Gain Staging & Leveling in Ableton Live 10

Time Stamps:
00:14 - What is Gain staging
01:06 - Gain staging the drums
05:30 - Gain staging the melodies
07:17 - Gain staging the melodies
07:53 - Levelling the overall drum level
08:10 - Levelling the overall melodies level
Music producers, it's important to ensure that all the elements of your beat are gain staged correctly. If you want to achieve the maximum level of the sounds you are using in your beats.
Once you can control the levels of your beats you can control your overall mix and get your beats prepared for mixing. You don't want to be sending out track outs with your individual stems being -24db.
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#musicproducer #beatmaking #abletonlive

[@playin-with-fire]

TY so much. We are about to start recording in our home studio we are building in our finished basement. One of the 1st things I wanted know about recording was what you are showing us here. You are teaching it in a very simple yet powerful way, that I can grasp what you are teaching- unlike soooo many other video's I have searched. Most of those guys are trying to show off their knowledge and start teaching as if you already know what they know. They are showing off, therefore they are not TEACHING. YOU are teaching. Ty again.

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Appreciate you! Glad I could help

[@saahaslalwani]

Bro ima cry cuz you got only 240 subscribers. This was what I had been looking for and all I see is people with hundreds of subscribers teaching in a professional way which I guarantee beginners like me don't understand. I'm so glad I came across this video. And a video request if you don't mind. I finished a track. It sounds great in headphones but when I export it to phone it sounds shit and I don't understand what to do. Help the rookie. 🙏 Don't stop uploading such videos bro. You got a lot of simplicity in your explanation and I bet that's exactly what producers that want to learn are looking for. Thanks. ❤️

[@IslandChords]

Over a million videos on gain staging out there and yours is the most accurate...Great Video

[@f0rl0ve68]

Thank you again for this beautiful tutorial! masterful teaching!

[@YFGP1]

brother, this is the best tutorial on gain staging! Again, many many thanks! You are a real one Jon!

[@smashondabeat6561]

You explain things very well Jon, Thanks for the gifts.

[@eeeyyyeee]

I really appreciate the way you explain things Jon.

[@rafaelhernandez5550]

You totally right why look for something that I already have in my hand. Thank you again. Best tutorial of Gain Stagin the only one that I really understood.

[@michaeldavidcaseymusic]

Just what I needed Jon. Thanks.

[@omarsoliman1071]

Man this is the greatest leveling gain staging tutorial I saw till this moment keep the great work 👊

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Omar Soliman thank you! Glad I could help

[@BuckyBong36]

nice tutorial man clear and straight to the point 👍

[@vivasvaan]

Your tutorials are really well paced and easy to follow!

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Thanks for the love

[@amohammed5699]

Cheers for this video, simple tips but broken down well. Working back through a track and making sure all the levels are right before moving on right now. Like the final quality check. Like it bro, keep it coming.

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Thanks fam!

[@arah8079]

So simple, never even thought about any of this great tutorial

[@matiasgomez174]

Man, amazing video! I was looking for someone who explain this the way you did, simple but great💪🏼. Greetings from Uruguay

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Appreciate you

[@mcdan2696]

The Dreamer! You solved the riddle to my volume issue with Ableton Live 11! You are Brilliant

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Thank you

[@brianhawkins261]

I am so happy youtube found you for me! You got straight to the point. Thank you!

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Thanks!

[@Paul-gp5om]

Really helpful and clear tutorial. Thanks

[@Neroda]

This has helped me loads! Much appreciated Bro.

[@Light-bb7xo]

Super useful. Ty so much m8. Already subscribed

[@embajadorjp]

Gracias bro for you support, good content!!

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Thank you man

[@SclimBeats]

This is game changer bro

[@asmkawsar]

You're the Best 🖤

[@westurnitup]

Aye man keep up with these vids!!!!🤩

[@Tman2010001]

This was a great tutorial. Subscribed and liked. Definitely appreciate it.

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Big love

[@DjCopl3x]

you're the goat for this! thanks

[@paulpennington1669]

Thanks, this explained this perfectly for me to understand. I just finished my first track and have been struggling with the mix with clipping.

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Ayyy! Congrats glad I could help

[@Bronwyn031]

Well hot dayum! This is what I've been doing so wrong all of this time. Thank you so very much.

[@vladimirtrump7559]

Been producing for months but this really helped, thanks 💜

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Thank you fam

[@XanderRey]

Ill be sure to watch this later! :D

[@MoeChaieb]

Massive props to you Jon. Beautiful explanation. I recently started using VolumeBuddy as my auto-gain tool (as opposed to manually tweaking pre-fader gain knobs). It makes the process much more quicker (especially if you're going through different Omnisphere presets with very different loudness/dynamics). It also uses the LUFS system as opposed to plain RMS which matches the human loudness perception better. Anyhow, curious to hear your thoughts on it if you ever check it out!

[@hankhomaomes2830]

I think this is the best explanation of initial gain staging.... as it is a through out process each time a plugin is added on a track it may affect your previous leveling so keep a track of that as well.

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Yeah for sure, you gotta monitor all levels of processing to ensure you’re still coming in hot

[@belluchino85]

You helped me so much, cannot thank you enough !

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

No sweat fam

[@Kankrete_beats]

Good stuff bro, made it so simple

[@jakhcdbsksh6194]

Your a great guy this is sick

[@YFGP1]

Thanks man!

[@thegeenius]

Solid info sir,, thank you

[@JMass-cz7fh]

Love the vids bro. Big help

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Thanks fam

[@wullanking1448]

Very helpful

[@edintheproducer6580]

Had to scroll down mid video to comment that this is a gem bro

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Edin the Producer that’s love bro! Appreciate you

[@tyler_3679]

God fucking bless you my friend, cheers from Chile 😚

[@umanoid1523]

Simple but helpful.I import loops from maschine and they’re always low. I end up giving them all a +5 boost on the sample but then I often have to give an additional +5 to +10 db boost depending on the sound. I’m usually just looking at the waveform and making sure nothings clipping.I also keep all my levels on the faders -2 to -4 for gain staging to my sub mixes.I’m not actually checking each fader individually like this though which makes a lot of sense. I use my eyes and ears more to make sure nothing is too hot and usually get a decent loud mix but something like this will definitely improve things.

[@Rxcch]

thank you jon!!!!

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Haha good to see you here

[@m-tonicmusic5115]

fire !!!!!!

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Appreciate it

[@Jonszn]

that beat hard

[@JosephKalinzi256]

Thanks...a lot!!

[@shinyhead]

Thx!)

[@prodbyjoenathaniel]

bruuuv crucial, thanks !

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Big time! Thanks for the comment

[@prodbyjoenathaniel]

@@JONTHEDREAMER I imagine you and meekz would make some bangers together!

[@MarcusThe9]

Ok, i'm gonna switch to Ableton. Really nice tutorials for Producers.

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Haha bro! All the best with it. Be sure to join my discord

[@ryhormusic]

Best tutorial on youtube

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

thanks man

[@viclopz9071]

Broo , I am not bilingual and I understand, thank you, very good 🖤

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Thank you!

[@boymatmat]

what about that rule about -18 dbs for the analog sweet spot? doing this is the right thing to do when you have a digital signal...

[@redouandaghirihaouhaou]

I've always wondered why my beats sounded so quiet when I export them. Can't believe something so simple can have such a powerful effect.

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Yeah it’s a big deal! Can’t skip over the basics

[@DJ2109]

subbed. so gain stage everything at around -6db, add your effects individually, then set your volume faders?

[@joseantoniomartinezarjona9331]

Muy bueno

[@yungfranklinbeats]

great tutorial

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Thank you!

[@madimakes]

Subbed because my name is jon too and I’m also a dreamer. Now to get this learning lol

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Let’s goooooo

[@gregory22193]

This was golden.

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

thanks!

[@rafaelhernandez5550]

This is the best explanation about this topic. I am not sure maybe you can get the loud also using the utility plugin from Ableton. thanks

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Yeah you can but if you already have a gain knob or an area to increase the gain on your plugin. why do you need to use the utility? Use it when you have to and there’s not enough gain possibilities. Appreciate the comment

[@jamalfadesemall9275]

Hey bro, there is another way to do this that is even easier. Download SPAN from voxengo it's FREE. Add an instance of Span and a utility from the effects tab to each of your channels. Use the output meter in Span to see the volume. Use the volume knob on Utility to lower the sound to a range between 12 and 18 dB. The best practice is to create a starter template with all of your tracks and add Span and Utility to each and save it as a default template. That way you don't have to do it every time you sit down to make some music you can just use the instance utility that's already on the track to gain stage.

[@astralbeatz9950]

if ur using the same sounds every time sure

[@jamalfadesemall9275]

@@astralbeatz9950 What? You can use any sounds. The purpose of the template is so that your channels already have Span and a Utility on them ready to go. It makes it easier to load a sound then use span to see the true volume and then to adjust that volume according to the need of the mix. This saves time because you don't have to go searching for volume nobs on each instrument on each channel. You just adjust the volume knob on each instance of Utility per channel.

[@jamalfadesemall9275]

Oh and one more reason why it is better to use Utility to adjust your gain, the volume faders attenuation changes, as you go lower in volume the range of volume decrease actually increases, so smaller movements of the fader have a greater impact on the decrease in volume. Using the utility makes it easier for the mastering engineer to make volume adjustments post-mix down, allowing him to use all of the range in the channel fader.

[@Rhekluse]

I would have to kindly disagree with this practice, Jon. You're not wrong it just has the potential of causing more problems than not, especially on the 2-buss, mix-buss or master buss. Faders also tend to lose 'resolution' as they get lowered quite drastically so gain-staging a mix to unity-gain (faders at zero) using trim/gain tools can often provide better/more consistent mixing results. Like, take the loudest part of a track and 'trim' your channel's gains to a balanced mix all the while keeping the faders at zero (aka unity-gain). If any groups or busses are clipping pre-fader, lowering the fader will not eliminate the clipping, it will simply hide the it from meter view while the summed mix remains clipping. Something to keep in mind however, clipping ITB isn't all that bad these days especially when using 24/32-bit floating point headroom. I've been loving your channel & content, mate. Really great stuff! Big up.

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Of course, this is an introduction to the overall practice, so people understand what people are generally referring to and do not get discouraged and overwhelmed. Also mixing practices, between genres is also a thing. Thanks for your input

[@mattremblay_]

Definitely appreciate these tips, can you do a tutorial on how to do a full professional mix of a beat as well as a master? Essentially just the process of getting a finished product id love to see. I use ableton and i cant really find any good mixing and mastering tutorials for trap beats. Its frustrating because i always use reference tracks with other beats from producers that i know use FL Studio and their beats seem so clean, loud & wide. I always watch mixing tutorials in FL on youtube because theres non for ableton, i apply the same techniques and i still find my mixes just arent the same as these FL users. I sometimes ask myself if FL just has a better sound engine than ableton, do you ever have this problem with your mixes?

[@ntorres1152]

you keep using ableton? any tips? haha

[@martinezdecap]

Hello! im confused at a certain point. I notice that you bring up the volume from the instrument until it clips, and then you bring each instrument fader (ableton level) down to your desired point. Can you explain more on what happens in regards to bringing the volume of the instrument up and then using the ableton levels to bring it down. I assume that you have the kick the loudest, and from there you bring each instrument up (with the instrument volume) so that it can be as loud as it can be without clipping and use the ableton levels (faders) to mix it with the rest of the beat?

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Simplest way to put it is this makes sure that every sound matches the fader and is loud. When it comes to mixing it up to you on how you want to level your music and decide what takes dominance. But before you start a mix, make sure everything is gain staged first

[@tiny7438]

This is like a magic trick! But how can I fix the red problem on a vca-65 for example, sometimes i get to much color on my sound if I want to use analog emulation ? I' m missing something ? I'm sure u can make me understant, the way you explain is the best! Thanks for this video !

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Not sure as it’s a plugin I don’t have but have it running clean out of that plugin and use a native utility plugin to increase the gain to gain stage effectively

[@tiny7438]

Thanks ! 🍻

[@martinxaba4850]

I'm new to this sound engineering thing and I have two questions. When do you start the gain staging process, as you load/build up tracks? What about adding plugins onto the track, won't that affect the sound signal and how do you control that? I can see you can manage the master channel headroom by adjusting instrument faders. but how will this method affect the headroom of each instrument?

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

If you’re new…try not to over think it. Most plugins have gain/level features in them and you can do it as you go. It’s a good habit to practice. You can always readjust your levels if things start to clip. It’s important to think of headroom when your talking about the master of the entire track instead of each channel. As long as you’re not distorting a single channel and you’re overall level is not clipping you’re good. I find that if I’m coming in a little too hot towards the end I put a simple utility plugin on the master and turn it down a few db and sorted.

[@martinxaba4850]

@@JONTHEDREAMER Let me try this, thanks I'll give you feedback

[@sohangrover4847]

Had a question do you worry much about being under -6 db on the master or do you not worry much about it before sending it off to an artist

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

I mix all my beats to come in about -3db to allow headroom for them to record to. But when I actually send beats out / upload them to my online store front, they’re premastered for loudness. Then if they’re used they ask for the -3db stems or beat file.

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Man, I need to find this beat and finish it haha

[@kassaiadyni_am_her_secret1942]

Do you pref his over the arppegiator technique?

[@Basty71637]

Hahahaha! Dude please continue making videos. This one helped me a to understand the process of gain-staging a lot!

[@peter83north]

what is the beat playing in the background while your talkin in the beginning

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

@@peter83north kzbin.info/www/bejne/aomXqpaNh8h0g6c

[@peter83north]

U need to do start to finish tutorials on those types of beats. Like exactly how u got the hi hats so thin. And all the instruments so perfect. An what third party plug ins your using for the final process

[@jamalalsenady3144]

But what if you're using analog modeled plug ins? Those levels would be too hot as analog plug ins are designed for -18 average ...you would normalize the track after you hit the analog plug ins...and if you're using analog on your master (such as analog glue compressor) you would need to keep those lower levels throughout the entire process...correct?

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

I’d say if you’re using modelled plugins it’s always important to drive them at the correct levels to get the effect you want but then adjust the gain staging on the output of those plugins to ensure that your fader is still is the correct place, so that you remain in control. If the plugin that you’re using doesn’t have an output you can use the standard ableton utility plugin after it to manage your gain and levels. As for the master it all depends on your desired output and how much headroom you want to leave for mastering etc.

[@mellowdeepsdeephouse6069]

This is by the easiest explanation ever, these other guy's were just complicating it

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Thanks man

[@KennyCalypso]

On God bro

[@wmextra]

Word

[@yourhippy]

👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

[@18Hands]

Really informative!!! One thing I am a bit confused about is , it looks like your drums arent leaving any headroom on the master. I usually have my drums and bass running into an audio channel bus that has a limiter on it. Which leaves a lot more headroom on the master for the instruments which go directly into the master. So my question is this. Is your goal to have your drums hitting at 0 on the master? Because I assume you will need a little bit of headroom to master the track. I'm just trying to figure out a consistent approach since there is a lot of varied information out there. Cheers mate !

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

I mix everything to zero and then once I’m happy with the entire mix I put a simple utility plugin on the master and lower the whole mix by 3-4 db before putting a limiter on after. Hope that helps

[@18Hands]

@@JONTHEDREAMER Much appreciated!

[@xxxdimz9517]

In this 9 minutes tutorial I learned more than in the last couple years watching useless tutorials From other guys .. 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

[@daaze1093]

I'm learning how to mix so please feel free to tell me otherwise but isn't it an issue that you have no headroom in your master after doing this? I thought you should leave a fair bit of room to allow space to compress, distort and play with the dynamics. Then once you're done you master the track to bring the loudness back.

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

daaze this isn’t a final mix mate, this is getting the most out of every single sound in your track and setting the correct levels. Once I complete this task, I then select everything and bring every sound down to create headroom for mix and mastering process to follow.

[@daaze1093]

​yeah I've been watching way too many different tutorials with different methods. that makes sense though, I'm gonna try it. thank you.

[@Singlelite7]

I noticed your master is almost 0db at the end of the video. Would you then just turn the master fader down 6 dB so you have headroom for the master?

[@Singlelite7]

I kept scrolling the comments and saw you answer this a few times! I appreciate your input! So when I’m ready to master, should I bring my fader down for headroom or the gain knob?

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

I never move my master fader. I keep it at 0db so I never loose track of where I am. If you want to turn it use a utility on the master maybe.

[@Singlelite7]

@@JONTHEDREAMER I appreciate the prompt response 🙏🏾

[@klassenjimmy99]

Isn’t it more important to have proper gain staging and having headroom for audio effects & mastering? I understand if faders are way off but I tried this and I messed my gain staging and had barley no headroom to add effects. I’m new to game but my gut tells me gain staging out weighs exacter fader position and in other Ableton tutorials everyone alway has faders 🎚 set to “0” not trying to be a ass just a little confused.

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Fader level is important while creating because you are in control of your levels. You can always add a utility plugin to your master channel and turn it down your desired db level to create headroom for mastering. But while producing it’s easy to forget that you’re not mastering yet…you are producing. Also I always keep my master fader at 0.

[@klassenjimmy99]

@@JONTHEDREAMER finally figured out about utility and limiters too. Helps out so much.

[@klassenjimmy99]

I did this but it messed up my gain staging I couldn’t put any more effects cause instrument was to high. Did this happen to you?

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Turn your faders down bro, nobody produces a track where all your tracks are at zero. Keep your master track at zero not your individual tracks

[@klassenjimmy99]

Thanks bro for getting back to me.

[@klassenjimmy99]

Took me a bit but I understand now. I was working backwards. My bad takes a little longer for me to learn. Thanks for getting back to and taking time to msg me.

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

@@klassenjimmy99 no sweat man! Please join my discord. Got a lot of people in there willing to help out invite.gg/jonthedreamer

[@klassenjimmy99]

@@JONTHEDREAMER I will for sure. Thanks again for taking time to msg me.

[@thebongororo]

Why not use Utility ?

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Bongo Roro I do use it from time to time but if you got level controls in the plugin you’re already using why add another one if you don’t need to?

[@thebongororo]

JON THE DREAMER true. Another workflow could be to have utility on your default settings for each track

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Bongo Roro as long as you get the job done and do what works for you, you can do anything

[@jhonnylawrence4802]

I fucks with you. I feel you could've charge for that... Gems!

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Haha thanks for the love! - if you wana support your boy you can here: www.buymeacoffee.com/jonthedreamer

[@jhonnylawrence4802]

@@JONTHEDREAMER no doubt

[@jhonnylawrence4802]

@@JONTHEDREAMER no doubt

[@youelk685]

Keep on bro u teach so way good. All others just empty blabla smh

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Thanks fam! Ima keep em coming. Loads in the pipeline

[@jakhcdbsksh6194]

How come everybody else makes 15 min videos. You literally explained it in 2 min i could have just clicked off.

[@JONTHEDREAMER]

Time is money man! Glad it helped