I'm perfectly happy using the stock limiter on the master. Just don't push into it. Color limiter is definitely not something i'd recommend or want on a master. Great for smashing individual sounds though. Blue Cat free gain suite plugin bundle has a plugin that allows you to link channels together in groups and adjust gain on them all together. Now that's a useful tool for quicker mix gainstaging.

I use a utility tool in every channel to turn volume down. The faders stay mostly on 0dB and get only minor movements in a later stage. Due to the logarithmic scale of the faders, you will have more control on upper parts of the fader, one of the reasons I do it this way.

Great video brother, when i saw you doing all these tricks it just brought a smile to my face because I’ve been using this method of mixing for years now and it never fails, still managed to find useful tips in here, keep it up bro 👏🏽

Thanks for the tips!

Great video Zdrewe!!!

Hey there! This info is so empowering! Thanks so much for your awesome content!

Thanks for Sharing!

I usually have my kick and snare sitting at 6db, mids about 20 and bass around 15 up to 25 db depending on a song. Other elements will depend on my mood but never louder than a 12 db. I like to use tons of compression , mb compression and limiting on my master chain so in the end it sounds pretty decent. Being using this method and master chain that I discovered for myself for a few years now and still very happy about results. Never disappoints.

Man I just had to come back to leave a comment to say THANK YOU SO MUCH. I pulled off all my plugins on and old mix and reset my levels as you have described here bewteen the ceratin ranges provided on the level meter.... listen man THANK YOU from the bottom of my soul. This is going to make things so much easier from now on. I pray from this day forward that my mixes stay consistent now. The part about using the same drums is absolute gold. I've been making music for years. My most succesful instrumental was used in a song with now over 18million views and the lady is damn near famous in Jamaica because of it. The mix I sent them was terrible but still it was successful. I can bet my life on it that now with these tips I can do it again but much easier this time. A major thing for me was that after the song got so big I was overthinking my mixes way too much.... not anymore, Thank you Zdrewe. Thank you. Heres the beat I was talking about - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/eahgnsSWnbrbf3k.html

Dope Video - Interesting to see your method. Will give it a go. Cheers 🙌

This was very educational, thank you.

That last point about sound selection, which is basically song arrangement, is really important.

Respect mate great upload, and now have subscribed 🎉❤

subscribed today , great how you teach !!!

If you had your mix levels right you would not need a limiter or clipper. Maybe a maximiser but adding a compressor before that. Yes but a clipper/limiter is only needed because you haven't got your mix right.

I always leave -3 to -4 headroom after a mix very similar to how this is done. It's plenty. Round about -15 Lufs which I boost to -9 in my master chain

Thanks for helping

i use a reference (mastered) and turn it down by -12dbfs. i also anker my kick around -12db so i have enough room for my master. no need to put a limiter an my master channel

wow that plug is powerfull!

very good!!

Thanks for the content, mate. How much headroom are you left with after applying god particle on the master?

Would love a video on Fletcher Munson Curve!

I would add a high pass filter for most things as well.

If you start with your kick at -12db you will land at the end at about -6db... perfekt for mastering. Yes...i also use the limiter to produce right into it. But don't forget to turn it off when you render it out for mstering....i mean when you dont master right away in the same project. But that is something i never do. Most important...HAVE FUN !!! ❤️☮️☯️❤️☮️☯️❤️

For leveling I usually just turn my kick down a whole lot, volume on my interface open and then bring everything by ear.

I did a quick video on using Hornet VU meter for gain staging so you always have headroom as well as some major advantages once you start processing sounds.

No offense but I believe mixing is more about listening and following what your heart tells you

Still waiting for sound selection tips from the master here.

I'll click all of the things if needed, but I'm stoked for future stuff either way 😂 Your stuff is great because it's concise and you have a great flow when on a topic. Editing is superb also 👌

Is it better to mix off of the average volume level of each sound rather than the peak? Since RMS is what our ears perceive as how loud the sound is.

First time seeing this dude video. Before I saw his face on IG ads. And now my brain just 404.😂

if your mix is ​​good, you just have to send everything to a bus and lower the volume, or you can also put a utility at the start of the chain on the master bus ! in 32 bit float, you dont have problem

Are Volume and Gain two different things? Does the fader effect the sound differently then a utility gain pluggin? Thanks mates

in "real" music the snare tends to be the most dynamic and loud signal

What should be the setting for vocals?

Probably the best tutorial I've seen on this you made it so easy to understand.

I wouldn't use the Mixer gain sliders to set project levels. Use a Utility instead. That way, you can automate levels in arrangement view using the channel faders, and know that all faders at 0dB is your max permitted volume.

I think i love you!!!

This video literally perfectly sums up a dialog I had with my student today on my discord server. - How you do make your mix/master sound so gooood etc etc ? - I do not and I "don't mix". It already sounds good right away - HUH?! You nuts or what ? - Nah bro, I'm just lazy. I do as little as needed. 90% of stuff is either already in the template (buses and master mid 200hz side rest + limiter), used correctly to fit, or set its volume to 'correct range' on the bus. Then limiter and viola -10 lufs easy and clean. - *shocked pikachu face* PS. I use both DAWS fluently and this is perfectly applicable in FL Studio for anyone wondering. Just mind that db range scale is set a little bit different on the fader so go by values not visual. -6 on drumbus, -9/12 bassbus, -12/18 leads rest to taste and you gucci

Shouldn’t you lower the actual material instead of the faders?

It’s so annoying to keep moving faders from unity to a level that doesn’t clip. I keep my default template at-6db to avoid the exercise you’re going through.

Not using volume automation works for techno but rock/industrial/metal takes some automating. What youre doing is still useful in a final mox and or masteting. Upward compression is alot easier when ypu turn down ypur loudest stuff of course. That 3db of headroom can go a long way if used wisely. Like with sidechaining and some panning. I was taught to use a reference track and Ive had some good,some bad results with that but overall it has improved my mixes and I dont have to spend as much time tweaking a mix befkre beginning to polish it before mastering. If you intend to get anal and want a perfect mix,invest in some good expensive ass headphones and do it right. Learn ypur analogue to digital and digital to analogue converter in your sounds card and interface. Ive never mixed on a computer based setup that sounded where the bounce sounded exactly the same as how I mixed it. Once you learn which freqs to turn up or turn down to compensate for the bounce to disk. Can save ypu alot of time. Meters are alot more accurate or get yourself a VU meter plug in and actually watch your meters. If you were mixing on a huge pro console in a srudio,youd be watching those analogue VU meters so why not in the DAW? I used to just go by ear then I would be frstated something was loudef than It sounded while mixing. Most headphines attenuate lows so while youre mixing it sounds nice and big but then you try it out in the car or whatever and the lows are too quiet...hopefully people have learned that concept by now lol. Im about to try out a Waves plug in called Submarine soon..it is supposed to create harmonics 2 octaves below and 1 octave below the set frequency...and the vjdeo promoting it says its not necessarily for the lpws you can hear but more foe the lows you feel. So im hoping it helps me get that "thick" pro sound when bounced. Thanks foe the video!

great video! thank you! how can I show retangle fader level parameter in the mixing panel ?

Sry Bro.The best practice before you start the mixer is to place the Utility tool in each channel first. When you reach your level you can make corrections later in the mixer.

why shouldn't i use ableton's stock limiter?

Yeah, rules don’t really exist and as long as it sounds good, who cares. But mixing from the start with a limiter on is a huge trap. It’s honestly exactly the opposite of what you mentioned. Mixing with a limiter will lead you to miss on proper level balancing. A limiter will lower your kick if it’s too loud. It will compress your mix. You could end up with a squashed mix and you won’t know what’s the reason for it. You might need your kick louder in the mix but because your limiter is already struggling, making the kick louder ends up sounding even worse. It’s way healthier to add your limiter towards later stages after you already got everything right and leveled.

at what point do you pan tracks? it seems you're mixing while all channels are centered?

Couldn't find Creative Extensions in Abelton could you leave a link in the description?

I thought you should always have -6 of head room instead of -3

How about videos for the Zero Nerd Factor people also. Something that points out the bass and kick and then wait for it to be absorbed. Specially the Mixing Mastering Giants.🎉

Brooo how are your Ableton meters in color like that? …Amazing video btw 💯

I have a tiny question to ask, why don't use stock limiter but using Color Limiter instead? Basically I'd like to use Kilohearts limiter on the master and stock limiter on the subtrack. I am really curious about that. (just curious)?

Any idea on how one should approach ambient music like this?

@Zdrewe - If you mean 'composition' or 'song-writing' when you say song selection - wow I agree. If you mean something else, apologies. If someone can't write and arrange a piece of music, I often question whether they should even do music - even as a hobby LOL. Take care.

i've already done a bunch of automation on the volume faders...

Mixing by Peak levels is a bit useless. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know you mix using samples (mainly), which are already compressored (the Peaks have been tamed) etc. but we are talking in the general case. You should prepare your tracks to level before mixing - that is why it is called pre-mix - a good preparation is half the job done. This includes: • taming Peaks (especially on percussive sounds such as kick, snare, toms, blast, percs.) • clipping\saturating (incl. de-clipping of too loud recorded sources) as part of taming the Peaks and get to the "meat" (VU\RMS) of the sound which is actually the perceived loudness of the track\sample • once done prepare your samples\tracks to a RMS (or VU) at about -18dB (do not be punctual - it is just a common reference with enough 'headroom') • with all that preparation your pre-mixed tracks should Peak maximum at around -9 to -6dB Then the actual Mixing happens: space (reverbs, delays), other FX, additional saturation and compressoring if needed and automation!!!

What mic are you using for your voiceovers?

Mixing should never be based purely on numbers. It should be based on how it sounds or how it makes you feel. And you should always make correct decisions along the way so you do have enough headroom. If you have everything loud af, there wont be any headroom left

just make the ceiling in Ableton's stock limiter-6 makes it easier

Don’t use track faders, it’ll still clip. Use the utility

Awesome video, I like this mixing and mastering tips because I suck at mixing.

0:05 What is the name of this sound effect?

Just mix hitting 0, it’s digital buddy, you can just put -6dbs on the after before exporting with utility and you are ready to go. Digital domain doesn’t care about gain staging bs, that’s for live sound and recording in the analog domain

So what is the purpose of color limiter?

baphometrix clip-to-zero is my way to go

how do your meters look like that is this part ableton 12?

Also you're not really factoring in that what you've made is Mainroom/Dancefloor DnB. For a subgenre like Deep Minimal DnB. you'll need to mix lower again due to the way that wavelength, frequency and perceived loudness work in tandem. This video was super interesting though, and I'll be sure to try this out.

you say "when you engage limiter" and then a plug in appears (the one with "90%" written on it" : what is this plug in ? thx a lot

Sound selection? The term you're looking for is sound design >:)

If you're balance feels right then just put an utility and lower gain on your master channel before your limiter (assuming you want to use one). There's no point in mixing with a limiter on, also there's no point in gain staging in your mix since all modern daws have 70db of virtual headroom. You shouldn't make your mix fit your mastering process. Make your mix right then process your master as needed. Just use gain utility when you need a lower input, if you don't, then just don't waste your time with this.

Trust your ears:)

Honestly, you haven't discovered America😄, this is normal volume staging (not gain staging), there are many such tutorials, btw a tip from Patrick Starx and this is a hack, before such volume metering i suggest checking the volume level of each track in the VU meter so that they oscillates around 0 dbVU 😉.

mix with your ears.

Tried subbing, cuz… you awesome! But got an error trying to sub… lame sauce

your music is fckin amazing and your tutorials are just as great! insta follow

it's 32 bit float, WTF, there's no clipping on groups or individual channels, it's only clipping on master if there is no utility or limiter applied. u all getting it gdamn wrong, stil..

mixing with your eyes. no thanking you.

imagine having really nice things to say but you say them in a really cringe way

Nah man L

Ableton is great for making music, not mastering and mixing, neither recording guitars and other instruments