I need help importing a session with hot levels

[autumnblackout]

I've come to this forum often looking for answers and have always found just what I needed. I want to thank everyone that provides this site with such great information and advice.

 

I am not a mix engineer/producer or anything like that, but rather a songwriter and frontman who "plays around" in Logic to record demos and do pre-production work. I just finished recording 2 songs in a local studio and wanted to try my luck at mixing them on my own at home.

 

(Finally getting to the question), I dumped all the aif. files that were recorded on a protoolsHD system into Logic, and noticed that with pre-fader metering on, nearly all the channel strips are in the red and therefore the out1-2 is also. I have read many of the posts here about the 32 bit float "protection" that Logic offers and I have done a lot of research on levels in logic about bits and volume, and dBFS etc., but I am still wondering if I am screwed.

 

Were the levels just recorded too hot? From the little experience I have, it seems to me that these tracks are just too loud. I assumed that if everything was recorded at unity then I would dump the files into Logic and they would read around -18 to -12dBFS. I know I can turn down all the faders and by doing so not overload the main out and avoid digital distortion, but it seems like monitoring this whole deal is going to be quite tricky for a novice like me and in the end, with tracks this loud, I am going to end up with mud. Any thoughts? thanks for any help

 

AB

Logic 7.2.3, RME Fireface 800

[rob glow]

If the tracks were normalised when they were exported from ProTools, then they *will* peak up in the red. All you can do is turn the channels down!

 

Personally, I'd leave them up there are just make sure that you're not getting any nasty output clipping. Anything else isn't gonna make any difference to the individual parts. If they're that loud, they're that loud!

[Larry Mal]

Don't be afraid to turn down the tracks- you've got 24 bits to play with (you do have 24 bits enabled, don't you?) and Logic likes low levels. It seems to like them a lot.

 

I'd turn them down, and EQ them where you want them, which will involve cutting frequencies out more than anything else. That will both seat them in the mix and lower your overall volume. Be especially wary of bass frequencies, they add up overall volume of a track fast.

 

Then you can compress them, again at lower levels, and bring them up to where you think they ought to be. It's OK if the levels appear lower than you're used to: as long as they are where you want them to be in proportion to each other, you can use the normalize to bring them up as a finished product.

[autumnblackout]

thankyou both for the suggestions

 

I'll try turning them down and have at it, I guess I don't really have a choice right?