Bringing all volumes down proportionately (both automated and unautomated tracks)

Some of my mixer channels are clipping and i need to turn all my channels down about 10 db without affecting the mix. I though the way to do this was to select all the track in the Arrange window and hover above the Volume value until you see “Trim” and then bring all the tracks down. But that only brings down the volume of tracks that have automation on them, not for tracks that don’t. So my mix will end up sounding different.

Does anyone know how i can easily bring all my channels down 10db?

Also, some of the faders in my mix are set so low already that they will only be able to be turned down about 2db until they hit the bottom, hence the overall mix will be affected. Does anyone know how I can avoid this happening happening?

Lower the Stereo Out. In the future, don't use automation until you have an absolutely solid mix with healthy headroom.

No, my master out isnt clipping, my individual mixer channels are. I need to bring all automated and un-automated channels down in one go

Use the Gain plugin to raise or lower tracks so you have all faders at 0 for a starting point.

Adding a Gain plugin to 40 or so tracks isnt the solution im looking for. Im looking for a better feature

Ok, I asked this question (how much digital clipping is acceptable on individual channels in a DAW) in a sub in reddit and everyone came back saying no clipping is acceptable and it would affect the overall sound of the mix negatively. So this is not the case in Logic?

Do you mean there is 1500db of headroom above 0 on the mixer channel meter, before a sound will start to have negative audible effects or distort? The max one of my channels is clipping at the moment is only about 6db with a few others clipping around 3db

You also could create VCAs for sub-mixes and lower them in groups.

As I mix my current album I've put Gain plug ins on almost every audio and instrument track. It has been very helpful as I *always* have my channels too hot and am trying to stop doing that going forward. I've set the default to be -5 db.

Do you mean there is 1500db of headroom above 0 on the mixer channel meter,

Logic's internal mixer uses 32-bit floating point, which gives you a theoretical headroom of 1528 dB.

Keep in mind that many plugins like Waves are emulations of hardware that don't like hot inputs. So don't clip the inputs of those plugins.

So as long as you don't hear distortion in the clipping mixer channels, and the stereo out is below 0 dBFS, you're good to go.

Do you mean there is 1500db of headroom above 0 on the mixer channel meter,

 

Logic's internal mixer uses 32-bit floating point, which gives you a theoretical headroom of 1528 dB.

 

Keep in mind that many plugins like Waves are emulations of hardware that don't like hot inputs. So don't clip the inputs of those plugins.

So as long as you don't hear distortion in the clipping mixer channels, and the stereo out is below 0 dBFS, you're good to go.

Ok thanks. I understand. I'll check my the Waves plugs on my Buses aren't going into the red

Do you mean there is 1500db of headroom above 0 on the mixer channel meter,

 

Logic's internal mixer uses 32-bit floating point, which gives you a theoretical headroom of 1528 dB.

 

Keep in mind that many plugins like Waves are emulations of hardware that don't like hot inputs. So don't clip the inputs of those plugins.

So as long as you don't hear distortion in the clipping mixer channels, and the stereo out is below 0 dBFS, you're good to go.

Ok, i checked through my mix and there is only 1 Waves MV2 plugin on my drum bus that is clipping about 1db (mainly due to a hot parallel kick drum bus). Surely this will no be noticeable enough for me to have to re-level my whole mix/master for. Shall I just leave it?

Ok, i checked through my mix and there is only 1 Waves MV2 plugin on my drum bus that is clipping about 1db (mainly due to a hot parallel kick drum bus). Surely this will no be noticeable enough for me to have to re-level my whole mix/master for. Shall I just leave it?

If you don't hear distortion on that channel, don't worry about it.

Ok, I asked this question (how much digital clipping is acceptable on individual channels in a DAW) in a sub in reddit and everyone came back saying no clipping is acceptable and it would affect the overall sound of the mix negatively. So this is not the case in Logic?

It's correct, no clipping is acceptable as clipping affects the overall sound of your mix. However when the signal at the outputs of your individual tracks is at or above 0 dBFS, that does not create clipping, so that does not affect the overall sound of your mix. This is indicated by the peak detector turning orange and not red.

On the other hand when the signal on an output channel strip goes above 0 dBFS, that creates clipping, and affects the sound, so lower the Stereo Out fader so that the output itself doesn't go past 0 dBFS.

You also could create VCAs for sub-mixes and lower them in groups.

That's a great idea. In fact you could create one VCA for your entire mix and adjust the overall level mix that way. That would however affect the sound of the mix if the channels are further routed into dynamic-dependent plus-ins such as compression, distortion etc...