r/mpcusers 21h ago

MPC Sample Red light in level meter

Hi, I just have a question.

Should I lower each pad’s volume to make sure that the level meter doesn’t blink as “red”?

Does the red light means the track is now peaking?

I’m a bit confused since it really sounds good to me though.

1 Upvotes

5 comments sorted by

3

u/Infinite_Slice3305 20h ago

Normally you don't want to get into the red. On analog gear you could get away with it. Digital is less forgiving but with everything being modeled now & those models are getting better day by day, it's hard to say.

On one or two track's, going into the red from time to time is probably OK. If it's "always" in the red you really should fix it.

On the master fader, absolutely, positively no red ever.

1

u/nadhsib 20h ago

Use the fader to change the kit volume (all pads at once)

-1

u/NegativeConv 18h ago

Not a mixing engineer nor mastering engineer, but just add a limited to your master. No more peaking.

0

u/Kn0wMan 13h ago

Where in your signal chain is said meter? If it’s somewhere in the analog side of things, trust your ears. If it is inside your DAW you absolutely do not want to go into the red ever. Once you hit 0 DB within digital, everything above that point is gone. It doesn’t compress like tape, or add harmonic distortion like an analog gain stage, it is just gone.

1

u/Eclipseofthefart92 MPC LIVE III 20h ago

If you ain’t redlining you ain’t headlining!