The TRUTH About Proper Gain Staging in Your Mix (Gain Staging Simplified!)

[@adamhurst86]

Gain staging ITB actually does improve mix quality when going through plugins. I have tested this thoroughly and is especially true for eqing. If you are doing drastic boosts with EQ for creative sound design purposes, you get a much cleaner result if the incoming signal is quiet. My mixes sound more full when utilizing gain staging during the signal chain. If a signal is too hot and causing inharmonic distortion within the plugin, the sum of all the distortion will be great when the full mix hits the limiter to bring the volume back up. I use a lot of Acustica Audio plugins and I can definitely say that there is a big difference in clarity and fullness of my mixes when I use gain staging mixing techniques especially going into these plugins. I believe it is also genre dependent too. Do some experiments yourself and see if it A: improves your mix. B: improves your workflow

[@izvarzone]

yeah, but it doesn't have to be exactly -18dB. Sometimes you may want less, and more, for different sound from plugin.

[@johncostigan6160]

Thanks for the tip! I just watched a Dom Sigalas video about GS & he convinced me to take it easy going in to give my plug-ins plenty of headroom and especially freeing up headroom on the Master Bus. i come from tape recording, and recording hot trying to get a high signal-to-noise ratio is a hard habit to break. All the Best.

[@JReaLBiz86]

Fully agree with this. Granted, there's no "absolute" when it comes to gain staging, like the whole -18dB thing I see a lot of content creators mentioning, but pushing too much signal through plugins or busses does make the job of getting a clean mix more difficult. Even still, I suggest for people who don't have the experience to know where they want to gain stage to have the kick peak somewhere around -9dB, and build everything else around it. Then just make sure the signal coming in to the master track is peaking no higher than -6dB for mastering and everything is good. How they choose to get to that number is up to them (faders, busses, etc.)

[@darrellroseborough7275]

Hey Jordan, on my current journey in the world of recording I finally ran across a video that just makes since. It’s a million videos about how vital gain staging will make your mixes sound more professional. But after hearing some of your finished products I became more convinced that the gain staging rhetoric bs must be mythical after all. Actually I’ve been mixing this way since I got into the game and everyone thought I was doing this major gain staging thing. All I was really doing was the same method you’re doing in this video and the mixes turned out quite exciting. I’m not recording rock or metal but that doesn’t mean you can’t apply your teachings to other genres. Thanks for all you do for the recording community. Keep up the great work Jordan. As the late great movie critics Siskel and Ebert would say two thumbs up!!!!!

[@randyroderick]

I feel like I can finally enjoy mixing and life in general after watching this video 😂 thanks!

[@hardcoremusicstudio]

Yes!! 👊

[@PiaMoJanggod]

same

[@swaysilvermusic8856]

x3

[@metalfather8139]

Thanks I was beginning to wonder why they even made mix faders in daws ....thanks for putting us at ease....

[@Gay-rh7yz]

Nah

[@djdanger9812]

When the meter is going from green and just pushing into the yellow you're set. Exactly how I've always always recorded and mixed. Great vid.

[@robm1626]

This just took away so much underlying stress in regards to leveling and gain staging you're the best J, truly, thank you for this (years of stress gone). Keeping being you, you're appreciated out here :)

[@eternalcustomchannel]

I personally love having knowledge about gain staging, because it helps me build my sound (as a guitarist or bassist, drummer or vocalist). It helps me understand not to clip anything in my analogue chain. However, I am pretty chilled if I am in the box and a red light comes on, especially later in my mix. At the beginning I might try to keep things clean, but later, I want it to sound good. I believe the knowledge of gain staging is great, but I don't allow it to cripple me in my decision making (which seems to be the fear addressed in this video?). Love it, thanks for all the reminders that it is about MUSIC at the end of the day!

[@jenniferlowpass2931]

Great to hear, that somebody has a different approach to this topic as most guys on YT. I agree on the recording part and your point on fader resolution is also a great opinion... but I realy disagree on the part that GS doesen't make any differents between a "amatuer" and a "pro" mix and is not that important. Not saying that you have to gain all your tracks to -18dBVU or somthing is the key.. but allmost every time I've worked with "hobby-producers" mixing their own stuff, the problem was no understanding of GS. The "just turn down the masterfader" approach often leads to a - turn everything on channels up, turn the master down and slap a limiter on thing. (Protools is a special thing there; Most other DAWs got prefader inserts on the masterfader!) Example: most software synths put out a level near 0dBFS so one cant hear the bass and drums anymore - turn everything up past 0, masterfader down - but then it has to be louder to bounce it - limiter on... and the result is a wobbly bass mess. I think it's your experience with GS (and floatingpoint calculation.. not everybody knows how to abuse it in a positive way) wherefore you don't need to think about it and get hot levels sounding right.. and tbh you said that you know the level just hitting the yellow is how you want it - that's the essence of every "pros" GS approach.. -> Gaining all tracks (or Group Inputs like eg Joey Sturgis) to a more or less fixed level with a sort of input gain, so your 2Bus isn't exploding and buscompression/limiting doesn't turn out into a basketball like sound. ..so I don't think you're busting any myths there.. Summarized I like your approach on this topic because it is mostly a convenience thing how you like your levels and faders with floatpoint DAWs nowadays and you're not telling that it's a must to gain to a strict level X/Y! But I find it necessary to understand what GS is about and not just leave it as nonsense. Then you can make your own thing out of it and thats the key, in my opinion.

[@pco2004]

You've probably saved me hours of wasting time fussing about hard rules with numbers. I intuitively knew this but it helps to hear it from others like you. Thanks Jordan!

[@rmchamberlain]

4:34 take the hint from the programmers! 0VU = (+4dBu or -10dBv) = 1kHz Sine wav @ ref voltage = -18dBFS = 85dbSPL(A) @ 1m unless you have a high end ADC which specificly declares a higher maximum input voltage and you can set the calibration voltage to -20dBFS or some other standardized reference level. The correct way to think about gain structure is that all devices in your signal path should clip at the same time. To maximize the S/N ratio, the system designer should choose equipment which supports the same maximum input and output level with similar nominal operating level AND headroom. For example, a "Pro" preamp often has a max output level of +26dBu and outputs a balanced signal at +4dBu. If one drives the input of a converter which also has a maximum input level of +26dBu with a nominal operating level of +4dBu over a balanced line, the correct equipment has been selected. If the ADC only handles a max input level of +18dBu the additional output range of the preamp has to be attenuated and this compromises the dynamic range of the system. Now consider an ADC which supports a max input level of +26dBu with a nominal level of +4dBu. The nominal level is far below the maximum range which allows a much more precise level of measurement over the voltages than can be achieved when operating closer to the max limits. The same is true with a converter which accepts a max input level of +18dBu and this (and because of number of additional design improvements) is one large reason why more expensive converters typically sound better than cheap converters and its also exactly the same reason DAW engineers should record with more headroom, especially on cheaper digital gear. Anyone using a 24 bit converter has zero reason to record with less headroom than the manufacturer anticipated. Only people recording directly to 16bit mediums should even consider the effects of quantization distortion (when low voltages are inaccurately sampled due to a lack of resolution in the digtal scale). The best thing a novice engineer can get out of this is (in extremely general terms) that an audio system designer should always choose equipment with the same operating capabilities throughout the entire system and that the weakest link defines the system's capabilities.

[@sebastiandordoni2268]

So many numbers and so much bla bla... Who gives a rat's ass , this is about making music , not fucking rocket science

[@ezrashanti]

Very helpful info thanks!

[@wienerstein2817]

@@sebastiandordoni2268 If you're going to put engineer in the title of your name you should know about the numbers. You better not be calling yourself an engineer if you can't figure this shit out. Or maybe you'll back pedal and say you're a musician so it doesn't matter and I'm just talking to a wall because you're going to take it personally.

[@JonValtandtheEvilRobots]

sebastian dordoni but IS science. You’re the only one talking about rockets. Lol. All these letters and keys. Lol who cares about music theory. You must be a rapper. 🤣

[@sebastiandordoni2268]

@@wienerstein2817 and who said i present myself as an engineer? To call myself and engineer would be an insult to the real ones with decades of experience, i'm only saying people don't care what preamps or at what levels you recorded, if the mix sounds good that's all that matters, leave the ultra technical matters to the elistists and gatekeepers

[@galahadskeys]

At last! A voice of reason! My background is from mixing with tape when it was all about signal to noise and getting the most out of gear with instabilities. I've been working with DAWs in the way that you describe in the video for many years but have recently doubted myself thanks to all of the gain staging videos out there. I can now go back to mixing with confidence.

[@whosrichpurnell3328]

I think many aspiring mixers get into this side of audio because of how cerebral it can be. And while there are technicalities in mixing, it’s good to remember that it’s nothing precious and to approach the mix pragmatically vs theoretically

[@procrast]

you are a doctor, curing my mixing diseases thank you bro, i love your 'make it simple' way of mixing

[@darrellroseborough7275]

This is why your channel is so educating without all the can't do this don't do that bullshit. quiet as kept this is exactly the way I've been going about. I was getting so much push back that my music would suffer if I wasn't doing this exact scientific method that's all over the KZbinrs channels. I thought engineering was a unique individual creating their own sound. Hardcore you're spitting the true gospel keep up the great work and thanks for all you do for the recording fam. I've been a scriber since I ran into this specific video. anyone searching for any other video dealing with gain staging just STOP IT!! this guy can't put it any simpler. Gain staging isn't a big deal afterwards.

[@YouDave2020]

This is so timely for me. I am diving in deeper in my transition from anolog mixing mindset to Daw mindset. This resonates well with me. Thanks for the clarity and transparency!

[@adamwasthefirstman]

100% with you. When I'm setting my inputs, I just increase them until it sounds good and that's usually a good bit before clipping. If you start off reasonably, there's no reason not to just track things the way you want to hear them. Say you're laying down drums while everyone else is essentially laying down scratch tracks. When it comes time to track everything else, if you recorded the drums hot because that was the sweet spot on the pres, all you have to do is simply turn them down. What a concept. I definitely worried way too much about it for a couple years and am pretty sure it stunted my growth.

[@Metalbass10000]

I've been playing guitar and bass for more than three decades, with planty of live performance and professional studio time, but I'm new to home recording, so i needed this. Thanks!

[@tatman5780]

Gain staging isn't quality as far as I've ever heard of. It's more for workflow and the chance to speed the mix up at the end of the process and therefore maybe making more money. Your general message is spot on, blown way out of proportion. I prefer your way, set your inputs correctly before you track your finals. At the same time, I still use gain staging if I see a Track that looks like it's not setting around relatively the same level. If they're all close or somewhat similar, I don't even bother. Great video. I think this is the 3rd video I've seen from you now. Your putting some great advice out there.

[@Leedguitar2]

Great video that makes 100% real world sense. I’m newer to home recording but had a few studio experiences 20+ years ago and things have changed greatly. Wonderful video, cheers!

[@gamalieltalho8919]

This is the most relavant, honest truth about Gain staging. What everyone else says doesn't not make sense. I'm subscribing and following you now! Good stuff!!👍🏽

[@caryheuchert]

Thank you for this great video! With my first CD, five years ago, I didn’t even know about the process of “gain staging”, and just mixed the tracks to what sounded right to my ears, and kept the signals out of the red. When I got the album mastered, I felt happy when the engineer told me that my mixes sounded correct.

[@chrissypoodle]

All good info on gain staging. Only issue with using the 'all' selection to pull down the faders is this will effect the level going to sub groups and your mix buss. Therefore your compression/saturation/effects won't have the same relationship when you pull down the faders.

[@hardcoremusicstudio]

For sure, if you have to do this late in a mix you'll have to make adjustments to any busses. Again though, common sense.

[@mentalstate5753]

@@hardcoremusicstudio It could be good to mention. You show the mixing part, that and the production is two separate topics. But many like me use hardware today. I hit as loud possible without noise on lowest volyme and not cliping when recorded. That works. And in my case gain make a difference wirh UAD. But if you dont feel or hear, that you analog gears at some level, adds a lot of noise you should perhaps do something else ;)

[@patryknarbut]

Groups

[@StarWitnessTime]

VCA groups if your DAW can do it!

[@humanbeing7851]

Even after 4 years this video is still helping people like me. As I'm trying hard to focus only on Music composing not on Sound Engineering, gain staging is always like a headache for me. It takes time but well this is more about focus. This video made it so easy to me. Thank you for this. Lots of love from India

[@johnmarkhatfield]

it’s just for tracking and final mix. your mic, board/interface, cables, etc have analog noise and interferences. high input without messing with the spl of the mic, no clipping, and you’re golden. in the daw doesn’t matter at all. track, bus, master. can be wherever without clips.

[@bodhimian]

Just to clarify… turning down all your faders can definitely change your mix if you are going through subgroups and those subgroups see less input signal to a compressor for example. What i tend to do is have all my groups on a vca and all my other chans that go directly to master output (if there are any) on another vca, turn those two down at the same time for total pre-master volume control. Thanks for the refreshing non-hysterical video :)

[@r.d.1056]

I think the point that people are trying to make with the emphasis on gain staging, is that for people who are recording and mixing their own music. And if you have proper gain staging from the beginning it just streamlines the process, and save you a lot of time and headaches...

[@crimewavbeats5532]

Riiiight, it really does

[@phadrus]

Yes

[@figlermaert]

I’ve been doing home recording for 20 years. Never started hearing about gain staging until now, after finally upgrading my gear and DAW. I know my old cool edit pro wasn’t the easiest to use but I never had issue with headroom or noisy signals. Still had decent mixed despite my software limitations for hating, reverb, lack of vst plugins, etc. Glad I’ve found your channel. Just watching a few vids of yours and they’ve made me reassured that I don’t need to follow all or a lot of the things I’m hearing in other trends. E.g. loved your low end video. I felt like I was doing something wrong by not always separating frequencies. And now worried I wasn’t doing what I should to stage gate. I’ll take that kinda advice with a grain of salt!

[@henryraymond8676]

Thank U and yes, back in the day when we used to record with analog stuff U recorded fairly hot to achieve the best signal to noise ratio. S/N. AND U looked at your equipment to look at things like S/N, THD, speaker efficiency, dynamic range, SPL, crosstalk, distortion, and your speaker "curve" and microphone "curve." What's interesting now is these things, which used to be regularly published and featured with the equipment can be more difficult to figure out. With digital it is less of a concern as far as "noise" is an issue but these other things can be a factor especially things like speaker efficiency, the curve, and the mics. I still use analog stuff sometimes so it is good to have this background. Moreover, it would help "newbies" to understand what these things are.

[@badmonkeymusicproductions3569]

I think the issue of gain staging for me is just ensuring a proper balance of signal from stems to final master fader. The addition of tracks and processing often increase gain, which requires a constant rebalancing during the mixing phase. You can hear the difference between how a plugin reacts to too hot of a signal, which is always less pleasing than an analog piece. A collective of "too hot signal" plugins can change the tone of a mix, and can affect everything down the chain. So its a constant checking, and rechecking through the processing chain. Its not complicated - its just something to be aware of.

[@hamaton3]

With regards to unity on the faders. the gain reduction is exponential as you go down the fader (in Ableton for example) it acts in a way as a limiter and you can squash/lose dynamics by having all faders pulled down hard. By gain staging in channel and keeping them closer to zero there's much less dynamic loss

[@MB1z]

Thanks for finally setting everything straight. I have never believed all that gain staging talk when I mixed.

[@rickjohnston359]

I like this method of not going into a major overwhelm about keeping the level perfect in the recording stage. The information knowing the DAW has plenty of headroom is definitely good to know and keeps my focus on playing the arrangement.

[@JReaLBiz86]

I do appreciate your take on gain staging in a digital setting. However gain staging in such a way to leave yourself plenty of headroom is still beneficial for someone using a DAW. For one, the mastering process can still benefit from having the extra space to work with, no matter what platform is used to do it. But even more than that, it's not a guarantee that everyone who uses these DAWs will ALWAYS be using DAWs, and getting into proper practice of leaving headroom just means that you won't have to relearn how to mix once you're faced with an analog setup. I learned recording and production engineering in a professional studio, using consoles like the SSL and the Neve. I also learned how to use Pro Tools in this same school, and professional engineers explained that although in a digital workspace there is far less worry about clipping, not every track being made will be fully mixed "in the box". It's just smart to know what proper gain staging is and utilize it every time you mix. I do agree that there's no "golden ratio" for gain staging, such as your average level being at -18dB. The only thing I make sure of is that before the signal hits the master track, I'm peaking around -6dB, giving me enough headroom for the mastering part of the process. This can be done a number of ways, but I do tend to keep my faders near unity gain (0dB) and gain stage through my channel inputs (using FL Studio). However, you could have everything come in hot and simply turn them all down by their faders, or on a buss. Really it's up to you as long as you leave that headroom on the master. Nothing wrong with your technique, and for people who aren't as into the engineering side of audio production as myself, it's better to avoid the headache most times. But there are reasons why people make so much fuss over gain staging. Even you mention that you eyeball your gain staging because of years and years of experience, which these folks may not have.

[@michaelanderwald4179]

That's why I think every plugin should have an input knob with an indicator that tells the user if the input level is okay or too low or high, no matter what level the plugin expects. And usually I'll just make sure that the level doesn't change much when I bypass a plugin in order to not have to adjust input gain further down the line (assuming that plugins in general deal well with an RMS level of -18dfFS).

[@damientoth9133]

I feel like shooting for -12 db. on the input has helped me get better mixes easier. I'm a complete beginner but when I started doing that I got much better results. But thanks for the knowledge brother!

[@ultrajayme]

I go for -12 to -8 depending on the sound element.

[@philipalmen5116]

Thank you for this, been stressing over gain staging like I somehow missed the essence of mixing and mastering. I've been rapidly progressing in my skills so I guess I've got an ear for it!

[@balazstoth2753]

I was actually starting to worry about this recently. Haven't paid attention to this so far, only made sure the input doesn't clip, but so many videos came out on this topic recently...Great video again!

[@musicstudioml]

Hey man, I love you! I love your straightforward approach, I love your philosophy, I love the way you explain and simplify things. Your mixes sound so powerful. Thank you for all the advice and for all the effort. Thank you, man, for everything! The best possible channel for audio production!!! ❤

[@WinstonGuitar]

I must say that, if you've recorded a few microphone audio tracks from sources that are not very close to the mic (I do that a lot - in order to get more of a "room" character) - and then you go along and do what he shows here - turning up all the tracks that have low levels, you WILL get lots of noise. However, most people record an audio source that's hot enough so such an adjustment won't be a problem. I think I'm one of the few musicians that adds lots of different "room" mics from various angles and distances. But if you are like me and do such things, then be careful about raising your levels just based on the appearance of the waveform in your DAW (which he shows here).

[@guitarsoul1129]

Thanks for simplifying and emphasizing the essence))) It takes me a lot of time trying to mix one song, but now I wanna try to mix a song within a day, maybe within a few days

[@noahbecerra]

Got this video recommended to me again, and I’m not mad. Ever since this video I stopped stressing about gain staging😂

[@Hechab]

I feel compelled to comment and thank you as you've allowed me to stop stressing about what "most" youtubers out there are saying you should be doing if you want the best mix ever and allowed me to take it with a grain of salt and just do what sounds good to me. I still reference some of my favorite mixes but I allow myself to detach from that and just mix with my own ears.

[@proddreamatnight]

It's so funny that the moment I came to write the comment about analog modelled plugins, you started talking about it I'm still a nerd about making sure signals are at -18 dbFS when the fader's at unity gain before doing any processing. Ended up making it a habit & I just haven't stopped

[@vvsnipes]

Well said!! I sent a track to my old engineer and he stated that my vocals were too loud! But it sounded good to me and many others. I tend to let others opinions mess with my head which I shouldn’t. If it sounds dope it sounds dope. But this info that you just gave me made me level up! Can’t wait to try this out.

[@novakattila]

If you use outboard gear of any kind you still need to mind your levels just as much as when using analog emulation plugins. If you use multiple ones in chain its still important to mind your levels. They do sound different at various levels. Example is the API2500 sounds different if you boost the volume inside the plugin then annuate it with another utility, than if you have the lower volume out of the plugin. Which makes sense since it was modeled after an actual unit which behaves the very same way. You can try this yourself. A digital gain plugin does not (and should not) work the same as an analog modeled volume trim/gain. Just use your ears and you'll notice how different they are. If you're close to digital clipping chances are you waaay overdrive your analog modeled plugins, way above the level which they actually work well at. Real tape machines can start distorting at 0VU to 6VU depending on the brand and machine. Now any tape plugin worth its salt should follow the same standard, see J37 or Slate Tape, they all do this too.

[@josh_lv4268]

Very useful information. Thank you. I am an amateur bedroom mixer, and I'm learning along the way, but I definitely feel like I'm making nice progress.

[@beatboxbill]

This video has some valid points, and I'm not here to dispute any of them. I would just say that it depends on your workflow. I've gotten used to the -18db gain staging rule, but it works for me and keeps everything generally uniform while leaving headroom in the group tracks. I've just incorporated it into my workflow and it works for me so far. But there isn't anything that says I HAVE to. It's all about what works for you.

[@dh1163]

It's actually a good practice to understand and employ that will allow you to achieve consistency across all of your mixes. One huge challenge that causes people to stumble while learning to mix is having their monitors' loudness too low. Granted, we should be checking at different levels and (if you have them) sets of monitors, but the nominal level is ordinarily set too low at the outset. So, you punch-up a mix and before you know it you're in the red all over the place.

[@iwalkeverdeyazul5265]

Excelente Jordan! Muchas Gracias por tus aportes y la transmisión clara de los conocimientos! y por el libro también! Saludos desde Argentina

[@NowThatsBadLuck]

Love your whole philosophy on all of this. Helped me so much to just learn what sounds good without worrying that I’m breaking any of these “rules” you hear thrown around all the time.

[@Vambibuda]

You are a god 🙏🏽 lol thanks. I spend so much time gain staging to the point where I get anxious 😟 if I don’t but this video made me feel a little better so maybe, and just maybe 🤔 I MIGHT not gain stage on my next mix as an experiment 🔬

[@ThePdeHav]

About having your faders at zero. The the 7”s engineers got there balance from mic positioning. They were ratchet by dudes who recorded this way since the advent if the L P in the 50s. By the 90s when working on the G 4000 series inwards ( E could update their firmware to achieve the following too ) we could zero / null our faders without changing tbd mix level. Something I did often. This was a very helpful in several situations; especially’ fader creep.’ Great Video. Thanks

[@DonnTarris]

In your explanation of "back in the day", it's not true that faders would be at zero when recording, unless the signal had to go through the fader - as in when the signal was being fed to a group before going to the recorder. In the 4 consoles I worked on between 1977 to 1985, any single channel that was going to a single track only went through the input preamp and then perhaps through the equalizer, which had its own amplifier to make up the gain lost if the eq was passive. The signal was controlled for, as you suggested, the maximum signal to achieve the desired sound and not include unwanted noise. Sometimes a gate would be inserted before the signal went to the track. The fader, which is only a passive device and hence "unity" effectively took its existence out of the circuit, only affected what I listened to in the control room, after the tape recorder. Panning and reverb/effects sends followed the fader in individual channels, as did the master buss. Some consoles did not work this way, wherein the fader did affect the signal to the tape recorder, but they weren't very desirable, at least not in the studios I worked in. The most important thing about gain staging in today's hybrid recording environment, imnsho, is to understand it enough to know in what circumstances it's important and the effect of it on achieving the sound one wants. In a single piece of very popular gear, the tube guitar amp like a Fender VibroChamp, gain staging plays a part - or, understanding it allows one to get more control of what goes through it. Knowing where the volume control is in the circuit plays a big part in getting the most out of that very simple circuit. The volume pot follows the first gain stage, meaning it has no control over what is coming in at the input jack. That first gain stage is set, and one can only affect its behaviour by increasing or decreasing the signal being fed to the input of the amp- effectively, the closer one can control how close that first stage can get to the point of breakup, allows the player a much fuller playing experience. The gain of the output tube is also fixed in that amp, meaning only the voltage of the signal going through it could be adjusted, by the single volume control and the tone controls. If you were to work in a studio with an analogue console you weren't familiar with, the block diagram for that mixer becomes very important. With that, you can see where the gain stage are and make more informed, predictable use of that mixer. As for emulation plugins and the small type where the maker mentions what level to apply to its input as a starting point, ignoring that means one is not really interested in emulating the original, analogue behaviour - which is subjectively is fine, but the result would probably not be as accurate as the money spent on the plugin represented.

[@RobbGilligan]

Great video, Jordan, thank you for dropping wisdom on this mystical topic, dead on! Although I'd have to kinda disagree with you (at 3:02 minutes) that there's no signal to noise ratio to worry about in the digital domain, because we still have to record in analog before converting to digital, and noise floor exists there. Yes of course, turning up a digital fader or boosting clip gain won't introduce any noise from the DAW itself, but noisy preamps, tubes, and other recording equipment still exists on the front end. I see this a lot when I get a track that has been recorded too quietly and when I boost the clip gain, I get a ton of noise floor along with it. This just happened to me on a track I got of a home recording and the acoustic guitar got really quiet on a finger picking down-chorus, and when I brought up the gain to a reasonable level, I got a ton of noise-hiss along with it. I still think recording a healthy signal on the way in is important for this reason, and not just record as loud or quiet as you want without clipping. There is still a possible noise floor depending on your gear and tracking environment, and you can't just always crank up the fader in pro tools if it was recorded too quiet. Maybe I just get shittier recordings more often than you do, but I definitely run into noise floor issues from time to time.

[@hardcoremusicstudio]

That's definitely true! I think/hope i said in the video to record with a solid signal into the DAW - not so low that it's barely showing up, but not so hot that you risk clipping. The main point of that section was to say that the converter itself and the DAW mixer isn't adding any additional noise the way older gear would.

[@ultrajayme]

I do a very loose form of staging. Not on every channel. But I'll typically have an EQ, then a vu, then a limiter (Not a limiter on every channel all the time)....and then add plugins backwards from the limiter. I only use it as a guide and a tool to help keep everything sounding relatively even in gain and volume. If it doesn't seem like it's working I'll remove it and not gain stage or I'll modify based on what it needs. Like I said I keep it loose.

[@giovannimusic2010]

Watching this confirmed what I was doing was correct, because I was told , Gio you have to gain stage and set your levels before even starting to record each track. Then I started doing this and realized to go with what feels right and what my eyes and ears are showing me. As I added Plug ins like compression, eq, or Reverb, I could clearly see how Hot it made the track I was working on and I simply adjusted as I went thru each plug in, but in the back of my mind I had that thought if I was doing this in front of the people that told me to Gain stage before I even record will they think I was doing it wrong but the more I saw that my mixes were coming out strong and I still left good enough space for the Master I knew to trust my Instincts. Thank you for making this video that confirmed that I made the right decision.

[@sergio_grez]

Hi Jordan, your content is AMAZING! one of the best youtube channels out there. Keep up the great work you're doing. Thanks for all the knowledge and kindness.

[@johnhughes1952]

Knowing the theory of gain staging in the analogue days, I always asked myself if it still applied in digital recording? At last you have answered my question. Thank you. I love the way you delivered your video, simply and clearly. Finally, someone who knows that we're not all professional sound engineers!

[@przybylskibartek]

Hello, I am watching your tutorials very often. Thank you for all your professional and clear guidance. I really appreciate it. What I'd like to ask about is something that I haven't seen in earlier episodes. Could you please make one guiding on mixing choir? Basically it seems to me like interesting topic and not obvious. Let's say 6 lead vocals both female and male, and 6 groups of tracks with kids voices. Each kids vocal group counts about 5 to 6 individual vocals recorded in the same time on 1 mic-this is why 6 group tracks. 3 guitars mainly acoustic, Flute, violin, cajon, bassoon and some hi hats as addition to percussion sounds. Sounds interesting for an episode topic? I hope it does. Thanks in advance

[@wilksy2008]

I bought the book instead! I find your insight and advice so valuable - especially after studying this stuff at masters level. This is more useful and effective! I’ve told a friend of mine who’s also a budding producer, artist and music reviewer about this video and shared the channel with him!

[@teem5945]

Wow! You just freed me! You said everything that I learned through experience. Thought I'm alone on thinking this way.

[@heathd6199]

Holy crap!!! I just found your video! I have been one of those people getting confused about gain staging because how other channels pound it in your head but never clearly showing you what they mean. I feel better now that I dont have to really worry about it so much! Thank You!!

[@promethiousb1489]

When i learnt about gain staging,,it definitely made my mixes sound tighter,,not a hard concept to grasp really.

[@crimewavbeats5532]

Same fr, I think it's the most important part

[@DJBigJoeDaddy]

I agree with everything you said, except about tolerating red lights - I know we are working with 32 and 64 bit floating points, but that's still sloppy practice ..... that being said, good tutorial!!!

[@busyworksbeats]

Thank you for breaking that down :)

[@TypeBeatFactory]

busy works beatsssssssssss.com love that intro

[@BandoLyrix]

hey whats this guy doing here lol........"Its BUSY-WORKSSS BEEEEAATTSS..............

[@phillykeyz215]

I also like to 👀 that we as producers educate ourselves everyday. Busy keep doing your thing!

[@Danmalamfx]

ok i dont expect to c you here.but now you have to tell us what plugging to use in FL STUDIO for gain staging .and well come.

[@stevenholfeltz3052]

Hajee Tech I agree!!

[@firechilde2341]

I wish I would have heard this before recording my band's EP. ugh...

[@brooklynboy1000]

if there is noise in the room and you are micing a voice or an instrument there will be noise picked up (air, mechanical, subway rumble, fans , air conditioning, etc can all be picked up by a mic- so if there is any noise in a home studio-- Id want to record my signal fairly hot, but like you say - not into the red.

[@brandoncooke6564]

He's referring to in the box. What you're talking about is still in the analog realm at that point.

[@brooklynboy1000]

@@brandoncooke6564 even if you get stems as a mixer. The source had to record a vocal in a room with a nice. Where there could be noise.

[@AlbertSirup]

to be frank there is an advantage to not recording instruments too quiety: besides the fact that the ADC of your soundcard will still introduce some noise you will also slightly decrease the dynamic range by recording at a lower volume. If you record in 32 bit it probably will be fine but generally the more "area" between -1 an 1 in the digital waveform you cover the more different points will be available to you. If you just record between -0.1 and 0.1, you will just naturally just have a tenth of the dynamic range, even if you normalize it later. The effect is, technically, close to that of a bit reduction plugin. I'd suggest recording at a medium level where you don't run the danger of clipping but still use a good chunk of the avaiable space of the signal.

[@DoritoStyle]

Right. This video seems to completely ignore the reality of preamps.

[@EasyHeat]

Dude, this totally subsided my inherent second guessing and mixing anxiety in regards to digital. Having started in analog many many moons ago, and also recently transitioning DAWs? I always let my analog instincts screw with my workflow, and end up chasing faders and clip meters obsessively. Definitely going to look into that mix bus trim plugin. Thanks man! Just smashed the subscribe and rang the bell! Cheers!

[@JimiWaggs]

Dude this was refreshing and freeing to hear you say all this

[@TheDonzizi]

This is 2023 and we can finally stop overthinking gain staging. When I start to mix, I pull all my faders down and start building everything from scratch starting with the vocals and kick drum and snare. Once these three sound good and balanced, I bring in everything else proportionally. At the end, there is always enough headroom for mixing and mastering.

[@deadalonethe1]

You just saved me from so much worrying you can't possibly imagine. Got your book, I'll get to it today, thanks for helping us out with your knowledge.

[@justinmandar7193]

been mixing an ep for 3 months and its due b4 Dec 1st and i still have work to do. I was loosing perspective (euphemism for my will to live lol) before watching this video and the one about not scooping too much in the low mids. thanks for your no bs approach! here we go again 😅

[@audiobunny1767]

I gotta thank you for this video. I've been using PT since day dot and absolutely everything you said and your workflow I completely relate to. People need to trust theirs ears more than anything. Thanks again!!!

[@DavidtheCrook]

Great video i agree 👌🏼Sometimes people just over think things and over the look the fact that if it sounds good it is good even if there is a bit of clipping.

[@aidanpouncy]

Great video! I must admit, I get finicky about gain staging but it’s mainly a workflow thing. Knowing that everything is roughly at the same level makes it easier to gauge when I’m balancing faders etc., but I don’t think it makes a huge difference to sound as such.

[@johncostigan6160]

Thank-you for the mixing cheatsheet! I spend so much time learning the mind-numbing complexities of my DAW, shortcuts are ALWAYS Welcome!

[@Nullllus]

Bless you for this topic. I'm so tired of old folks babbling about gain staging.

[@Nullllus]

Gain stage your butthurt, grampa.

[@jtubef8620]

@@Nullllus He's right, you know... Go ahead and clip every plugin in your chain and clip your busses and your master... Go ahead. See how amazing it sounds, moron.

[@Nullllus]

Who said anything about clipping everything? Some plugins don't even clip.

[@jtubef8620]

@@Nullllus 😂😂😂😂😂😂 then you obviously don't understand how they achieve that result lmfao

[@Nullllus]

Who's 'they' in that sentence?

[@StratsRUs]

I did try this gain-staging.The -18dB one.I quite liked it. And now I don't mind where I peak so much. It's worth trying so you get your own experience and take it from there.

[@geme16862]

“Just put the master fader down...“ It depends on whether you´re looking at the master fader meter pre- or post fader! If you see in post fader you can put down the master fader and it´s fine. But if you see it in pre (what feeds the input of the master, you have to put down the channel faders otherwise you´re clipping the master fader output!

[@thebrainrecordingstudios8976]

yeah, this is a bad idea in pro tools, 'cos the master fader is pre processing, so if you keep pulling the master down, then you are changing the input to any plugins you have on that track. There are ways around this, of course! But I wouldn't be taking the approach that Jordan is teaching.

[@OfficeofthePacific]

Thank you for this video. I am way down the rabbit hole and you helped pull me out! Now maybe I can finish my album! Sincerely;y... thanks 🙏

[@Vojtakrasa]

This guy knows what he's doing. So much truth to all of this. Hate the myths about gain staging or using the eq as little as possible. As long as it sounds good, you shouldn't be worried.

[@RecordingStudio9]

Not sure he fully understands. There are no myths about gain staging. So you are saying, as long as a bridge looks good, it doesn't matter how strong it is?

[@jorge.rubiales]

Use your ears and boost or cut more than 4 or 5 db. If you can't hear the change in the phase of the signal, then you should make some tests with easy sources like pink noise to know what to look for.

[@jtubef8620]

There really aren't any myths... Clip a digital system, and it sounds horrible. That's it... The more you clip, the worse it gets. Pretty simple...

[@jtubef8620]

@@jorge.rubiales When I'm eqing I'll boost like 10 or more to hear what it does, then I'll back it off to where I want it once I find the right frequency and Q

[@aiden_macleod]

Speaking of which: If your mix sounds good to you, then why are you piling plugins into the mix? If it's not broken, don't try fixing it.

[@chris_share]

Lots of good points here however if you're using "analog emulation" or saturation plug-ins then you need to be aware of the input level that makes them sound their best. I've been looking in to this and found that there's a fair bit of variation across plug-ins. Some need to be pushed hard to saturate while others saturate much sooner. The only way to check this is by running a test tone into the plug-in and then looking at the output in something like SPAN.

[@Simple_Math444]

This was the best gain staging video Ive watched yet.

[@carnealse]

That complicated gain staging concepts for current mixing. Gain staging in the modern era is setting each gain to sit "happy" in the mix. That's it. It's not a fad. It is literally the foundation of mixing. So yeah it is easy, but the concept here...yeah in 15 years I've not heard these reason as fears. But I'm glad that there is a live example. That was valuable to see

[@designomomento]

The best and simple way to tell what gain staging really is. Thanks man.

[@miserypath]

Thanks for this video. In fact (as an amateur) I mix at a very low level because getting volume doesn't seem to be a problem. And mixing at low gain is something like a safety net for me.

[@AkkiMusicGh]

I breathed deeply after watching you Always thinking about gain staging gain staging I knew what you taught but was thinking it isn’t correct

[@HiPass24]

a couple of points on analogue recordings: one common error is that analogue faders (non VCA type) have their "unity" at the top as they are completely passive (there is no amplification on standard faders, only attenuation). after summing there is some amplification added, so the dB ruler on a fader shows the total gain (fader attenuation + added gain), which puts the unity point bellow the full scale of the fader. this allows the engineer to increase the level in case he needs to (e.g if he shaves a lot of level with the eq) without driving the headamp/preamp and gives him the freedom to not mix using only attenuation. most quality faders will have the most usable resolution around the unity area. another error is that you don't record as hot as possible in analogue, as it can introduce cross-talk between channels (on desks but mainly on tape). some engineers would even record vocals on the last track of the tape, and keep an empty track ahead of it to keep it as clean as possible.. The recording will be done through the faders at unity, getting the actual levels on tape using gains and trims (and listening back using separate return channels or inline type returns). this way, loading a tape with faders at unity will result in the original board mix, with no need for extra documentation etc.

[@thesurrogatebeats5783]

For me personally I feel like my mix is improved at least 25 to 40% when I really started focus on gain staging.

[@iseeu-fp9po]

Are you sure it doesn't have something to do with you being more conscious about overall balance in your mix?

[@phaneserichthoneus8895]

I agree. Personally, I like the idea of gain-staging to at least get all the instruments outputing at the same level when all the mixer tracks are at "unity" so I can literally hear everything at once. In my projects, without gain staging, there can be so much going on as I layer things on top of other things that some sounds just get so lost and buried that I forget they're there because I can't hear them anymore. I was having trouble mixing my current project. I went back and just gain-staged everything and the transformation was like magic even with all the faders at zero. So I haven't even actually mixed it yet and it already sounds better than it did with a sans-gain-staging mixing attempt. Additionally, I like being able to look at the mixer and know that if one slider is lower than another, then the sound coming out of it is actually lower. Without gain staging, I might have a mixing fader set at 25%, but it's louder than another fader that's at 90%! To me, that just makes the whole mixing process confusing and harder to manage. In short, this video didn't convince at all to stop fussing over gain staging. Maybe it's not necessary, but for me, it's still useful. After all, there's certainly no harm in gain staging. If it works, just do it.

[@victorbicudo1374]

@@phaneserichthoneus8895 "I like being able to look at the mixer and know that if one slider is lower than another, then the sound coming out of it is actually lower" faders are not for that. That's what METERS are for. Feels like you're new to all this...

[@phaneserichthoneus8895]

@@victorbicudo1374 No, I'm not new to it. But the nice part about a DAW is that there's nothing wrong with setting up your faders to work like that if you want to. It's hard to be super-exact due to the dynamics of each sound, but I'd rather have them set up so there's roughly the same level of sound coming out of each mixer track if all the faders are at the same level.

[@CRASS2047]

I agree.

[@goldbergermusic863]

I will now "completely disregard any further conversations about gain staging". Watched several videos. Now I'm through with all that and ready to get back to making music.

[@erikgurney306]

Loved this video! Especially after a lot of people on another certain group doing the whole "unity gain" thing like it was a religion after seeing one guy do it. I legit had no idea why it was done in the analogue world till now though. I see so many digital gain staging tutorials online and found it super weird that it was a huge focus with today's DAWs having the amount of headroom that they do. A sidenote for any beginners, if you turn down all faders you might have to alter your buss compressor settings if you have a compressor on a buss with a bunch of guitar tracks, vocals, etc. I'm sure it's obvious to most people, but some newbs may not realize that straight away. The earlier tip regarding using a trim plugin on the buss/channel you want to turn down would be a solid idea in this case :D Anywho, loved this video. Love the channel!

[@shaynestilllife]

This was so helpful I was constantly thinking my stuff was distorted behind the scenes between plugins.

[@peterbrusch1493]

Very, very eye (ear?) opening. The ears have to decide. Great! Thank YoU!

[@AL-D3F]

This was very helpful, thank you!

[@Erok2774]

10:13 best video on this subject I’ve seen. Thank you!

[@shmokey59]

faders dont effect gain going through the plugins btw

[@AudioMasterclass]

They do if it's the master fader and it's pre-insert.

[@tonepilot]

They do if the plug-in is the Send.

[@amanger4191]

@@tonepilot You can set it to be pre-fader in most if not all DAWs.

[@tonepilot]

@@amanger4191 true

[@BurntMcgurnt]

Ya I know right I've even seen some of my favorite artists mix and they don't gain stage at all not even a little bit and their mixes sound amazing

[@robelnegash4382]

You are clearing my confusion. Great vid bro

[@inthemix]

Just out of curiosity, who online is telling people to record digitally as hot as possible? I haven't seen any of this hype online... Secondly, why not keep your faders close to Unity? Professionals try to keep them closer to unity for the scaling/resolution. A lot of us do care about that without using a hot key. Gain staging into "analog" plugins like the slate digital stuff makes a huge difference, for better or worse, as you say sometimes it adds aggression. (Edit: pulling down the master fader is a terrible idea surely? The fader is post FX, so if you are limiting, your whole mix master will be quiet) I don't think that professionals are ever stressed or worried about gain staging, but to simply ignore it as unimportant seems a bit dangerous to me? Surely we want the next generation coming though into mixing to be able to retain some knowledge from the greats that came before us and at least understand why it's important to gain stage, in the box or not?

[@Inflightmuzik]

Respectfully, I think you're missing his point. He clearly says, "don't record so low that you can barely see it on the screen and don't record so hot that you're clipping." That covers everything you have an issue with. No, there aren't a bunch of people online telling people to record digitally as hot as possible, but there are A TON of youtubers showing videos of them spending entirely too much time getting "the right" levels going into the master or a bus. It's not necessary to spend that much time gain staging when, like we all agree, you just turn down all of the tracks. The focus should be to just balance your levels of the mix, not where the mix is hitting when summed together. Once you have a good balance, you can adjust the entire mix up or down as you please. When it comes to analog modeled plugins, use your ears. Depending on your sound and the plugin, there isn't going to be an exact number to even set your pregain to. No matter what level you gain stage to, you're going to end up changing the input/output anyway. This clearly isn't a video about "professionals" worried about gain staging in the box. This is about youtubers making videos that are wasting your time. Also, a point about using ctrl or cmd for more control over the resolution...even at full resolution, I'm still using the hot key because I can adjust the faders with slower action. So it's not just about the resolution. It's about the actual control/action of the fader itself. I love your videos, been a long time fan. But I really think he has a good point with all of the mess that's out there about the amount of time youtubers spend on gainstaging in the box, before getting straight to balancing a mix.

[@AndrewBawitlung]

Actually 5-6 years back I saw many videos and blogs about "How Important Gain Staging" . Dunno where those videos are and a lot of good channels (like FL NOOB ZONE) have been shut down now. In a nut shell, you don't need to worry about gain staging in a 32-bit floating point engine (Which all modern DAWS are). The only time you need to worry about it is in when using specific analog model plugins and amp model as these plugin are deliberately made to clip (analog clipping) at certain levels. Other then that, using stock plugins, you dont need to worry about. Also most of the plugins have input/output knob (I guess this is gain staging too haha) so, there is really nothing to stress about.

[@RecordingStudio9]

Lots of people, especially new starters fail to understand the difference between GAIN and FADER of a channel. If a fader could do all the levelling, why have a gain knob at the input of the channel? It has nothing to do with noise, especially when mixing In-The-Box.

[@inthemix]

@@AndrewBawitlung you definitely do have to do gain staging in a 32 bit DAW

[@AndrewBawitlung]

@@inthemix For me it depends. If I use only stock plugins (which I do most of the time) all my individual channels go into red. I just turned down the volume in the master channel. Its not that "we don't need to" it is just not as important as it was in the analog domain. I am sure you have read this but its was posted on Slate Audiophiles and I agree along the lines with this. blog.groove3.com/articles/ge7psa9gdwsljaieldmma59rmap7tq -Kenny Gioia (S Club 7, Many Moore, etc.) noisefloorav.com/gain-staging-know-shouldnt-stress/

[@BuddieOLLi]

I try to match around -18 dB, not more than -6 with the input level from the microphone or modeler, not more. If it was less i don't normalize or improve something. I learned with tape in the 80s, in my Ears is no unwanted noise (exept from the sources)... good wishes from Germany ( we've got humor, too😊 )