Vienna Symphonic Library Forum
Forum Statistics

194,261 users have contributed to 42,914 threads and 257,943 posts.

In the past 24 hours, we have 2 new thread(s), 17 new post(s) and 87 new user(s).

  1. Home
  2. Software
  3. Vienna MIR & Vienna Suite
  4. Mixing Advice

  • Mixing Advice

    J
    J

    I'm new to the world of DAW mixing. Up to this point I've just written in Finale and let it take care of the recording process.

    In December I bought Logic and my first VSL library. I have a Logic book with tutorials that has been a big help, but much of the information is aimed at pop/rap/dance music. I'm not sure how much of that applies to working with a symphonic sample library.

    When I compose, I set the faders at a level that was a good starting point. Now that I'm getting ready to begin mixing I see that many of the faders go above slightly above 0db on playback, while some tracks go way above into the red zone. Yet as I listen while working nothing is distorted that I can tell. WIll distortion only show up after I create a mp3?

    My question, is not going above 0db on any track a rule that is "written in stone".

    If so, specifically what would you recommend when working with crash cynbals? I've got a glorious crash cymbal hit that goes way above 0db. Sounds great now. When I lower the fader to get it in a safer level, it loses so much of its impact and drama. How do you retain drama and not cause your level to peak?

    Thanks,

    JET
  • DietzD
    VSL Team
    DietzD

    Hi Jet,

    the long answer would fill a book (... I guess you were aware of that ;-) ...).

    The short answer: As long as you stay "in the box", as we say when everything is mixed inside the DAW, everything is ok as long as your output channel is not exceeding the 0dB mark. Logic is a so-called 32 bit-floating point application when it comes to its audio paths, which makes it almost impossible to overload it internally. OTOH, the D/A-converters "talk" only 24 bit, no floating point "extra headroom", so they _will_ distort signals trying to go over 0 dB (a.k.a. "fs" for Full Scale).

    Still it's considered to be a good habit to keep everything on a "healtyh" level inside the DAW, too - for several reasons. One is the limited additional gain of a channel fader above 0dB, making it difficult to mix when everything is already on the top of the channel's fader path. The other reason is the fact that thare _are_ plugins not using the 32 bit FP technology, but fixed-comma math, and they _can_ overload internally.

    HTH,

    /Dietz - Vienna Symphonic Library