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Hello everybody!
I have a general question about volume levels of my mixes. In the past, I have had a few cues rejected because of my mix, and when I take a look at the waveform, sure enought, it is at a low level.

So, since then I try to normalize the waveform, so that it is, perhaps, at -1 dB.

My question is, what about an instrumental cue that is supposed to be soft -- not ambient, but just a few instruments. Should I still normalize the volume at a high level, or should it be much lower?

Thanks in advance!
--David

generally, normalizing isnt the best way to get more standard volume levels in the master. theres very little control in the overall perceived volume/loudness.

place a copy of the reference track in the daw session and toggle between it and yours. this can help expose any shortcomings in your mix that need to be addressed and provide a reference for how loud the master should be. this approach can be used regardless of the genre.

hope that helps!

I find the best way for me to get my tracks to my desired level is to really know how loud things should sound with my monitor volume knob at a certain level. I guess that would be referred to as calibrating but I don't follow any formal procedure to get to that point, I just know how loud or soft things should sound when my monitor controller is at my desired listening level which is right around +-80db for a full mix. The only time I change the level of my monitors is to listen either really quietly to make sure you can still hear everything or If i want to go loud just to rock out for a minute but I'd say my monitor level knob stays in the same spot 95% of the time. This way you have a home base that you're super familiar with and you know immediately if something is straying too far from there. And then when you put all your faders to 0 your mix, at least level-wise, should be 85% there and your overall output level should be pretty close to your target output level, preferably with a few db of headroom for mastering and such.

I hope some small part of this makes sense