Apple Logic Pro /LogicExpress Discussion

I almost deleted this.. the subject looked like some erection drug spam ;)
Seriously though:

>       I used to mix and bounce tracks with too little juice in the 
> signal.   Now I think I'm bouncing too hot.  The high end of the 
> songs, cymbals, high trumpets, high hat, all that distorts in my 
> small car stereo speakers.
> 
>       I've tried to curb it back on my master fader so that it only 
> clips a few times.

Your bounce should *never* clip if you want it to sound good everywhere.
Actually, some home/car hifi adds a little bit so it's best to peak at -0.3dB.
If you want your mix to *sound* hotter than that, you should add some
compression/limiting in the end signal.

>       Much of my music right now is more acoustic in nature and 
> sometimes I'm trying to avoid using too much compression.

Well you should avoid clipping more than compression. The few extra tenths of
dBs won't really make an audible difference (apart from the clipping). Some
mild compression (or even just a careful adlimiter just to shave off the
peaks) won't necessarily hurt. Note that clipping is a form of compression too
(the clipping sounds are exactly 0dB where they actually should have been louder).

>        I'd appreciate any input as to how hot you have audio tracks 
> and output track running.

I have all the recordings way below 0dB (that's what 24 bits are for). During
the mix, I try to keep all the individual tracks below 0dB, not that it
matters for the audio quality (floating point mixing means you can make levels
inside the mix as huge as you want as long as the output signal doesn't clip)
but it does help me keep the mix under control. The end signal is below 0dB,
and must always be. If there is only a single clip, I condsider it a failed mix.

>        So I basically want the tracks as hot as possible for clarity 
> sake (because a large digital sound wave is more accurate than a 
> small one) but I don't want the distortion on the high end.

Well then stay below 0dB, and preferably below -0.3dB. Compression is always
less bad than clipping. :)

Maurits.