Reply To: Gain Staging question

[Dominique LacroixParticipant]

Thanks for your insight Guido! Since I kept hearing that plugins and tracks in general sound best at around -18db but can't peak too high, that's what I was aiming for every track. But now I see that the cumulative into each busses obviously adds up! So if I need to plan my busses to be -18db, then I guess I need to trim my tracks less than that. Do you have general guidelines you go by when you start mixing, and that keeps things healthy throughout the mix?

Since I like drums upfront, and they have the most track count, if they are peaking at -5/6db then most other tracks in relation are definitely quieter and nowhere close to -18db. Am I too paranoid? 🙂

Should I use different metering instead of RMS (Protools meters)

Thanks!!!

Dominic