DnB [Ableton] Low Volume Mastering

Hey everyone,

So I need some help. I've been told that mastering my track by individually changing the volume levels of my instruments before I enter the 'true' mastering stage would be easier and more beneficial for the song as a whole. However, now my mix is too quiet! Short of simply raising the volume, how can I 'fix' this? I don't really want to raise the volume because I feel like there's a nice dynamic with it the way it is.

Any advice?
-IP

Limiter.. easy

If I didn't get anything wrong, what you're saying you're doing is the mixing, per se. It will be quieter, since you are leaving that 3-6db for a "engineer" to work on, right? Anyways, this will be fixed on the mastering stage, where this "engineer" (or even you) will apply some compression and raise the overall volume of the track after that.

Yeah you're pretty much talking about mixing. As I'm working on a track I set the levels of things so that ultimately the mix winds up sitting around -6db, so while I'm working on a track/mixing I turn my monitors up by 6db so I perceive things as being about how loud they'll be but digitally they're actually lower; if that makes sense. Then when I do a rough master I turn my monitors down by 6db and work from there to get it where I want it. Basically I turn the monitors up so I don't have to listen to shit at a low volume which used to cause me to unconsciously push things too hard just so I could hear them at a decent level which lead to mixes that were too hot/had no headroom.

When you do the mixdown in your first Ableton project, set the levels so that the master channel is peaking somewhere between -5 and -3 dBFS.

Your drums group may be as low as -8 or -10 dB, your bass may be as low as -14 dB for example.

Next, export the stems of these groups of sounds (all your drums, all your basses, all your treble synths, etc.) and put them into a new project.

This will be your mastering project.

I wrote up this post and made this video explaining it. You can follow these 9 steps to master your own music. Hope it helps you!

http://bassgorilla.com/ableton-live-mastering-tutorial/

Cheers