dollars on stuff they don't need, comparing different DAW's for hottness and completely getting off track.

In the digital domain, the actual voltage of the signal is relatively unimportant but the meter in your software that says 0dB is the limit that can be represented digitally, and so it is the limit of what you can burn to CD.

So anyway, here's a learning exercise:

First, download the Kjaerhus Classic Limiter. There are many others but for our needs the lights on this one are very instructive.

Kjaerhus Audio - Professional Audio Plug-ins

Next open a old project with a dozen tracks or so. Rename it TEST or something.

Delete all the volume automation and put the level of each track around -12 dB.

Look at the meter for the output bus which, in the mixer, is on the far right. Hopefully it is not exceeding 0dB too much. Insert the limiter in the output bus and set it so that one LED occasionally lights up to show limiting going on. If that LED or more stay on all the time, bring down the levels on the individual tracks. Once you have that light just flickering once in a while, do an Export and check the boxes about adding to pool and adding a track to the project.

OK... Now that final waveform is in the project. MUTE it.

Now turn up the limiter so that 6 or 8 of the LEDs are on constantly.. Again EXPORT that track and add to pool and show the track in the Project. Now you can visually and sonically compare the tracks to see and hear what a limiter does.

On the second exported track, the CRUSHED one, you should see that most of the waveform has flat tops and bottoms, where it was limited. That is the Digital 0 dB. And that is really about all you can force on a CD without ugly distortion. Any DAW can get you there. However realize that you are giving up the dynamics of the music. There is more to engineering than getting the sound loud.

[captainL]

I'll definitely do that. I like to understand things just for the sake of it. Not trying to be a pain in the ass.

[brn_mcnulty908]

I get what you're saying I've been working on this for the past few days. Here's what I did just to experiment I imported "10 Signs You Should Leave" by Emmure. I listened to it while checking out the waveform. Even though the wave form peaks at 0db, they DONT have flat tops. All The tops (and bottoms) are jagged. Ok. so, I muted that. Then I put the limiter on the master out for the song I was working on at the time, and turned up the drums (6 separate tracks) so that they were collectively as loud as they could be. I turned everything else up too (guitars, bass). Then I exported THAT and imported it back in. It had flat tops and bottoms, and when I compared it to the Emmure track, they were pretty much the same overall volume, as i would expect them to be. But the drums in the Emmure track were much louder. That's pretty much my problem at this point - drums recorded through my firepod into Cubase I can't get them to be loud enough. Everything else is fine. I have the knobs on the firepod turned up to the point where if I went any louder it would clip.

[Electriclight]

Vulcanizer already told someone else how do handle that...TURN DOWN THE GUITARS. Turn everything down so that you have the mix you want...then you can always increase the level of the whole track. IF you start with everything as loud as you want, then you run out of room to work. You are done. You can't compress anything. Game over.

Turn down all yor tracks.. Get the mix you want. Then compress and limit. If you can NEVER get the drum to sit right in the mix, you may need to compress the drums individually. Practice. This stuff isn't easy.

[brn_mcnulty908]

I'm learning that last part faster every day haha. I get what you're saying though. thanks I'm gonna do that and see how it turns out.

[brn_mcnulty908]

an other ideas for limiters on that the one you suggested earlier? im on a mac they only have it for windows.

[Electriclight]

yohng.com' :: W1 Limiter

This is a respected free limiter.

[brn_mcnulty908]

ok so everything is going swimmingly. I have run into another issue, though. when I compress the master to make it louder, this funny effect occurs where kick drum hits (the kick stands out in the mix - not too much, though), for lack of a better word, "dent" the volume level of the guitar and bass tracks. In other words, the guitar and bass are louder when the kick drum is not being hit. I muted everything except for the kick, guitar, and bass to make sure my suspicions were correct, and indeed they were. I know this is a result of using the compressor on the master bus (I'm using the compressor on the "VSTdynamics" plugin that comes with LE4) because when I take the compressor off it stops happening.