Gain Staging - First Simple Step To Set Up Your Mix

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Do you struggle with gain staging? If so, where in particular is it happening. If not, share your secret with the community!

[@thevaultdwellergaming]

I’m struggling in recoding my guitar without getting a hiss

[@DaleGoodridgeMusic]

This video is golden. I’ve been an engineer for years and learned a lot from this video and realised I’d slipped into a few bad LOUD habits. It’s easy to do. I’ve been using the Klanghelm VU Meter for years but got lazy with it. Using a hybrid UAD system with Neve preamps going into an SSL Sigma into a Fusion, it’s very easy to knock the gain staging calibration out or more importantly my laziness and eye off the ball can quickly make everything sound like it’s going through a fuzz pedal. Ironically.. a lot of new artists I work with seem to like this fatiguing, super saturated and clipped sound. Maybe that’s why I thought I was on the right path. I now gain stage religiously and use saturation plugins or pushing the SSL channels to get that nice ‘punch’ in the mids without it making me feel sick after half an hour! 32 bit floating point seems to have made it worse with some people. I’ve subscribed and love your vibe, tone and experience.

[@StratsRUs]

Your guidance is beautifully 'simple', meaning that it has so many great tips to calm the mind in a clear way.Your videos have made my mixing enjoyable, rather than '' WTF do I do now !? "..Thank you.

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Wow! Thank you so much for your amazing feedback, I'm glad to have helped

[@stevegeorge7773]

Yes, I agree she’s made the process more enjoyable to WANT to do mixing. But pro tool can be a,,,, tool sometimes.

[@Producelikeapro]

Always incredible content Sara!! Thanks for ver so much for making this wonderful video!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Thanks Warren! My pleasure as always

[@Producelikeapro]

@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing You Rock!

[@riversideproductionztv]

Gain staging is the fundamental concept to learn for any new mixing engineer, I've seen pro mix engineers get a great mix just by implementing gain staging and then a balance (before any eq, compression, spatial effects etc) Please keep up the videos as you are teaching in a very honest and non bs method 😃

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Thanks for feedback!

[@richardsp2794]

Do you know how vital this video was to me correcting a fundamental issue I had baked into my mixes? I had no idea plugins had an operating optimum of -16db. All my tracks were way too hot. I just couldn't get a mix to sound clear no matter what I did. I balanced all the input gains back to this sweet spot and not only did the clarity appear but my system performance improved too because the plugins weren't working anywhere near as hard. It also exposed the rogue frequencies I couldn't track down because the plugins just couldn't work properly. Because of this short 3 minutes on the gain level, you've unlocked al my mixes and transformed the way a song sounded that I was trying to get ready to hand over to mastering. Rookie error, but it was fundamental for me you talking about this. Thank you so much.

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

That’s amazing! I’m glad it has helped you

[@presetstation6179]

I have watched most of your videos and I must say you have the most thorough explanations leaving no questions to ask. Great !!!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Glad you like them!

[@zwsh89]

This is a great compliment to the video about using VU meters, that video changed how I mix, and this one did it again!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Great to hear!

[@theslideguy4228]

Holy ASMR, Sara! I had to listen to this 5 times. I kept falling asleep in my studio chair! Your voice in this mix is perfect. Haha! Great info. I come from 2" 24 track tape days, and this was a great reminder to "take it easy" with my gain going in. Wish you were in Nashville. Love to have coffee or tea sometime. Rock on! 🤘🏾

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Glad you liked it!!

[@PeterBatah]

Thank you Sara for making the gain staging process so much easier to understand. Much appreciated. Peter

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

You're very welcome!

[@mineraljunction]

this whole thing is great but the first 10 or so minutes of this video are so well explained, been looking for something like this for ages!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Thanks mineralzone that means a lot 😊

[@DavidSmith-ne1zp]

A wonderful instructional video, with what I like most of all - an explanation of the rationale for doing what is covered. Learning is better than memorizing! Thanks Sara.

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Glad it was helpful!

[@chrisjarman4064]

Thanks for this, perfect timing and so well explained. I was teaching gain staging this week, passing this amazing video over to my students :-)

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Brilliant, hope it helps them, thank you!

[@Producelikeapro]

@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing it does! Wonderful video!!

[@heikobarnholdt7313]

Very well explained, excellent sorting of topics that are some times hotly discussed. Thanks a lot!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Glad it was helpful!

[@timbranniganmusic3458]

Thanks for the excellent video. Moving from analog to digital workflow was difficult for me.

[@adamwasthefirstman]

Seriously great information! Your previous VU video reinforced a previous thought I'd had about using VU meters to set initial gain staging vs peak meters on the DAW channels. This video has completely reinforced that mindset as well as providing further useful information. Cheers from Texas!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

That’s brilliant, glad to have helped!

[@diegoandressancheztorres4922]

What valuable information, your way of teaching everything is incredible, together with your voice it is the perfect balance, I am always on the alert, not even when I watch videos in my native language, Spanish, do I find this connectivity. Thanks!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

You're very welcome!

[@songwritertill]

Now THIS is GAINSTAGING so well explained - thank you so much Sara! Can't wait to apply this method to my latest recorded song.

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Glad it was helpful!

[@SonVoMekongDeltaBluesman]

One of the best gain staging videos I've seen. Thank you! Just when I thought I had a good handle on it, your video opened some little details I didn't realize I wasn't doing completely correctly. I'll be checking out more of your videos. Thank you again!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Glad to help!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Glad to help!

[@thebarf9235]

You are a devilishly good instructor. I wish you a Beato/Huart level of success.

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Thank you so much!

[@redberlingo]

I found your channel from the interview you did recently and checked out this video first.. Super helpful and I love your style. I have had a similar journey to you and am looking to get back into things. What really surprised me was the "raw" sound of the mix. Its very, very similar to what I would normally have to work with and it would be great to see how you develop it. It would be super helpful (and a real motivator to get me going again) to see your actual "workflow" from this point onwards. Not sure if you would be game to do in real time or make more of the "overall" steps videos but.....anything would be greatly appreciated. I know you mentioned you would be doing more videos like this but seeing the next steps/process would be amazing. I can see you have many tips but its more the process you apply those (eg 01/Foundation was your track gain staging) than the actual detail. And being able to hear the snippets of detail help a lot (even with crappy KZbin compression algorithms). Have liked and subscribed. Keep up the good work!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Thank you! Yes I’m up for doing that maybe for as a series or playlist. Do you have multitracks I could use?? Seeing as you say yours are so similar?

[@redberlingo]

@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing Thanks for the reply. As for multitracks - let me see what I can get. For me the value isnt in you fixing/tweaking my tracks but watching your thought process/approach (so I can get my mojo back).

[@redberlingo]

Also - gradually working my way through your other stuff. Enjoying it.

[@ShiningHourPop]

That was really well explained. It’s taken the mystery out of gain staging for me. Thanks!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

ShiningHourPop, thank you so much :)

[@zwsh89]

Lol-NO NEED to apologize for making a long (and in depth) video! There are plenty of KZbin channels that have 5-15 minute explanations that brush over important topics. The internet has plenty of those. What we don’t have enough of are places to go if you want to really understand this concept at its core. That’s where the value of these videos is for me! I would never want to see you force yourself to cut down your runtime! When I see a new video come out from Simply Mixing, I get excited that I’ll get to get stuck in, and spend an hour or so really getting to the bottom of whatever the topic-de-jur is! Keep it up, and while there is obvious value in having short content that’s easy to engage with, that’s never been what this channel is about for me. I personally would rather see your videos get longer rather than shorter! I will be a better mixing engineer for it!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Hi Zach, wow thanks for the feedback!

[@patriciooc]

Your videos are so well put together, combining audio fundamentals and a clear and practical approach!!! 🙌🙌🙌 what a refreshing style in our audio community… thank you very much for sharing your knowledge and experience 🙏🙏🙏

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Thank you so much!

[@le-berry]

I really love proper gain staging because it helps the mix. I remember 15 years ago I mixed with hot channels on a digital mixer Yamaha O2R 96k resulting in the fader of the 2buss being lowered, mixing became a struggle (compared to analog) and the result just disappointed. Getting pre fader levels around -15dbfs made such a big difference and opened up everything.

[@el_cort3z]

Super excellent video! An unbelievable help. Thanks so much Sara!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

You are most welcome and glad it helped

[@TheGarageRecordingSC]

Great video Sara!! This is one of the reasons why all plug-in companies should have automatic gain compensation built in. It blows my mind that this is not a standard feature at this point.

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

As I understand it, it's quite a difficult thing to do accurately which is probably why. Thanks for watching!

[@Gang-25j]

I mean I think ppl are lazy as can be nowadays..if everything was to go to AI then everyone would be crying deep into their feelings about it.. I love everything about mixing, the good the bad (if there’s such a thing lol) the ugly. Great video ms Sara as always my friend 💯

[@Miicrowahvei]

Thank you for this, it's what I requested earlier :)). Great video!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

No problem!

[@Miicrowahvei]

Btw, these gainstaging basics apply to the recording process as well? I don't really "record" since I do everything in the box, but maybe tracking is a better word for recording vst instruments.

[@Miicrowahvei]

@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing I noticed something. I had my stereo pan law set to - 6dB. I noticed that any panned channel's LUFS meters were showing - 24 dB even though I put a tone generator with exactly - 18dB gain, and a VU meter after that, on the panned channels. Well the difference between - 24 and - 18 is 6 I noticed lol, so there wasn't anything wrong with my Cubase lUFS meter, it was the stereo pan law setting that affected it. So now my LUFS meter is showing - 18dB when the VU is at 0, because my stereo pan law setting is 0dB. BUT! What is the purpose of stereo pan law? What setting is recommended?? I guess I shouldn't be using anything else than 0 dB. Or maybe just keep - 6dB and set the LUFS meter position to "post fader" instead of "post panner".. I dunno 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@eaabr9595]

Hi from Puerto Rico...! Great video...! I'm newby on garageband and your videos are amazing. Other you tubers has to mucho monbo jumb stuff. Very complicated.. but your way to explain are great and you tone of voice help to please as I listened to your explanation.

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

That’s great! I’m so glad I can help!

[@justinharrison7517]

Fantastic video! I wonder if you could share your tips on balancing a mix or examples of how you match levels to a reference. These are some of the best videos I’ve come across.

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Yes, Justin they are great ideas and something I’m going to do in the near future. Thanks for the feedback!

[@raymondspagnuolo8222]

Great info explained with intelligence and grace. Thank you for what you do. It is so helpful!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

You are so welcome!

[@paperezkoa6612]

Sara, your way of explaining mixing is the best on youtube! Thank you :)

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Wow, thank you!

[@helmanfrow]

7:53 Subtle point of contention: The master fader has the same impressive headroom as the rest of the DAW. You can demonstrate this by simply pulling it down if it's in the red. The irreversible damage occurs _after_ the master fader, when the outgoing signal (inevitably) leaves the confines of the DAW. This happens either by saving to a fixed-point file format (WAV, MP3, etc), or by way of the DAC in your interface. Either way the signal is unceremoniously truncated to the configured bitrate, with any bits in excess simply getting lopped off. _That_ is the baked-in distortion we hear.

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Brilliantly clarified thank you!

[@helmanfrow]

@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing 😊 Thanks!

[@bighomiekountry3275]

Great video... Very informative. Thank you so much Sara. You are a God send.

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Glad to help!

[@x5dbose]

Very good advice thnx madam ..thnx again from India

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

thanks for watching!

[@ประเสริฐกองสุข-ต9ว]

yes thank you

[@akratmachines]

Hello Sara! Thanks for another great video. I was wondering if I should gain compensate after every plugin on my chain like you do for example when compressing. Let's say I EQ a sound and then it is louder or quieter, should I then adjust the output in the EQ to keep the same volume as before? Is this a good way of keeping your faders at unity gain too?

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Yes, that's the general idea. That way you can truly judge what the plugin is doing to he signal. The exception to this is when you are using to plugin to deliberately add or reduce gain of course

[@akratmachines]

@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing Awesome! I feel this is something I have never came across in any video at all. Thank you!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

@@akratmachines Glad to help!

[@piotrkanarek]

Thank you so much. Regards from Poland!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Thank you!

[@blackfeather7686]

Great tutorial. Nice and easy to follow. Thanks Sara.

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Glad it was helpful!

[@gkpdkshnz]

If only I had a teacher like you when I studied music tech!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

😆

[@stevegeorge7773]

This is a great starting point to a series in my view that goes through the systematic activity of doing producing a song from woe, go to output. I find some of the more established, still very valuable, channels seem to swing from one subject to another and sometimes--more often than not, to make it a bit confusing where some learning sits,,,, where it sits in the process. Thanks for a very productive and interesting video~!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Glad you like it!

[@stevegeorge7773]

@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing Is there a stock plug in that replicates the SSL that you used in this, to apply to a mix. I am getting as you indicated in a recording clipping due to the drums in the Kick and the Snares. Also my snares sound tinny.

[@King_Kobra87]

This channel is pure gold

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Thank you! I don't use a VU meter to set the snare but just balance it by ear by trying to get it to sound the same level (ish) as the kick. If after doing this the VU swings up to -5 or louder, than I might bring the snare back down. It's all about perceived loudness because of how the VU reacts more to low frequencies.

[@4LUKAS]

That’s how mixing should be explained. Easily absorbed, unlike rocket science. Which it’s often made out to be. Good video I enjoyed it.

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Great! I’m glad it helped you 😁

[@audio96project]

Love your channel! I'm new to recording and mixing and was wondering your advice on mixing with VSTi instruments. The only "real" recording I will be doing is with the vocals. How do you work with Midi/VSTi instruments? 1) Do extract the VSTi instruments to audio files and then work on them for there? I'm guessing this will reduce CPU usage of the DAW. 2) And if you record the VSti instruments to audio, what should the level be the audio file clips? 3) I'm assuming most of the sound in these VSTi instruments are recorded/sampled pretty well. So how much extra work is really needed in terms of eq/compression .... beside trying to move an instrument in/out of the mix. I tend to overthink things, so any advice would really help.

[@8eight104]

Thank you for all the hard work you do!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

My pleasure!

[@helmanfrow]

I haven't run it through an analyzer but I'm hearing a very distinct low-mid resonance on your voice. It's noticeable on headphones but prominent on my speakers. Okay, I use an analyzer on my phone and it confirms what I'm hearing. FFT and Spectral both show a prominent resonance at 150hz throughout the video. It's more prevalent on the intro when you're on camera.

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Thanks, noted. I think it’s my post processing attempt to make up for the proximity effect in the demo sections. I’ll be more mindful of it in subsequent videos

[@helmanfrow]

@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing Hey, it's all good. Just thought you'd want to know. I remain faithfully subscribed, resonance or otherwise.

[@i-mixed-up]

Hi Sara. Google led me to your youtube channel and I am better for it. Thank you for your video presentations. The manner in which you present and explain the topic is extremely easy to digest and understand. I also love that you show how you apply the techniques. I immediately purchased your other tutorials and I'm looking forward to diving into the video series. Sara, is there any way that you'd be willing to share insights on your mixing template ? I haven't seen a more structured template.

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

You are so welcome! A mixing template video is certainly possible, my template serves as a reminder to try stuff as well as the usual routing set up.

[@AELLIA2]

My gosh, this was a great explanation. Well done - thank you!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Glad it was helpful!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Thank you!

[@tomehCanada]

An excellent explanation. Well Done.

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Thomas Althouse, thank you so much :)

[@sausausaus]

i learned a ton from this video, thank you!!!!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Glad it was helpful!

[@otero032]

i love it, thank you, so clear!!!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Glad to have helped!

[@outofthinair1]

As always an excellent video Sara.

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

carl suiter, thanks for watching and for the feedback!

[@monkmusic5994]

Sara, do you put a gain plugin on the two bus in order to get -14 dbfs there, too? Should then the final mix be at -14 or -18 dbfs?

[@reddbaron82]

Very informative. Thank you!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Glad it was helpful!

[@shaunblack3142]

Thumbs up to you for these helpful gain staging tips! Quick question! How do you reset peak levels in Pro Tools? Thank You!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Thanks! Just click on the peak level number at the bottom of the fader

[@louislogie2654]

Made more sense than plenty ppl

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Thanks Louis

[@davejohnsonmusic]

The thing to keep in mind when looking to see if your waveform levels are too hot, is it all depends on what zoom level you have on the waveforms. Obviously, a higher zoom level is going to make the waveforms appear bigger and therefor you might see them as being too loud. So you really need to get a feel for what those zoom levels actually mean with the level hitting the fader. But yeah, don't overthink it. It shouldn't take you more than 5-10 mins to decide if the clip gain needs to be adjusted and pull them up or down.

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Ooh yes, good point! And I think it will probably take a matter of a minute to make a decision and apply clip gain to not just pull the level down but up as well!

[@davejohnsonmusic]

@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing It can take a little longer when you're not applying a gain change across all tracks, but on an individual basis. Thanks for another great video Sara.

[@sidehustlefilms8007]

Thumbs up! Question. Adding EQ plugins and compression plugins on my vocals after recording also add volume when mixing. This is why i should gain stage my backing track to OVU on a VU meter to leave headroom for mixing. Is this correct? Thanks

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Yes, exactly

[@HerraArktinen]

Many thanks for a clear, comprehensive video on gain staging! I have a question about the topic of "faders at unity gain". Perhaps you've covered it in another video. I understand the point of having better resolution there. I work in Ableton Live, and channel faders only go to +6, when with other DAWs they seem to go to higher numerical values. I've also been led to believe it's bad form in mixing to go much to the plus side with faders, I guess due to a principle of preferring cutting over boosting. In any case, there isn't much room to go up from 0 in Ableton. When I do volume balancing after gain staging, sometimes I need to go over 0 with a channel fader to keep a good balance. Sure, I can just uniformly bring other down channels, but seems there should be a better solution. Would it make sense (work in Ableton Live) to have the channel faders around -6 when gain staging, to have room to move both ways when volume balancing? All tutorials on gain staging I've seen use the faders at 0 method. I've only found one Sound On Sound article supporting the -6 thought. Thanks!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

The -6 method would work well in that scenario, or you could add a gain plugin to the track, in the last insert slot, or a channel strip plugin that has a built in fader to boost the level pre-DAW fader?

[@AvormW]

Hi Sara, I am getting a bit further into gain staging lately and, believe it or not, just started working on this exact song (shout out to Warren from PLAP!) to practice a little bit. 😅 So there could not be a better timing for your video. Thank you!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Wonderful! It will feature in an upcoming video about panning 🎛

[@johncanjar1009]

Thanks for the informative video. Beyond the initial gain staging, I’m wondering at what point to be concerned with headroom on the master fader. That is, I’ve seen the bit of wisdom several times to leave 6db of headroom when mixing for the mastering phase. I guess I’m asking your thoughts on that advice and how to address it so that not only am I not clipping the master fader but I’m also leaving that 6db of headroom for mastering. Thanks again

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

It's a process of continually monitoring the mix level as you go along because the level will creep up as you add processing. When this happens, just bring the mix back into line using the faders. All my tracks feed into group busses where I can bring each one down by the same amount. The master fader in ProTools can be used for this purpose. Be aware of how this will effect the input to any dynamics processing you have later down the path. 6db is good to aim for but not necessary. 4dB or even 3dB should be fine for most mastering engineers.

[@kempdaw6726]

I do it in this way, but I'm not sure if I'm doing a correct thing: I put all the tracks on a mix bus, then the mix bus goes to the global master. i recap: ALL TRACKS> MIXBUS and MIXBUS> GLOBAL MASTER. where should I put the VUmeter? if I put it on MIXBUS and on GLOBAL MASTER it gives me different measures. the VU meter measures the parameters before the plugins or even after or both. Thanks for any reply. Sorry for my English. I just signed up and I really appreciated your way of explaining and your pronunciation which is understandable to me.

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Thanks for the question, If you want to set up gain staging so that it avoids clipping the master fader, I would put it on the mix bus to avoid confusion. The insert points on the Pro Tools master fader are post fader so if you move the fader to stop the DAW outputs clipping, it will affect the reading. Confusingly, both ways are correct, it's just deciding which way you prefer to handle gain staging. I like to leave the master fader at unity and address levels before hitting the master fader (call me old school!), some are happy to pull the master fader down to prevent clipping the outputs.

[@petegiant]

I've heard people use pink noise as a mask to set initial levels of tracks. Would it work adding pink noise set at -18dbFS and working from there?

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

I’ve never tried it. I know some do use it but the thought of it doesn’t thrill me!

[@petegiant]

@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing People talk about mixing with pink noise which i think is bonkers but to set initial level of tracks I can see the pluses.

[@petegiant]

@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing Thanks btw for your videos, you have a knack at imparting important knowledge.

[@realtimestudiosgh3887]

i love you sara soo inspiring

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Thanks for the lovely feedback!

[@Blanbeat]

Hi Sara your vid is so simple and clear to understand. I have a question when you talk about the -18dbfs, you said it is an average...do you mean by average RMS level ?

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Very similar, yes

[@nersonangelo]

Hi Sara thnx much for this video just wondering in-case you've tried them, what is your take on using autogain plugins like hornets VU MK4 and also neutron where it will do the job of analyzing and clip gaining all tracks to your desired level.. thnx much

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

I think anything that helps automate the process is great. I tried it a few times but I found that I lost track of how much gain was applied or reduced and this occasionally became a problem when dropping in new replacement tracks from the artist. Just a small thing but I went back to the manual way!

[@crawlingman7003]

Should the level coming out of a plugin in a channel be the same as level going into it? How should you set output level from most plugins? A lot of plugins have an output adjustment.

[@LohPro]

instead of using a clip gain plugin, some plugins have in/out adjustment built in. but normally yes, the best practice is to "level match", so you'll have a better idea of what the processing is doing, rather than being tricked by louder volumes "just sounding better"

[@chrissssssss007]

Just a question. When u say u want ur kick and bass to sit around -7/3 respectively. Is that after you’ve set the gain for each to hit around -18 at the start. Then u either lower the gain on the last plug in ( if it has an output control) or you lower the fader to where u want to be? If that makes sense? Cheers. Great channel :)

[@zwsh89]

I sometimes struggle with keeping a good level across a complicated chain of plugins, making sure I have enough signal going into each unit to produce the desired effect, while also staying away from accidentally adding gain with processors that adds up bit by bit. Knowing the “sweet spot” in DBu going into and coming out of my various plugins is something I am still trying to sort out. Open to advice!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Welcome to the wonderful world of mixing! 😂Accepting the occasional plugin red light as being OK and having groups faders to address small level changes helps. Setting up the track level in the first place, like in this video should help too.

[@Pemmykemmy]

You mentioned a 14dbfs level for your drums so they can run hot going into other possible plugins. Does this mean you have many vu meter instances running at different locations in the fox chain?

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

No, just on my mix bus output. You can put them all over the place if you want to, and I used to have one on my drum bus as well but now I don't bother.

[@AledesChica]

Thanks Sara, great info and Nice vídeo!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

You're so welcome!

[@Taylor370z]

Interesting about the noise floor that needed to be avoided on old analog equipment so engineers naturally were trying to record loud. I guess my question on that is if that was the case, what made mixes back then much more dynamic vs the loudness war that that we have today? And. Is "analog warmth" all the plugins these days try to emulate, is that trying to emulate the elevated noise floor?

[@dura3775]

Great tutorial :). Quick question, if I I've a loud instrument in the mix that I want to bring down, do I bring it down with the fader or a gain plugin

[@LohPro]

you probably already have an answer to this but, think of the gain as the "input" & the channel fader as the "output". so if a signal is coming in to the channel too hot, if you turn the channel fader down, you'll still have a "hot" signal, just at a lower level overall. that signal will then feed into any channel processing "hot". so, you turn it down with the gain plugin, while leaving the channel fader untouched.

[@NathanEveLive]

Great video I really enjoy your work so thankyou so much! I have a question you might be able to answer if time allows? If the vu needle goes into the red at all will that create distortion?

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

No, not unless the calibration number is much, much higher. Remember, when the meter needle is at 0vu, that equals the dB's you have chosen for the calibration point, i.e -14dB - nowhere near clipping distortion.

[@NathanEveLive]

Thankyou so much for the support means alot.

[@NathanEveLive]

I have amended to -14 calibration as recommended on vu meter instead of -18. I'll give it a go tonight. So should I make sure the highest peak of my entire audio reach no higher than zero on the vu meter when calibrating to -14. I believe from what I understood that its OK to let it go to plus 3 or 4 max on vu meter?

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

@@NathanEveLive on a VU meter set to -14dB means that going into the red is OK and you won't clip because the audio will be roughly 10dB's below the clipping point on your master fader.

[@NathanEveLive]

Thankyou once again I'm looking forward to implementing your wonderful advise and expertise! Can't wait for your next video

[@SilentScreamsStudios]

Your voice sounds excellent. What mic are you using?

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Thank you! it's a Rode Procaster run though the Waves SSL old channel strip with a bit of compression and EQ

[@SilentScreamsStudios]

@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing it is excellent

[@steffenmerritt9048]

You're awesome, thank you for your awesomeness!!!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

You are so welcome 😂

[@marceloribeirosimoes8959]

In this case, those extra 3 dB could be fixed using compressors, limiters, saturators or clippers, right? Thank you very much for another great video!

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Yes! Thanks for watching!

[@Progrockdrumming]

Could you you the waves WlM loudness meter to gain stage?

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Absolutely!

[@heffeel]

very informative,thanks.

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

You're welcome

[@Soso-km8er]

For me to remember: DAW-standard (and Sara‘s): -14dBFS=+4dBU (=1.228 Volts RMs analog) =0VU, matching SSL plugin calibration at -18dBFS=0dBu (0,775 Volts analog). Standard for A/D converters used to be -18dBFS=+4dBu=0VU, so tracks recorded with this calibration should have +4dBu added (or calibration changed). TV and movie standard -20dbFS=+4dBu=0VU, with -24dBFS=0dBu (0.775 Volts), 0dbFS=24dBu (12,277 Volts RMS), add +6dB gain ITB for calibrated plugins. Correct me please where something is wrong..

[@petealiendnatronics6152]

i'm confused by the 64bit recording statement, the OS is 64bit but when recording the most you can record at is 32bit wav files. did you mean if you record stereo each L and right added equal to a 64 bit recording ? or was that referring to the preprocessing at recording time? great series

[@DeltaWhiskeyBravo13579]

Myself, I don't think 64 bit recording is going to split in left and right halves, seemingly limiting your WAV file to 32 bit. I could be very much mistaken, but first off, I'm sure the WAV file formatting has limited you that 32 bit floating point (f.p.) ceiling as your highest file option. However, I think 32 bit f.p. will be more than sufficient, and 64 bit f.p. won't be really noticed here. Second, I think the 64 bit and 32 bit you're referencing is 32 or 64 bit floating point. Both 32 bit floating point, and much more on 64 bit f. p., you're getting lots of extra flexibility and drastically increased headroom. Myself I'd not sweat over this. Just my opinion of course.

[@whendoesthisend]

THIS.........THANK YOU! PRO

[@TraxtasyMedia]

When I start a new project, I try to "pregainstage" whilst writing chords, or inserting vocals, and try to avoid issues as early as possible before rendering my stuff.

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Sounds spot on!

[@TraxtasyMedia]

@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing saves lots of time and avoids lots of issues in the aftermath :D

[@shawn2571]

I don't understand how you get those large waveforms if the inpur gain is -18 dB? If I set input gain to -18 I barely get a waveform at all. Lol don't know what I'm doing wrong?

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Yeah, -18 will show small waveforms. Pro Tools clip gain allows you to boost this value for the larger waveforms. It’s worth knowing if the -18 figure you quote is peak or average (RMS). Peak will be tiny!

[@dinnoismusic]

Saludos De Argentina ! buen material !

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Hello and thank you!

[@sonugupta3044]

should i gain stage at the end of chain?

[@umanoid1523]

But isn’t clipping ok in some cases? This is what i always find confusing. Back in the day of hardware mixers i used to drive my Mackie mixers with some instruments to clip( Drums and bass and some synth sounds). I have analogue plugins now and in some cases i drive the plugins. I use a VU meter plugin as the first plugin to see how hot or not my audio is. It auto adjusts. If its a little hot by a few DB i just leave it alone. Too hot I bring it down. I also always have a limiter at - .5 at the end of each track to tame any random transients. They’re never doing much if anything but are more of a just in case.

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

It all comes down to how it sounds and that clipping on your mixer is probably equivalent of adding a clipper or distortion plugin for the same effect in the DAW. So if you like the sound then that’s ok. Everything you say sounds good to me!

[@Jolly-Green-Steve]

In digital production with the dynamic range being so large and the noise floor being so low as long as you are using limiters appropriately on your buses and stereo out and aren't clipping anywhere in your mix from the track level all the way to the stereo output there is no point to gain staging in your mix. How is lowering your input level anywhere gonna make your plugins work better when you've already made adjustments too them and have correctly achieved what you want?

[@higueraproducciones]

Thank you very much 🙏

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Thanks for watching!

[@krispybowgod9656]

Relatively new to mixing... why do people use VU meters in a DAW when a daw already has volume measurements built in?

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Good question! I use them because I'm used to seeing a needle waggling about rather than a vertical bar. Also, it's easier to spot zero in relation to the waggling needle 😄

[@KennyLauderdale]

Thank you

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

You're welcome

[@PatMcGuireMusic]

Two thumbs up.

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Thanks!!

[@johanjof5613]

Quite a controversal topic you put in there. I will not go into what I think about analog plugin sound, to bring more controverse on this tricky topic. But honestly I think the people who make these plugins are the main responsible for this controversy. Indeed, there is no reason to make a mathematical model of an analog gear while not translating it to the nowadays digital world levels and headrooms. The use of these plugin is one of your arguments to gain staging, because of their input level, but it is a nonsense to me to have build these plugin this way. In a daw, even in the master bus (sorry), when your leds go red you have 0 distortion (if you are a bit mathematician, take a fourrier transform of the signal and you will see). You need to hit the red led so hard like +10db or so to start get something (on the fourier transform, but I doubt a human ear start to ear something). For me, there is one single reason why I roughly twick gains on my tracks : this is so all my tracks have roughly the same volume when all my faders are at 0, so that where there are located after, truly represent my actual mix moves. And nothing else. It is between -18 and -12 depending on the number of tracks, so that when they add up on the master track they don't hit too often the red led, but it is as I said more as a safe attitude than carrying as I say a scientific real meaning, and probably a bit because I was born with real hardware. So do not waste too much time on this, and hf. If you put an analog plugin cos you like it, so be it, just put a gain plugin right in front of it to give it the level it "needs"

[@Blueberrystop]

❤

[@lonelycake4114]

You can also lower the master fader or stereo output, problem solved

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

True but only as far as the mix output. Plug-ins can still have overloaded inputs or outputs if pushed too hard. Thanks for watching and the tip!

[@lonelycake4114]

@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing Yes, as long as no other channel is clipping. But the whole theory of a tracks ”optimal sweet spot”, i do question. Now what someone could try is getting all the individual tracks in a finished mix to sit at 0db.

[@fadermaster5221]

Another beautiful example that the use of a tambourine should be forbidden.

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

Indeed!

[@NMPIN]

Gain staging in studio one- step one adjust input with the, you know, track input gain using the track meters, K20 when mixing for me, then if needed double check on master bus with the provided stock meters plugin bundle. Gain staging in ahem “pro” tools step one- features not available update to the mega super dooper basic package for the low low price of only $99 every time you open the plugin. I don’t understand it I upgraded my daw from pro tools when I upgraded my Nokia to a smartphone and yet after seeing the latest update of the supposed industry standard in a studio the other day and repeatedly hearing no can’t do that no sorry doesn’t have that option or feature I thought, if you didn’t have vintage mics I’d leave and these are all basic audio tools and options for any home studio never mind a professional at this level yet not only has avid sat stagnant in development it wasn’t compatible or just didn’t run well with the third party software that actually is now industry standard. Is it like once you are in you are in and avid send mafia like henchmen around every week too collect the vig 😁

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

It's true, Studio One does do a lot of things more easily than Pro Tools!

[@marcosrotllan]

Some women just look like lesbians, with absolutely no doubt. I ask myself if this happens to men.

[@socratesson4320]

I try to gain stage a kick but I like how it sounds when input level goes hot (the pre-amp- Tape input on console one) Can I use trim to keep the sound as it is and still have headroom?

[@Kaeresu]

I just wanna say I really appreciate your videos . Real knowledge which opens minds. Thank you for sharing with us..🫂

[@SaraCarterSimplyMixing]

You are so welcome