Setting your monitor level

To set the monitor level, you’ll need an SPL meter (Radio Shack, $30) and some pink noise (a test CD). Send the noise through a channel on the console panned to a single speaker and bring up the mix level until 0 VU is showing on the appropriate meter.[1] Now, bring up your monitor level to the desired Sound Pressure level at your mix position.

What level to choose? I use 85 dB SPL (C weighted), which some of my students find a trifle loud. The film industry also specifies 85 dB SPL. I suggest you start with 85 dB SPL and see if you can work with it. Using this level in my room, I can usually hear the noise floor of the recording, even if it is very quiet. I suggest you check to see if you can hear the noise floor on the recording in your room at 85 dB SPL. If not, you may want to raise the level slightly, until you can. I can’t really recommend going much over 90, although I know many engineers who work at hotter levels than that.

Maintaining the monitor level

Once you’ve established your monitor levels, mark them clearly at the monitor pot. If you don’t have a dim button, you may also want to mark the -20 dB level. If your reference is 90, for instance, turn down the monitor pot until the SPL meter shows 70 dB SPL, and mark that position on the pot as well. Now you can quickly and reliably move between those levels for the purpose of checking your mixes.

In any case, once you’ve established that level, really groove yourself into it. Listen to a lot of your favorite recordings at your reference level, to really internalize how they sound at that level. Make that level yours! A couple of years back, when I first built my current room, it was quiet enough that I tried dropping my reference to 80 dB SPL. However, as time passed, I found I was making mistakes at that level and so I’ve brought the reference back up to 85 – I find it much more comfortable. I re-calibrate the room every week or so. As you can probably guess, the sound level meter is always present.

Recognizing Mixing Fatigue

One of the ways you know your reference level is right for you is that when you first start listening, the level feels great! The music really happens for you – it feels alive, vibrant and energetic. There is a palpable presence. That’s the right level.

By the same token, one of the simplest ways to tell that you’re getting tired and better either quit or get very careful is to note when your reference level no longer has that zing. When you get that big silly urge to really crank it up so that you can really get into the music again, your ears are probably toast.

Whatever you do, don’t turn up. You’ll do horrendous things to the equal loudness contours and you aren’t going to make good spectral decisions. If you have to keep working, just get very careful and thoughtful, knowing that you are tired and you can no longer just trust your instincts. Double check everything! Take your time. Take a break if you can.[2]

Thinking About End-users

End-users are the nice people who buy and listen to your recordings and really like them! Unfortunately, they listen to your recordings over a lot of different systems and at a lot of different levels. In your dealing with sound levels, you should also really keep in mind what the range of your listeners’ levels will be. Take a look a the final graphic here.

	The ranges of levels that your listeners will be using with various playback systems.

Depending on the kind of music you are doing, you have to target various specific ranges from this set. Further, you have to mix so that your music will “fit” within the “typical” ranges, while having enough headroom and dynamic range to not sound bad in the total ranges. Also, you need to test your music at the various levels over the various system types you think are relevant. Obviously, you can’t check everything. But, if you’re doing, say, rap you should definitely check the boombox and boomvan, along with headphones. If your stuff is Top 40 type stuff aimed for airplay, it better fit well into the car/TV range as well as the home stereo range.

How you approach this, exactly, will be tackled in the final part of this Levels Management series. But what should be clear is that you should learn, by listening and measuring, what these levels are and learn to work across their various ranges. Learn, for instance, what a 20 dB level change sounds like when you are going from 50 dB SPL to 70 dB SPL, as well as from 80 to 100 dB SPL. Learn to hear out the equal loudness contours in your own hearing.

Happy faders!

Dave Moulton lives and works in Groton, MA!