Get that gain staging right!
I've been getting Qs about gain staging again, so let's have a refresher to keep our dynamics decent. After all, gain staging in a modern DAW is fairly simple and there's only a few rules to follow.
Old video (good lord I've lost weight since thanks to a complete 180 life change) above to show it all, but main points are below.
🎚️IN A NUTSHELL 🎚️
TRACKS: In terms of distortion or avoiding it, one can have them as loud as one wants, as one cannot distort the tracks per se due to the mega high headroom for the tracks (thanks to floating point audio engine) even if they hit the red a lot. Red is never good practice, but just saying.
PLUGINS: Level going into plugins is a different matter. Not all plugins mind the level, but for example analog-emulated and input-sensitive plugins will distort if you go into them loud. For example many saturation or distortion plugins distort it at input stage. So watch the input level and use moderate input levels for plugins, always.
MASTER: Don't run it red.
Any Qs? Holla!
Let's talk about really loud masters soon and check out a mega loud project, and let's get back to Breakbeat of the month soon as well!
Ableton Live: gain staging, audio engine and headroom (YouTube)
Comments (6)
On this subject — is there a 'best practice' guideline re. the level you should set your individual channels to at the start of a project, or a ballpark for which you should be aiming for them to peak? Or is it completely on a case by case basis, depending on the range of sounds in your track? Also, do you have any thoughts about mixing into a Limiter on the Master bus, to get a feel for how your track might sound once it is mastered? (obviously with the intention of removing the limiter prior to handing the track to a Mastering Engineer) Finally, do you have a standard chain on your Master channel — is this a subject you would consider doing a video on?
Not once in my career have i really watched track levels. When it sounds right, it's right (I literally don't watch them, because of the high headroom, the level you see plays no role). I only set things by ear, all these years. I do not recommend mixing into a limiter, because it'll kind of "fix" levels for you if you smash things too loud into it. E.g,, you can technically hit a snare fairly loud into a limiter at certain master levels and you dont necessarily realize it until you flick the master limiter off…but what it does it smashes the dynamics. Certain amount of limiting is of course ok to get your track to loudness level that you can compare it to released material, but flicking master limiter on and off is key…i still do that daily myself to ensure the mix sounds fine without the limiter. I could cover my master channel; there is already one video on it on my Patreon. If I get to mix the song, there's not much happening on the master usually (minor EQ, minor resonance tool, maybe transient touch, master limiting).
Oh, and at 1:40ish you seem to do a right clik and a little menu appears where your mouse is to select your audio effects etc — is this the Live Enhancement Suite, or some other add on for Ableton?
Yes; not using it anymore
I have one question on this. I know it’s bad practise but if my track is well balanced and I’m not cracking the inputs of the plugins etc. but the only problem is it’s like +6db on the master. Can I just put a gain plug-in on the master -9db and then have a bit more space to balance before go into limiter etc for mastering?
Yes; you can level the signal down on the master and that’s good enough. The first thing on my master chain is an auto-leveling plugin (Hornet VUmeter) that takes the level down to -18 so I get all the headroom I need (-18 being the designated input level for any analog input stuff) and I don’t have to worry about the track levels and signal from them arriving hot on the master.