Why I STILL Use Gain Staging

[@gregoryosullivan]

One thing I didn't originally think about with gain staging, was that if you get all tracks down to a nice consistent level prior the the mixer faders, you get more precision with your mixing. Faders are typically non-linear and have more resolution around the zero position. If your levels are all over the place and you have to make large fader movements to get things roughly where you want, it's much harder to make small precise tweeks to the mix later.

[@piggosalternateaccount4917]

EXCELLENT INFO!!! Very happy with the explanations of noise floor, clipping and the various sensible precautions

[@_mickmccarthy]

I'm happy that by falling into the gain-staging KZbin rabbit hole a while back I discovered the importance of level-matching plugins!

[@1loveMusic2003]

I'm glad you pointed out gain staging into the buses because the plugins on those are optimized for the same level as the ones on your tracks.👍

[@tonyhills2112]

Love your content Mike, I’ve learned so much!

[@lauris.marcenoks]

Tnx from Latvia, Eastern Europe

[@loudguy1974]

Great stuff! Thanks for sharing.

[@michaeltablet8577]

Thank you and God bless you!

[@BahamaSmooth]

Hello Mike, and thank you for all of the insights that you provide keep up the great work helps me tremendously. Seeking your help and assistance as always. I have popping and cracking in my recordings and I cannot get it to stop. I am using the Ableton Light 11 as my DAW and for whatever reason I cannot get my laptop to sync properly Suggestions and recommendations please I am open to any ideas and insight that you can provide. Thank you.

[@The-Skyking]

Gain staging is important just for consistency and keeping your faders near zero. Also helps if you have a hybrid setup. ALSO what's also important is that a lot of plugins behave differently depending on how hard you hit them and like to be hit starting around -18. Your mixes will be better if you use gain staging.

[@timspencer1]

Gain staging was a complete game changer for me! It's amazing how much my mixes cleaned-up when doing this (and leaving plenty of headroom for mastering)

[@eaglepass5170]

Great video!!!

[@HARDDRlVER]

Thank you. But you have only barely mentioned the initial gain staging (mics, guitars, etc). That's where I need to learn more

[@glennnmurphy]

When people think about gain staging they typically only think about the output volume not clipping. Most people don’t think about how hot the signals are coming in. I have had clients send me files already in the red zone. People need to think about the input AND output volumes. The other reason that people tend to skip gain staging is because of People who are producers work with a “Beat” track and a vocal track. One the other hand if your sitting there with a full band track with 3 kicks, 2 snares, 4 time mic’s, overheads, room mic’s… and when your done your sitting with 30-50 tracks very quickly. The more tracks you have the more important gain staging is. If every tracks is to hot by even 1db imagine 50 tracks will have you redlining in no time. I like to be around -18 db and kicks and snares sitting at -12 db before starting any mixing

[@MuzixMaker]

So is the goal is to record near -12dB and keep it there through the signal chain so when mixing all instruments are starting at the same level (faders at 0), then adjust accordingly?

[@backplomer]

Hey mike, love your videos, and much appreciate your help, just wondering if someone can help me. I have my first song recorded in studio one, 20 odd different tracks, but am unsure of the next step or processes for finishing it, is it mastering or sending to the project page ? Confused and haven’t actually been able to find the step by step process of where to go from here. Thanks in advance ❤️✌️

[@geovannip.c.8377]

I have a question and I hope you can help me 🙏. I want to know if in Cakewalk you can control several vst with 1 single MIDI file 🤔. For example: if I want to make a melody with several plugins, and not copy the MIDI in each one 😒. I hope you understand what I mean 😬.

[@music_creator_capable]

Hey!

[@OLLiGoldeaux]

I knew it before, but i like Mike's stuff and the englishman acent

[@denisbordage7345]

Australien accent

[@MuzixMaker]

Englishman?

[@OLLiGoldeaux]

@@MuzixMaker you know the song "englishman in new york" ? An "englishman" is a man from England. But maybe Mike is US American, i don't know...

[@MuzixMaker]

@@OLLiGoldeaux he’s Australian

[@frashighflyingbirds]

@@MuzixMaker😂

[@silas4727]

😥 Promo>SM

[@bobbyswamp]

Extremely helpful video! I'm a long time Cakewalk user and I have ignored the "gain staging" process to my own determent. Thank you, Mike, for this awesome video.

[@relativetimeworx8459]

I don't believe in gain staging = I compress the life out of everything!

[@pbenson56fran]

Good information on gain staging and noise floor

[@samuelragland6518]

You make the best content pls don’t stop