Studio One VCA Automation Tip

[@escalonae]

This is one awesome tip. I don't know why your channel didn't pop up earlier. Thanks man!

[@CryptoDefender]

This is awesome. Thank you so much. Subed.

[@TheOpopoplo]

wow thanks for the tip!

[@musician1971a]

Nice! This will make me use VCA channels from now on!

[@maraboo72]

There is another reason why I like VCA faders. If you only use busses for different groups to adjust the volumes of the busses the relations of the volumes inside the busses change That does not happen if you place a VCA fader before a sum and let the volume of the bus as it is and adjust the volume via VCA.

[@musician1971a]

@@maraboo72 why would the relations of the faders inside the bus change? They don't even move.

[@maraboo72]

@@musician1971a Not the relation of the faders. The relation of the volumes. For exemple: If you decrease the volume of a drum bus by 5 db , the volume of every single instrument inside the bus is decreased by 5 db. If you decrease the volume via VCA by 2 db then happens what is shown in the video.

[@musician1971a]

@@maraboo72 ehmmm... No. That's definitely not true. The bus fader is like a master for a group of tracks. The balance within that group is preserved to the last detail.

[@lucidecho3440]

@@musician1971a You have to understand that linearly adjusting levels across tracks of varying levels changes the relationship of perceived volumes because neither channel faders nor your ears/brain handle sound linearly but logorithmically. The *rate of change* changes as you move the fader along the track. That means a bus fader bringing down a group of tracks with varying levels is going to more greatly affect the louder channels than the quieter ones. With a VCA you can achieve constant power fading across all the channels. maraboo72 is correct. That's why there's a difference between gain and volume... between SPL and perceived loudness. It's why the decibel scale is not linear. I just noticed you explained this in a different way in a comment below. I think there's just a semantic issue here but you understand the concept.

[@Sumsolkik]

nice

[@joev4483]

well done, thanks ...

[@colinfrancis]

Good Stuff!

[@sinisa_blagus]

thanks for the tip...one thing tho, the faders actually do move the same amount but the resolution on the meter gets squashed at lower values so it looks like it changes...

[@sinisa_blagus]

@Home Studio Trainer that would mean that we are talking about movement in percenteges,but they move in absolute numbers...if vca is moved by 10,then all channels controled are moved by 10 as well...the relation between controled channels stays the same,but the movement is by 10 for all of them

[@musician1971a]

@@sinisa_blagus no, Johnny is right, they move in percentages, not absolute values.

[@sinisa_blagus]

@@musician1971a that would mean that the level relations between 2 guitars would be changed when controlling them with vca...and also, I can see that the change is the same in the value box on the fader on all affected faders...it is in dB

[@musician1971a]

@@sinisa_blagus no, that would mean the lowest fader reaches the bottom first. It doesn't. You are misinformed.

[@sinisa_blagus]

@@musician1971a you can actually see in this video that the difference between two gitars remains 7.5dB no matter how low or high he goes with the vca...it looks like they hit the bottom at the same time because 7.5 difference is too small to be able to see the lower fader hitting the bottom first,the meter resolution is small at the bottom,so it looks like they hit it at the same time...look at the values from 1:49 to 1:59

[@derrickchapman8504]

I have a golden age dynamic microphone going to a focusrite isa one preamp going to a presounous channel tube strip going to a pro art vla compressor but i don't like the sound im just trying to get a good recording signal or do i need better gear would like your opinion

[@michaelrooze278]

i would recommend asking a question like this on gearslutz

[@Chris-hk2ez]

what do you mean exactly by "in relation to each other".

[@lucidecho3440]

They are adjusted logarithmically rather than linearly as when you select the two tracks to group and then adjust (or adjust a bus). They never change the relationship between each other. If there is a 3 db difference it will remain a 3db difference no matter how low or high you adjust the fader. With the VCA you notice as he said they reach 0 at the same time. That's because the VCA is lowering the louder channel *quicker* than it is lowering the volume of the quieter channel because it has farther to travel to 0. It's about variable rates of change vs static rates of change. This is important because sound is not perceived linearly (and because of this faders don't fade linearly either). You will hear a much greater volume change in the louder track than the quieter one if you automate it with a bus. Using a VCA allows your automation to perceived the same across channels with varying initial levels. Hope that helps.

[@Diamond-Des]

Your video screen it's to big. I watch from android