Re: [LAU] digital voodoo: master fader should be set at 0db

On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 10:20:58AM +0100, Gwenhwyfaer wrote: That is true. But if some activity is less dangerous than surgery or flying aircraft that doesn't justify spreading crappy information about it. Do you think that anyone who wants to become a surgeon would learn *anything at all* from the sort of drivel that I wrote ? Would you ever trust anyone who replies 'Great post!' or 'Fantastic advice!' to such a post ? Yet there is nothing really wrong in that text - you shouldn't make holes in the lungs and, unless you're very advanced and specialised in your skills, not try to do heart surgery. The same can't even be said of the post that Atte referred to: it contains information that is plain wrong, presented as a 'very important' issue. Of course if your master fader ends up below -20 dB there is a problem. But it will not ruin your mix. In fact it probably won't affect it at all. This is a very typical beginner's problem: either you rather misjudged the initial levels of the first tracks when building up the mix, or you've being pushing up faders all the time. Both things you'll learn to avoid with practice. But *NOT* from reading the sort of nonsense as 'your master fader must be at 0 dB or it will destroy the dynamics because digital multiplication is not exact'. Let's face it: sites like the Renoise 'In Depth' one do not educate or help anyone to be a sound engineer. They have a purely social function: to give users a a cozy place to chat so they'll be happy and pay for the next release. The post that started all this was probably 'invited' by marketing. There's one positive side to this whole story and that is Atte's critical reaction: at least he had to courage to question the nonsense, something that judging by their replies, can't be said of most members of that forum. Ciao, -- FA O tu, che porte, correndo si ? E guerra e morte !