| How Much Headroom For Mastering Should I Leave? | | Print | |
How Much Headroom For Mastering Should You Leave? This is the single biggest problem we see with mixes submitted for mastering. There are two factors to consider when exporting your final mix for mastering. A. Peak level - The absolute highest level the output signal reaches. PEAK LEVEL
The loudest part of your song (peak level) should be around -3db to -5db (below 0 level). Note - Sometimes songs that peak at 0 level are fine, if it’s a quick hit (drum, hi hat, etc.) that’s peaking. But it’s better to submit below 0 level mixes to begin with, since there’s really no benefit for you to come in hot. Never let your levels go over 0db on the stereo out (main out) meter, AND never go over 0db on any of your individual instrument tracks or vocal tracks in the mix. Sometimes we receive songs that do peak under 0db, but the vocals or parts of the music are distorted because the "individual tracks" were mixed at +3db (over 0db). Nothing should ever go over 0db on any channel of your entire mix. The reason we need the level lower than 0, for example, is because if a song requires a frequency boost and phase correction, it can’t be done if you’re already at 0 level. We can’t boost or phase correct anything! You’re already maxed out. We get so many over level submissions, I've decided to show graphics of what your .wav/.aif file should look like.
 This .wav file peaks at -6db. A little low but just fine. We can work with this.
 This .wav file peaks at -3db. This is great.
 This .wav file peaks at 0db, but is fine because there are no distorted flat
spots in the wave. The high hats are hitting at 0db and everything else drops down, leaving good dynamic range. We can work with this.  This .wav is +3db over level. All the flat spots you see are distortion. You can't
just jack up your levels past 0 and distort everything to make your song louder. It doesn't work that way. Do not submit a file that looks like this.  Once a week, we actually get at least one file (or entire CD) that looks like
this! Let's call this the "trainwreck file." +6db over level and totally distorted from beginning to end. We can't do anything with this. No one can!  This is an interesting file. We get this quite often too. It's the "trainwreck file"
above, gained down -9db. It's completely distorted, but its -3db under 0 level. A file where the mixer channels are over 0 level, but the main stereo out is -6db, would look exactly the same. We can't use this either. Once your song is distorted and over level, you can't just gain it down. All you're doing is making a distorted file quieter. You have to be under 0 level on the stereo out, and on all the mixer boardchannels when outputting the original .wav file. Unfortunately, many times the recording studio gives you the "trainwreck" file and you're stuck with it. Gaining it down yourself does nothing.
DYNAMIC RANGE
As a song plays, the output meter constantly goes up and down. Headroom (dynamic range) is the area between the peak level (when the meter is up) and the low level (when the meter is down). Roughly, 3db to 5db of movement between the high and low meter level is good, but this depends on the genre of music. With a compressed/limited or “over” 0 level mix, the meter will not go up and down more than 1db, if any. The reason we need headroom is because compressed/limited and over 0 level mixes already have music content removed from them, which greatly limits what we can do with the song. It would be comparable to a woman going to a hair stylist with 3 inches of hair. The stylist would be “very” limit with what she could do. |