[LAU] master levels

[Len Ovens]

On Mon, 2 Feb 2015, Chris Caudle wrote:

> Everyone should read Bob Katz's original two part article on level and
> metering recommendations:
>
> http://www.digido.com/articles-and-demos12/13-bob-katz/22-level-practices-part-1.html
>
> http://www.digido.com/how-to-make-better-recordings-part-2.html
>
> tl;dr version: Use calibrated monitor levels and set the levels to sound
> appropriate for the style of music you are mixing, like used for mixing
> films.

Thank you for posting this. It explains a number of things to me. Ardour 
at default has peek meters for each track because avoiding clipping while 
having a strong signal is important. Once the track is recorded, the meter 
for that track serves only to remind us there is signal there because we 
will mix the final level by what sounds good not the meter. The master 
meter is set to look at average levels because we are mixing for a point 
that _should_ have the needed headroom already so the quality of the sound 
is more important.

I bought an SPL meter years ago just so I could keep a standard level on 
my monitors to mix to. I was using 80db as I recall, so not too far out. 
(the meter is not super high quality so mainly it was giving me the same 
level all the time.)


--
Len Ovens
www.ovenwerks.net