I send them back with Instruction on what the criteria is. I can assure you that none of the many, many mastering engineers I've worked with have - nor would have - "rejected" a mix because of its loudness (or even peak value, although I tend to print in that magic -6 to -3dB range anyway, as that happens to be how my desk is cal'd).
The reason MEs tell people that is to keep amateurs from clipping the (digital) master fader, not to ensure adequate headroom for the mastering process (because making adequate headroom - to quote my pals at Mercenary - ain't rocket surgery). Period.Īs for the -6 to -3dB "rule": it's not difficult to re-cal a convertor or even just trim the level back before hitting the mastering chain. To get a loud master with minimal degradation to the program, you need a loud mix.
We're not talking about headroom (the space between the loudest transient peak and 0dbfs), we're talking about RMS levels (the average level of the program). You'd be throwing away some pretty good business.Īnyway, peak level has little (arguably nothing, to a point) to do with average loudness, so your point is lost on me. Im not going tol et you waste your moneyĬjHeh.well, OK then. If you send me a hot mix, its going right back to you. anything higher than -3db doesn't give enough headroom for the mastering process If you would call up any mastering studios, you would know they prefer mixes to be between -6dB to -3dB.