Advice on headroom please

Cubase
1

Hi, after some advice on master buss levels please. This is not my area of expertise at all so please be gentle!

I’m trying out the Bobby Owsinski “mixing by meters” method and using both his example tracks and his recommended settings (eg Kick should peak at -5dB on master meter, snare at -5dB, hihat -20dB and so on).

This is just to get to an initial balance but it’s getting me very close (and sometimes over) +0dB on the Stereo Out. It’s obviously pretty scientific but it also seems designed to get as close to zero as possible without clipping, which is less headroom than I’m comfortably used to.

So I have a few questions to see whether / what I’m doing wrong.

  1. Can it be ok to clip the Stereo Out? I’m assuming not since the red warning light goes on
  2. Am I misunderstanding or misapplying the guidance? Is the peak level on the Stereo Out the right place to look? Is it possible I have it calibrated differently than intended?
  3. What’s the best way to get it back to a decent level of headroom once I’ve got to an initial balance?
  • Trim the faders on all the channels? (I’d prefer to avoid this if at all possible, there are over 40 tracks and I don’t want to mess it up and start the balancing again)
  • Trim the pre-gain on all channels?
  • Trim the pre-gain on the Stereo Out?
  • All channels are going through at least one group track - should I trim the faders collectively there?
  1. Going forward should I give myself a bit more leeway if I want to use this method eg attenuate all of the suggested peak levels on the master out by -5dB or -10dB?

I hope this makes sense, thanks in advance for any guidance.

2

Those peak levels you’re aiming for are way too high. Maybe there’s something you’re missing about the method. You’re running into summing issues on the stereo out for that reason.

Here’s a good article on gain staging from SOS magazine.

Some key points:

If you take the sound with the highest peak levels and set it so that it peaks at between -12 and -18dBFS, you shouldn’t run into problems with plug-ins or summing on the mix bus. If these figures look different to those I discussed in relation to analogue gear, remember that the meters are different, and you’re actually leaving about the same 20dB headroom. I wouldn’t expect to see peaks on the channel meters reading more than -8 to -10dBFS (and lower is often better). The highest level track in your mix will vary, but in rock and pop it’s usually the kick or snare. Set a rough balance of your other tracks in relation to that track and you should be good to go.

1 Like
3

Thanks for this @RichardTownsend , I’ll have a read.

I normally use the pre-gain to stop any channels from peaking above -18dB, so I was surprised how high these target settings were, but wanted to give it a try.

The book says it only works with Sample Peak Meters - is that what we have in cubase? Is there anything I can do to eg calibrate the Stereo Out meter so that it’s shooting lower but still shows eg -5dB?

This is quite early in the workbook so I’m keen not to write it off in case it’s important later… And it’s all a good learning opportunity, to work out whether or not I’m doing something wrong, and what the best way to fix it is. Thanks again.

4

Yes, sample peak meters.

If you want to continue with the book and see how it works out, I would adjust the pre-gain on the stereo out.

5

Thanks again @RichardTownsend .

Going forward, if I aimed for values which were 10dB less, would it maintain the same relative balance between channels?

And would trimming all the faders by 10dB have the same effect as reducing the pre-gain of all channels by 10dB?

Apologies for all the basic questions.

6

You assume correctly. If “Stereo Out” is the main mix output it should never clip.
The good news: In order to rectify this just lower the volume fader on Stereo Out by the amount of dB that your mix is above 0.0dB. Lower it a bit more to allow some headroom (e.g. for when exporting to mp3 or when using dithering when exporting to 16bit).

If you use automation on Stereo Out or post fader insert effects (other than dithering) you might want to use the technique of creating a Group Track and use that as your master bus (ie. route all channels to that group instead of Stereo Out; use automation and plugins there). This way you can free the Stereo Out channel to be used merely as a overall volume level adjuster.

1 Like
7

Yes, and yes!

1 Like
8

Thanks both, much appreciated.

A lot of the sample tracks provided are hitting peaks of around -5dB so I think for this project, I’ll adjust the pre-gain by -10dB across all channels, which will give a similar starting point to what I would normally do anyway. I’ll then aim for the recommended master meter levels but lowered by -10dB, which from the above 1) should give me the same relative balances and 2) shouldn’t actually require any additional work on my part i.e. moving faders, as adjusting the pre-gain on all channels should effectively have done the work.

I’m hopeful that will give me enough headroom to not clip but if it does, I now know I can adjust the Stereo Out.

Thanks again for the advice!

9

A caveat on your second question: Using the faders and pre-gain will have the same effect provided you’re not using plugins that behave differently depending on the signal level they are fed.

Pre-gain is applied before the signal hits the inserts, faders are applied after the inserts.

Either is fine for setting basic levels.

10

Thanks again @RichardTownsend - understood, and there are no inserts yet so I’m comfortable that this is similar to my usual approach, but allows me to try out the methods suggested in the book.

Clipping aside(!) the book is very good by the way (“The Music Mixing Workbook”) - and if it’s flawed, I’m learning a lot more than I would be if it all just worked first time.