Level Matching - What They're Not Telling You!

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Level Matching is important for comparison purposes, to an extent. But "level" is an ambiguous concept, and level matching can actually inhibit your mixing!
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[@rawpoweraudio]

Nice video. I feel this is especially useful to consider with EQ. Sometimes things need to be louder but only in specific areas. Volume matching doesn’t help in those situations

[@WeissAdvice]

Exactly.

[@JamEZmusic86]

autogain on the EQ screws me over 9 times out of 10.

[@johnisrael5183]

This is why WLM.....by waves....one of the best plugins out there Will allow you to push level on the way out on mix or master without smashing it with a limiter....lol 🤣🤣🤣so....if you mix each track down about -7 db...youve got the headroom you need to get it louder on final mix....and still not have to use a limiter on final master....maybe very light clipping.....that sounds...alot more musical Instead squashed 🤣🤣🤣

[@WeissAdvice]

Never used WLM. I'll check it out!

[@MirdjanHyle]

The way I like to think about is this: since our ears don't react linearly, raising level can be seen as a form of EQ. Like... If we think about the Fletcher-Munson curve, there's no such a thing as a "clean boost"

[@WeissAdvice]

That's a fact! very very important idea.

[@kelvinfunkner]

wow just awesome again. Two things...first, I've been arguing this point for years, for the very simple reason of the fletcher munson curves. If you tweak and make it sound "amazing" and then go....oops....I should level match it....then you're very likely messing up some of the "amazing" by changing it even by a very small amount. It's just so nice to see someone with your caliber of credibility giving this concept credence. Also the second thing that happened that really encouraged me was as I was hearing you tweak the Oven plugin....in my mind, I was talking the changes through ahead of you and going..."feels congested...needs less mids"...." top end needs some more love" etc...and then watching you make those changes and hearing the gratifying changes made me go....whoa! I'm hearing all this!!! I'm actually getting it!!!! Even when you were flicking the switches back and forth between the flavors, I quickly picked my preference and waited to see what you'd finally settle on, and they were the same!!!...now...don't get me wrong here...I'm not saying that I've got anywhere near the amazing ears that you have....but this was just such a boost to realize that I'm starting to catch what you're hearing even on a super subtle level....and THAT is why I keep coming back for more!

[@WeissAdvice]

My "ears" aren't better than anyone else's - it's really just about knowing what to listen for, and then making "good" decisions with what you hear. If you're hearing what I'm hearing, that's great! And then sometimes you might think along the same lines and sometimes you might think "oh, no I think I'd do it different".

[@kelvinfunkner]

@@WeissAdvice absolutely! every producer and engineer is different...I guess what made the difference for me this time around, was that I actually heard all the changes...which surprised me...sometimes I honestly don't catch them all...those are times when you're definitely perceiving things that I'm missing :-) Thanks again for the great content!

[@o.b.v.i.u.s]

tweedle the thingamabobs til it sounds mo' better...

[@WeissAdvice]

A tried and true practice since the dawn of audio engineering!

[@dspoet1]

Thanks Weiss for making me going back to some of my mixes and undoing all of my level matching. Appreciate that.

[@WeissAdvice]

LOL - sounds like a lot of work, sorry!

[@djvoid1]

It's context specific in my experience. One area where level matching helps is when you're pushing for loudness and reducing crest factor and you want to hear if you've compromised the punch of your given sound too much

[@WeissAdvice]

True, level matching is very useful for figuring out the qualitative differences. As long as we can negotiate what we're gaining (pun intended) and what we're taking away. If I'm doing a record for DJ Khaled.... I'm gonna need to run the mix hot, so I can't take that out of the equation, even if I'm losing those crests.

[@famousmwofficial8046]

Dude I didn't know you have a KZbin channel 😮. I used to read your stuff on pro audio files religiously and it's gotten me so far with my mixing and music.. happy clients thanks to all your tips

[@WeissAdvice]

Yes sir!

[@Mike_Benz_]

I was just going through this whole train of thought recently (the last few months) as I was level matching everything when mixing, and was thinking louder was always better. But then it hit me when I was adding compression on the master bus which I really dig'd the sound of, but it wasn't as loud as the original, so it made me think it doesn't sound as good, but the quieter (compressed version) just felt better, had more bounce, vibe and dynamics, like it brought it to life because the mix was lacking dynamics that it needed. So I said to myself don't think louder ( peak FS) is better, go with what feels better.

[@WeissAdvice]

Yup. People often times think that compression can only be used to make things "more forward", but sometimes it can be used to give things more bounce. Bounce > loudness majority of the time.

[@Mike_Benz_]

@@WeissAdvice 100% 🙏

[@alexandre7634]

Thank you !!!!! ✌️

[@WeissAdvice]

Thanks for tuning in Alexandre!

[@updown5238]

Superb! Thanks.

[@jongriffin2608]

I like these more real world discussions, very difficult to articulate successfully, I appreciate what your doing. Same can be said of things like gain structure and being too concerned about clipping. Ultimately its just about knowing whats going on and intention. The point is, to be in control of what you are doing, rather than being disorganised. You can break all the rules as long as you know what the net effect is.

[@WeissAdvice]

Yea - a lot of the online stuff is theoretical. And not even in a bad way. Like, there's absolutely merit to level matching in order to get a better concept of what something is doing. But in the process of making an actual mix.. that kind of stuff isn't really all that important.

[@alphaomega6062]

I think that it is enough to be aware that 'louder always sounds better' so the processing one is applying may not be helping any more than just turning it up would and to bear that always in mind. Then if in doubt in a specific case try to A/B level matched but otherwise 'just use your ears man!' True one needs to be mindful of technical aspects but the big picture is what does it sound like. I think this is pretty much what you said in the video?

[@WeissAdvice]

Pretty much. I just wouldn't want to interrupt the flow of my work to A/B something if I'm already happy with the result - regardless if it's because of the actual processing or just because of a level difference. The point is I'm happy with the result, and that's enough. A/B'ing lvl matched I think is good for understanding what the processing is really doing.

[@eriktelford3574]

nice! one of the best discussions on YT i’ve heard about level matching. might be worth adding, no matter what is adding level (eq, gain, compression, etc), always be mindful of gain staging through your mix chain as the level is changing going in and out of your plugins.

[@WeissAdvice]

Thanks Erik!

[@babakshm]

loved this video because this has been a hinder for me until now. Thank you!

[@WeissAdvice]

Glad to help!

[@adamswierczynski]

This video is on 2 levels of irony. Level 1 is taking the piss out of the science of music and re-establishing that it is an art. Level 2 is that the video is not matched to the audio; this imprecision creating art out of a video poking fun at science ruining the art.

[@WeissAdvice]

Ironic t-shirts went out of fad, so ironic tutorials are the new thing for me.

[@RedSpark_]

loving the funk tunes! Personally I really like EQs with auto gain compensation, it keeps me in the flow of things and I feel it allows me to be bolder than I would be without it, although having said that I find if I'm trying to pull up something very quiet in the sound by doing a huge boost, it's best done with it off.

[@WeissAdvice]

Right on! There's always an unspoken caveat to these videos which is: if it's working for you, FOOK my opinion LOL. That's a very important part.

[@edwardmonroe4115]

Who is the artist

[@WeissAdvice]

This would be the indelible George Clinton of Parliament Funkadelic!

[@Bville-E]

Are you serious ??????

[@chriskemp466]

Totally agree with this, level matching all the time blocks intuitive flow I think

[@WeissAdvice]

Yup.

[@mohammedkhalil5207]

hello bro plz make more vidieos about mixing the urban music latin reggeaton and the vocals like jbalivin/nicky jam / ozuna

[@WeissAdvice]

I haven't worked with Balvin or Nicky Jam, but I've done a few songs with Ozuna that I could probably show. I did a video with Anitta a couple weeks ago.

[@mohammedkhalil5207]

@@WeissAdvice yes i see the vidieo with anitta but we need man vocals and haw make the vocals bright without desturtion

[@Sebastianandthedeepbluemusic]

its better when you mess up the ending! good take on all this, the people need to hear it!

[@WeissAdvice]

Well, that's good because I suspect it's going to be a running theme........

[@liquormusic]

Bravo!

[@WeissAdvice]

Thanks Liquor!

[@johnjhonny646]

truth

[@WeissAdvice]

And nothing but the truth.