Hey a,

I bet you’ve heard some version of the following advice:

“Start with your kick at -10dB, then the snares and claps at around the same level. Sub bass should be around -12dB, leads around -14dB. Put the hi-hats and other percussion at -18dB and you should have a great mix that peaks at around -6dB on the master channel.”

And I get it.

Music production feels so damn overwhelming that we all crave something to hold on to.

Some rules. Or at least rough guidelines.

But last week, one of the artists in our mentorship community came to me with a problem in the low end.

He loved his bassline but felt like the track was lacking subs.

So he asked me for some tips, maybe even guidelines on how to level kick, bass, top layers, and subs so it all makes sense.

Here’s how I respond to these types of questions.

In every genre of electronic music, there are tracks that feel perfectly balanced.

Looking at them, it seems like we could deduce some rules or guidelines.

But then there are outliers that break all of those rules together.

There's one track that made me rethink those fixed recommendations:

Cleric’s “The Key of Dawn,” with its earth-shattering subs that break every low-end rule you’ve ever heard of.

When you press play on a big system or headphones that go low enough, you ask yourself if he forgot to switch on the sub in his speaker setup.

But as the track progresses, it all starts to make sense.

The piercing, aggressive hi-hat comes in. The raw lead joins the party as well.

And suddenly, what sounded like a production error turns into a genius sound design and mixing choice.

So what can we learn from that?

First: Music production and mixing are all about context.

Instead of learning fixed “rules” for how to level elements, train your critical listening so you understand why certain choices make sense in a specific context.

Second: Understanding the principles behind gain staging matters more than memorizing specific numbers.

Most producers don’t even realize that the decibel scale isn’t linear but logarithmic.

If you’re as bad at math as I am, this simply means:

80dB isn’t twice as loud as 40dB. It sounds roughly sixteen times louder to our ears, but carries about 10,000 times more acoustic power.

And it gets even trickier in the low end. Our ears are far less sensitive to low frequencies, so a sub peaking at -12dB can feel quieter than a hi-hat at -18dB.

So when someone hands you a number for your sub, they’re giving you a number that doesn't mean much. 

At least not for your track. 

That artist who was uncertain about his low-end took my advice seriously and is now working on his low-end again but his perspective has shifted from “looking for rules” to “making decisions in context.”

So, are you gonna follow the “rules” from some random piece of content out there, or are you ready to understand the principles driving all those decisions?

Your music matters. Make it count.
Philip

PS: Training your ears takes time, and figuring it out alone takes even longer. Here are two ways I can help you speed this up:

1. Join our mentorship community and learn how to finish music you’re proud of. We all grow together, support each other, and you get access to my entire Prolific Producer course (the same system all the artists we personally coach go through).
2. Get 1:1 coaching: If you’re serious about making more progress in the next 12 months than in the next five years, book a free discovery call and we’ll map out a personalized roadmap from where you are to where you want to be.