what should your rms be at?

Verva

Verva

Verva Music
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I only recently started to take on aboard rms and peak and try to get as much out the mix as possible, a couple of my tracks, drum bass and that old subby dubstep stuff are getting up or down to -8 rms, i have a mild limiter that i ceiling to -1, though there are still nice dynamics and some 'headroom', i see it as air space cause you start to take the ceiling down to much it just loses its punchy transient bounce, but what are you guys tracks at and some of the high level guys achieving? Cheers
 
Depends a lot on arrangement.

If you have a techno track with big long boomy kicks every beat or lots of long notes in your bassline rather than a more stabby arrangement with gaps in it, then that will affect the rms a lot.

It's not like peak volume where it's always nearly 0 for every track, you have to adjust depending on what sort of track it is. I found using a reference with a similar tempo/genre helpful.
 
^ this, not worth worrying about. Imo if you want a loud master, get the mastering engineer to push it.
 
go on a meter and turn off your sub channel its mad subs like nearly 4db of rms haha, tbf mate i only got 8 out of luck really im normally around 10 if my mix is clean and stuff
 
mugatu said:
go on a meter and turn off your sub channel its mad subs like nearly 4db of rms haha, tbf mate i only got 8 out of luck really im normally around 10 if my mix is clean and stuff
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That doesn't sound surprising as low frequencies require more power (IIRC exponentially increases as frequency decreases). I'm struggling myself to get a nice balance between keeping a good sound (and dynamics) and getting it 'loud'. I need to do some more investigating into sound design, mixing and mastering.
 
Don't worry about it. Find a reference tune you think sounds great (meaning something that has a similar sound to whatever you're making), and compare by ear.
Getting caught in number chasing is a dead end.
 
Fluff said:
That doesn't sound surprising as low frequencies require more power (IIRC exponentially increases as frequency decreases). I'm struggling myself to get a nice balance between keeping a good sound (and dynamics) and getting it 'loud'. I need to do some more investigating into sound design, mixing and mastering.
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i wasnt aware of such thing im gonna have a read up on that! If you dont already have a look at 'perceived loudness', im sure youve added say a snare thats really quiet and its in the red but one thats less db but sounds much louder before
 
lug00ber said:
Don't worry about it. Find a reference tune you think sounds great (meaning something that has a similar sound to whatever you're making), and compare by ear.
Getting caught in number chasing is a dead end.
Click to expand...

thanks man, yeah im a bit glued to the meters at the mo but i listen as much as i watch, if i turn down or up anything in my mix i listen to it at all levels and are always playing with the db on it at every level to check if its right cause some sounds just punch through at higher vols, but are quiet are low
 
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