Great advice! I actually stopped gain staging a while back because of having more headroom. I always use my ears to guide me most and hardly use the solo button. I make EDM but it must be the same for all genres of music.
If you want to improve your mixes, read Bobby Owsinki's book on mixing and use reference tracks.
For what it's worth, gain staging really helped me start getting better mixes with a lot more headroom. My rough mixes now almost ever clip. But before, i was always mixing far too loud.
Thank you! Was gain staging my mixes for months and noticed that my mixes didn't have enough "oomph". I just went back to a more intuitive way of making sure my individual tracks weren't clipping and if my master bus was clipping, adjusting individual track volume accordingly. Made a huge difference for the better…
I believe, but am not sure, that your predecessor on this channel preached gain staging. Not to be a -18, but to be at a reasonably low level. Why? He said that if your tracks were very hot, let's say maxxed at 0db then they would mostly have to be turned down to about -18 and lower to get a mix that worked. He indicated at that level small changes in level were very significant. If you gain staged the tracks so that they all started at fader level 0db and then you adjust volumes of various tracks to lower levels to get a good mix, small adjustments would not have the same impact.
Hi Joe , I've been watching you for years and great stuff .I write a song, I record with plugins , do I use buses at this time or wait till I mix for things like reverb parallel if you could take time and help I'd really appreciate thanks Arnold
Well said Joe. It's nice that the New upcoming Engineers have YOUTUBE for some Positive?True advice …wish some of us had it back then. ( Like you mentioned…. can;t believe every thing we hear. George
back when I first got a daw I said for a year "I'm not doing unnecessary things like compression and eq… gainstaging is good enough". lol I was such a dumba**
Say it ain’t so Joe! You’re a saint spewing out bonafide, classified common sense. Thank you so very much for bringing some clarity to this misunderstanding myth that everyone and their mother on YouTube is spreading. I always say say as long as you’re not clipping all the tracks and the master you should be good. I was always stressing about damn if I don’t gain stage my mix would suffer. I used both methods and I totally agree the mix didn’t sound any worse or any better. So again thanks for sharing the great info that you do and continue your musical educational journey you’re are awesome. ❤
Especially with that last advice, a lot of beginners do too many things in solo and think it sounds good. And then they throw it back in the mix and wonder why it's all muddy and not sounding like a mix. Or guitar players trying to dial guitar tones by themselves in solo rather than doing it while the track is playing. In terms of gain staging, -18 starting off is a good rule of thumb as you learn and get better. For the most part, as long as the tracks don't clip and the master bus is clipping when faders are at zero, I feel like you're good, but everyone's take will be different. If you're using analog gear, the signal may or may not sound better, especially on drums, because clipping on analog is different than digital.
Never been the first comment lol
Golden information thanks you sir ☺️
Great advice! I actually stopped gain staging a while back because of having more headroom. I always use my ears to guide me most and hardly use the solo button. I make EDM but it must be the same for all genres of music.
go on, play us your first song – don't be embarrassed 🙂
If you want to improve your mixes, read Bobby Owsinki's book on mixing and use reference tracks.
For what it's worth, gain staging really helped me start getting better mixes with a lot more headroom. My rough mixes now almost ever clip. But before, i was always mixing far too loud.
Thank you! Was gain staging my mixes for months and noticed that my mixes didn't have enough "oomph". I just went back to a more intuitive way of making sure my individual tracks weren't clipping and if my master bus was clipping, adjusting individual track volume accordingly. Made a huge difference for the better…
I believe, but am not sure, that your predecessor on this channel preached gain staging. Not to be a -18, but to be at a reasonably low level. Why? He said that if your tracks were very hot, let's say maxxed at 0db then they would mostly have to be turned down to about -18 and lower to get a mix that worked. He indicated at that level small changes in level were very significant. If you gain staged the tracks so that they all started at fader level 0db and then you adjust volumes of various tracks to lower levels to get a good mix, small adjustments would not have the same impact.
right sir
Experience makes a person no doubt and mix is a craft a part of work in hearing …big up
Is that a new microphone? What's up your mic sleeve, Joe?
Hi Joe , I've been watching you for years and great stuff .I write a song, I record with plugins , do I use buses at this time or wait till I mix for things like reverb parallel if you could take time and help I'd really appreciate thanks Arnold
Well said Joe. It's nice that the New upcoming Engineers have YOUTUBE for some Positive?True advice …wish some of us had it back then. ( Like you mentioned…. can;t believe every thing we hear. George
Wait a minute! I know I’ve been away from the channel for a min but what happened to G?
so whats to solution if I don't gainstage.
back when I first got a daw I said for a year "I'm not doing unnecessary things like compression and eq… gainstaging is good enough". lol I was such a dumba**
Say it ain’t so Joe! You’re a saint spewing out bonafide, classified common sense. Thank you so very much for bringing some clarity to this misunderstanding myth that everyone and their mother on YouTube is spreading. I always say say as long as you’re not clipping all the tracks and the master you should be good. I was always stressing about damn if I don’t gain stage my mix would suffer. I used both methods and I totally agree the mix didn’t sound any worse or any better. So again thanks for sharing the great info that you do and continue your musical educational journey you’re are awesome. ❤
Especially with that last advice, a lot of beginners do too many things in solo and think it sounds good. And then they throw it back in the mix and wonder why it's all muddy and not sounding like a mix. Or guitar players trying to dial guitar tones by themselves in solo rather than doing it while the track is playing. In terms of gain staging, -18 starting off is a good rule of thumb as you learn and get better. For the most part, as long as the tracks don't clip and the master bus is clipping when faders are at zero, I feel like you're good, but everyone's take will be different. If you're using analog gear, the signal may or may not sound better, especially on drums, because clipping on analog is different than digital.