Are red indicators in audio software significant?
What is the best level, or what should be the highest indicator point in mixing, using computer software such as Nuendo or Samplitude? At times the mix will sound low when the LEDs are hitting red. Am I using my compressors wrongly? Also, how can you tell that your song is really going to have the desired punch in a club setting? This has given me headaches with clients complaining that their songs are not ‘punching’ hard enough. My overall compressor is the Timeworks mastering compressor. Chris Musyoka Features Editor Sam Inglis replies: Red lights in any digital system, including computer software, indicate digital overloads and should be avoided. When a signal exceeds the maximum level available in a digital system, the audible result is digital distortion, which is not at all like the ‘warm’ sound of an overloaded analogue tape recorder or mixer channel, and is usually very unpleasant. Having said that, there are sounds (such as snare drums) where brief overloads are not very notic
