Qustion bout mixing

You should record the tracks so they sound good.  with digital, esp. 24 bit, the loudness doesn't matter so much.  -12 dB is fine.  If you are hitting 0 dB you are likely getting digital overs for stuff w/ transients (drums, etc).

Mixing is another bag altogether.  It should sound good w/ effects, EQ etc., not raw, tho the better the raw sounds the better off you are.  Mixing is an art, not science so it takes time to learn what you are doing and train your ears.

As to levels, you should probably be around -dB for your master output and recording.  That leaves room for the mix to breathe and for mastering.

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ok now i get it.
Mixing is done with my ears
Meters is for monitoring to see if it cliping and nuff air space.

So when i rec into my tascam just make sure there nuff room to breath.
than use the faders get everythang at good level loud but not cliping
and eq compresion reverb will slowloy be added when needed.

I'm going guitar center sunday. I got book mixing and mastering by hal leonard
is there any books dat may help?? maybe by him??
Also im not doing vocals good i still mix song add vocals later??

Another great book is Mixing Audio, by Roey Izhaki.

marcus3


ok now i get it.
Mixing is done with my ears
Meters is for monitoring to see if it cliping and nuff air space.

So when i rec into my tascam just make sure there nuff room to breath.
than use the faders get everythang at good level loud but not cliping
and eq compresion reverb will slowloy be added when needed.

I'm going guitar center sunday. I got book mixing and mastering by hal leonard
is there any books dat may help?? maybe by him??
Also im not doing vocals good i still mix song add vocals later??

When you are recording, try and make sure you are getting a good level close to -3db. Like I said above, when you zero out all the faders to quiet and bring the drums up to -12db, none of the other tracks should really get above that 12-db level. If you need to hear it louder, turn up your monitors or headphones. The idea is to get the other elements of the mix to sound good together. As far as mixing before vocals are added, that's tough to do well. In most rock/pop/country/blues the vocals are the main feature of the song. They tend to take up a section of frequencies that other elements also occupy. The risk you run by trying to mix the music before the vocals is this. Lets say you have your drums,bass,guitars,keys all mixed nicely and balanced. Now you record your vocals and you can't hear the guitars anymore. Or worse, the guitars totally mask the vocals and the only way to hear them is to turn them up so loud it sounds like kareoke.
 
Your best bet is to get all your tracks recorded to the best quality you can get. Then start your mixing. The book Matt mentioned above is a great book to read. I'm reading it again this week (started last Monday) for about the 3rd time. The first time you read it, it may seem like Portugese, but as you start mixing and learning it starts to make sense and its a great resource. I'd also suggest you get a software program like Sonar. I used to use something similar to your Tascam, and I found it frustrating when it came to mixing. This stuff is easier than you think once you get past the initial learning curve and well worth the time invested.
 
Randy