GAIN STAGING: Better mixes in 10 minutes [+ FREE GIFT]

[@EDMTips]

Have you found that gain-staging has improved your mixes? If so, in what way? Let me know in the comments!

[@cripz1436]

Yeah it has :)

[@luka603]

why are you red? :)

[@EDMTips]

XD Ha ha....bad colour correction!

[@lolo659]

EDM tips Can I also use the Threshold to Gainstage my Sounds

[@eliastorin7051]

i realize Im kinda randomly asking but does anybody know of a good website to watch new series online ?

[@jl9205]

I have watched about 10 videos on gain staging. This is by far the clearest one. Very well done!

[@EDMTips]

Thanks! Glad it helped :)

[@liquidatmosphere5528]

And my +1

[@djfatech]

Best class About Gain Staging I've ever seen. Straight to the point

[@EDMTips]

Bish, bash, bosh. That's how I roll :)

[@djfatech]

@@EDMTips Keep it up, my friend

[@RubatoMelody]

It's the clearest explanation of all the videos I've ever seen. However, many people's comments seem to be confusing Gain and Volume.

[@EDMTips]

Thank you, I am glad you found this helpful! 🙌🏻

[@HostilePro]

I’ve been trying to understand gain staging for a while now, and this video is by far the most clear and easy to understand vid I’ve seen! Thank you for this!! I’m hitting subscribe now 👍

[@EDMTips]

Awesome!

[@Clupea101]

Great stuff as always, learning more taking notes

[@EDMTips]

Glad to help!

[@michaelandersson1904]

lesson number two and i say it again! Great lesson!! You are a great teacher!!

[@JustynRoberts]

Super Clear. I wrestled with this for a while, thank you !

[@EDMTips]

You're welcome!

[@tinminh4135]

Best clear straight the point Gain Staging Tutorial so far! Keep it up

[@EDMTips]

Thanks, Minh! Will do :)

[@vincentcambier]

I watched 100 videos about this topic, this is by far the best one. Very clear !

[@EDMTips]

BOOM! 🙌🙌 😎 Thanks for watching and supporting!

[@Itsruffyouknow]

Hey, nice tutorial! One question: that average volume of -18dBFS you match in all of your tracks? Cause I saw some saying that for drums are -12dBFS and all the rest are -18dBFS…

[@Warjah104]

Very informative and most of all clear video on this subject. Well made! Subbed!

[@ko-jaxxedm9643]

Thanks will i think the most important part is that the signal in remans throughout the plugin chain. Do you always use a utility plugin in or do you use the gain or output knob in the plugin itself? I have used both in my mix.

[@itsisma6228]

So why we add saturation if we decrease the volume after the saturation Effect 🤔 what the benefit of the Effect so !!!

[@flowmaka]

This has taken the mystery out of gain staging. My mixes have all been distorted somewhat when I added all the tracks. I believe this will fix a lot of sound quality problems. Thanks a lot! Bless you!

[@alexsaberi8895]

Hi Will, thanks for another great video. Quick question. Normally in other video about mixing you say the master should peak around the -6db level. Here you are saying lower than that?

[@MaoDiaz]

Muchas gracias Will muy buen video!!

[@EDMTips]

You're welcome, glad you found it helpful! 🙌🏻

[@guitarsoul1129]

Hi, thanks for the clear explanation. Can't understand one thing: I can make all the tracks bumping around -18dBFS, but my master bus will not bump at the -18dBFS as well, because it gets the sum of signals. How to handle it?

[@deadstem_dj]

Can I get help clarifying this: why some people put the utility plugin at the end of the chain, when do we have to put it at the start or the end? Thanks

[@shevyjohn9308]

Wicked. I love this tutorial. it explains everything well.

[@Heafyshiu]

That was straight to the point and easy to understand demos. 👍😁.

[@Heafyshiu]

Best gain staging video. Thanks👍

[@alvesdeejay]

Hi will how are you? I think i have understand... So Pick a sound Gain stage to let'say -12Db Eq/compress/etc.if needed Check if we are at -12Db or put a utility to go down Then i can mix with faders . (Production with gain stag., mixing and then mastering ...) Am i right?

[@bikeninja956]

interesting, so in another video, they recommend getting about -6db on the master. They do that by gaining all tracks down by -16, kicks on -10 and adding +6 to master during the mixing, mixing to kiss the master clip at 0, then remove the +6 on the master at the end for a nice neat -6db of headroom on the master....... but here it seems like you're just leaving everything down to -18? I'm a little confused...

[@bikeninja956]

@Vic LTD Yeah I tried this gain staging $hit and I couldn't get it to work.... I got better results just by adjusting the volumes of each track lol accordingly... have a friend who suggests just using plugins like Neuro instead, masters everything automatically.. pffffff gain staging...

[@bikeninja956]

@Vic LTD I was trying to do gain staging with Ableton live...

[@OFOTCN]

Issue for me is each track varies in volume so much that there’s just no chance of getting everything to average around -18 and sound right in context. This is what I don’t understand.

[@Adsterr]

Do I have to use gain staging everytime i add a plugin or vst onto my insturment like Serum etc?

[@dalvynoficial]

I usually creat a pre master group and get the fader down after I balance the volume and before starting adding plugins

[@kerzyDJ]

would you say minus 6 is alright? or is that considered too loud? to me it sounds okay because of the way I have the compression etc but I cant seem to really get it any lower, is that a potential issue I need to work on??

[@scottlloyd1938]

so if i set every single instrument/ channel to -18 dbfs then everything should work out right? cause i did this on one of my tracks im trying to make and its still clipping on the master?

[@Paul-gp5om]

Nice clear and easy to follow video. Cheers

[@miguelfucungo4202]

Love your videos they help me out a lot with of my production

[@EDMTips]

Glad to help!

[@joerikabi-pz4sx]

Was wondering, Can I use a limiter on each channel and set ceiling to -18?

[@-zoave-]

On Maschine there is not Utility /Gain plugin... Is it possible to set volume directly on "sound source" ? (sampler, audio, synth...) Does a plugin like Kilohearts Gain work for ?

[@shannonia81]

Great video. Not only learned what gain staging even is, I got my saturation working without all the distortion! :)

[@1funkyangel]

Hi EDM Tips,... I have Ableton too ! Is there a shortcut to copy the “Gain” plugin to every track at once .

[@EDMTips]

Just copy and paste it on each channel

[@carminemembrino7141]

very well explained and helpful. thank you so much

[@EDMTips]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ianoskadev]

So it's all about signal,set all channels to 0 and then play with Utility to get -18dBFS, i can use - but also + on Utility to get -18dBFS am I right? And then do mixdown with channel faders to complete a pre-master?

[@bruhbruhson7190]

Was very easy to understand, thanks a lot!

[@EDMTips]

You’re welcome! Glad you enjoyed :)

[@miguelangelmartin7869]

But is it the same for drums? Kick, snare, congas, hithat... also - 18?

[@lexikon4823]

Hey man I’ve been watching your videos for a couple weeks now and the way you teach absolutely motivates me to dig deeper into my own production. I do hip Hop/RnB, Trap music and would love to know if you teach mixing for every genre and not EDM specific? 👍🏻

[@EDMTips]

Absolutely! The techniques I teach can be applied to pretty much any genre :)

[@lexikon4823]

@@EDMTips awesome! Would love to become a student :)

[@liquidatmosphere5528]

Enjoyed it, cheers sir !

[@EDMTips]

Glad you enjoyed it...You're welcome! 🙂

[@TheLockdawg]

love all of your tutorials

[@Erreaka]

So what's better the pink noise or keep between -18 to -12?

[@EDMTips]

Well, just turn the pink noise down so you've got plenty of headroom on the master channel

[@grahamjay7080]

Such a very well explained video thank you so much, quick question I'm using Ableton 11 where do I find the Gain control plugin to control the gains?

[@funkymonks96]

Late comment but if you search for utility in audio effects you find it there :)

[@franmoller7322]

Maybe a not so thrilling topic, but it took me years to figure this out by trial and error. I wish I would have had your advice...by the way, seeing this video confirms my results, so thank you for this class! Teacher, I still have a question; is it better to use the gain plugin in Ableton or is the same as increasing the "size" of the wave form with the gain control at the right of the transpose dial?

[@EDMTips]

It does the same thing! However, you can add gain plugins at other places in the chain as well, whereas the waveform is obviously just the source gain

[@wa2k360]

Ok so I’m a pretty good producer, I have songs that have been signed, 10k monthly streams, etc. What’s the point of turning it down to -18? Like just turn down the output gain on the plugin lol

[@alexrios262]

Is it correct to assume that you should add a utility after every effect to control the updated gain?

[@alexrios262]

Wait, nevermind. Probably just a better idea to check the output level of each new effect to make sure that the rms still kicks around -18dBfs.

[@ScottSmyth-p5n]

great stuff thanks!

[@EDMTips]

You're welcome, glad you ofund it helpful! Have you seen my newest video on gainstaging yet?

[@gaganbakana]

Hi, as per your advise now my whole track playing at -18 db maximum, should i export my mix as it is or should in up the all faders untill -6db or -5db?

[@EDMTips]

-18dB average or peak?

[@gaganbakana]

EDM tips average as you advised, ohh i think peak also

[@EDMTips]

@@gaganbakana Well, it can't be -18 peak AND average at the same time. The average will be much lower than the peak

[@shariibtahim1342]

@@EDMTips do you mean -18 dBFs /RMS as Avridge for gain stage "sweetspot" ( echoboy example ) or is it max peak ??

[@kkarlsen_06]

When I set my snare average to -18 it clips at +10!?

[@huguesandrepierrard4254]

VERY GOOD EXPLAINATION !!!!!!!!!!!

[@fightinggamesforever3364]

There are hundreds of videos on Gain staging on the internet? Why should you watch this one? Because it get's straight to the point, mentions things I've not seen elsewhere (points 2 on A/B comparison) and is clear and concise. Watch it. Get better.

[@johnmiller19925]

I was sure it’s -12. Turns out I was living in a lie. Thank you very much, this explained a lot for me!

[@GreatestSportsHighLights]

Not true!! Some people gain stage at -18db some at -12db and some even at -10db We do -12db and make sure our bus channels don't go over -6db You can gain stage but if those bus channels are clipping then you just wasting time! The key to gain staging is also level matching! Example: Don't just gain stage then add a compressor to it and leave it! Make sure when you adding any plugin to also level match it back down to your gain stage level. Sometime we split the gain staging, We might do the drums at -12db then all the music around -18db Here is the thing if you are taught to do -18db then you will think that is the correct way of doing it just as if you was taught to do-10db or -12db We was taught -18db back in the days of hardware but when technology switched we realized we don't need all that headroom and we stage at -12db Also we coming from reason propellerhead and Selig advised us to stage at -12db! so we have been doing it for over a decade at -12db it helps out big time! Pick a level you are comfortable at and stick to it! there really isn't a correct way of doing it as long as its done before mixing. We found out that -18db was just too low for us and with the technology we have now, we can get away with pushing it to -12db - or even -10db Meanwhile keep up the amazing work happy holidays!

[@KidWuSound]

@@GreatestSportsHighLights yep!!!!!!!!!

[@ibec69]

How do you display peak and rms in the meters?

[@JakeDavies]

Great video.. I understand setting everything to -18db, but as your creating the track and you want certain instruments to be louder, (ie. Kick or the Drop) how would you accomplish this? Turn them up individually forgetting about the -18db rule? Cheers!!

[@koothka]

You can just turn the volume of the other track down.

[@chadpezza307]

So you’ve got the fader set at 0 meanwhile the sound is at -18..... So now when you want to move the fader it isn’t gunna do shit. Nice

[@memories-fh5fd]

what vocals were used in this tutorial?

[@Sound_slash]

Does it make a difference (apart from CPU) that I gain stage on MIDI instruments rather than the audio of it?

[@EDMTips]

Nope

[@mikerimi3092]

tnx 4 tips... good job, also haven't got "30 tips & tricks for mixing EDM" from U.

[@Amatteus]

Thank you for the video.. Very good.

[@EDMTips]

You're welcome!

[@Stacity]

Sound advice well explained

[@REEWIL]

So you would make sure every single channel is under -18dbsf correct ? to get the best master results

[@dandwyer7847]

Ideally yeah, really does depend on the track you’re making but I usually like to start my kicks and basses at around -19db, leads and melodies I might have a bit higher sitting around -16db or -17db

[@REEWIL]

@@dandwyer7847 Jesus that’s quiet !

[@dandwyer7847]

It’s to allow for maximum headroom, with all instruments playing I like to peak at -6db on the master, which I can then export to a wav. and re load into Ableton and that headroom allows more wiggle room with extra saturation, compression etc. for the final master

[@dandwyer7847]

But yes it will be quiet before any mastering is done, just turn up the headphones haha but at least you’ll still know the true levels on the master

[@yadinmichaeli12]

Thank you very much amazing tutorial !

[@malcolmm4360]

I was very tempted by your course but I got the impression it was a watch only course. I don't have the 30 minuets a day every day to write music so for me it is essential to be able to DL the material so I can watch it when I have the time. Plus I don't have a great memory and have ADHD so am easily distracted. if it was a DL I would have jumped in...

[@EDMTips]

It's possible to watch it at any time you like, but it's streaming only, so you would need an internet connection

[@kalschimmers2197]

This is an outstanding video

[@EDMTips]

Thanks, Kal! Appreciate the support :)

[@viniciussoul8243]

ahhhh I don't know when to gain stage, before or after reverb, compression and stuff like that aaaa

[@emme3061]

before everything dude.

[@viniciussoul8243]

@@emme3061 simple and helpful. Thanks a lot mate! :)

[@colintunez]

template for cubase i didnt find

[@sokoleski]

crystal clear

[@RahulRaj-rg5ge]

Hey is it - 18db peak or RMS?

[@richardjames111]

That's what i'm trying to find out as well... Did you find out??

[@RahulRaj-rg5ge]

@@richardjames111 hahahaha nooo.. I read somehere RMS.. But if you try RMS for kicks, it's too loud.. So what I do is use Peak for kicks, snare and other transients.. And RMS for snythns, pain , etc

[@BLEWaFUSE]

great tutorial

[@gitongamukira3749]

Great tutorial...

[@EDMTips]

Thanks :)

[@suyeonlee1001]

good video!!

[@EDMTips]

Thanks!

[@ahmad.bayram]

Thanks

[@EDMTips]

You're welcome! 🙂

[@meme_0]

Sweet spot is bullshit, you just sent +35db to plugin and it get clipped sound, ofcourse it will sound different after processing.

[@ElectronicChateau]

Christ you're looking young there Will 😂

[@EDMTips]

Have I ever looked old? 😉

[@storiesreadaloud5635]

GAT TWO BEE FUR EE

[@MetapopCreatorsMusicRepost]

[@EDMTips]

Cheers, I am glad you liked it! 🙂🙌🏻