You Suck at Mixing #2: Relative Volumes and Gainstaging

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[@chjchan1530]

finally an educational channel that really has stuff that doesn't take you over 30 mins to go through

[@MichaelTurner856]

And is also hilarious

[@DaRza17]

Busyworksbeatsssss takes 45 minutes to explain what a chord is...

[@JohnPaulBuce]

@@DaRza17 busyworkbeats 💀

[@ToneSherpa]

I like how he doesn't spend 10 minutes at the beginning introducing the fucking topic like GET TO THE GOD DAMNED VIDEO YOU PIECE OF SHIT!

[@carboncringe9558]

There’s so many layers to this character, and yet so consistent.

[@ni3449]

When I first saw this dude, I thought this guy is a joke. Now I realized he makes the most valuable producing content on youtube🔥

[@neoconnor4395]

I can't stand it, partially because I KNOW there is valuable information in these videos, but buried under all the poo poo pee pee jokes. Every time one of his videos shows up in my queue, I cringe..

[@ittlionaa]

@@neoconnor4395 your humor has to be quite strict for you not to be able to get useful information from these videos without cringing. his jokes aren't THAT bad enough to ruin an entire video, so for me there isn't much of a problem getting valuable info from his videos

[@neoconnor4395]

@ittlionaa It's not, I love dirty jokes but when I sift through ableton mixing lessons it's usually because I'm stuck on something and I have to spend hours sifting through videos trying to find 2 seconds of information, and for some reason - these videos in particular ALWAYS piss me off, because I already feel dumb enough stuck in that rabbit hole and his videos have a way of making me feel so much dumber. I swear I am forced to move onto the next video. I never make it through an entire episode and it's frustrating because I know he has the answer! But I have to tolerate him treating me like a moron to get it. That's how I feel.

[@ittlionaa]

@@neoconnor4395 i mean, the jokes only take up 5-10% of most of underbelly's videos, and you shouldn't feel dumb enough for you to take something like "ya dingus" too literally. his jokes are simply supposed to be funny and lighthearted, and imo they aren't actually treating the viewer like a moron. underbelly doesn't crack jokes every 2 seconds, so you shouldn't have much of a problem finding just 2 seconds of good info in his videos

[@neoconnor4395]

@ittlionaa I'm not debating you, I'm telling you - they annoy crap out of me. Clearly that's just me, as he has lots of subscribers, but every time I try and watch one of his videos I very quickly pass because there are thousands of videos with the same info that don't have some Chad whispering poo poo pee pee jokes in my ear when I'm genuinely frustrated trying to find the solution to a problem I'm having. I also don't like the videos with the puppet that bangs his head during the tutorial either. I'm trying to learn something. If I wanted to be entertained I'd watch something with the sole purpose of entertaining me. People don't understand how frustrating the Ableton rabbit hole truly is. Coming from someone who taught himself almost entirely from KZbin videos - the struggle is real. I'm already too frustrated to laugh at anything anyway. That's just me.

[@zb7561]

“Don’t have to worry about things going away.. like my parents did”. Oh wow. I died. New subscriber here.

[@GabrielJambert]

I hit the subscribe button right after that line!

[@undrebeats]

Same

[@giovanibaroni3913]

Your videos literally made me realize that I suck at producing. I learned to mix by myself and there are a ton of stuff I do that sucks and I hadnt realized it yet. I am forgetting my old ways to produce and learning from scratch with your videos. Make moar pls!

[@calazans762]

MMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR, here u go bud

[@jasonshaw6394]

Note to self: "Fix Ass Bass". Most underrated tut channel on KZbin. As entertaining as it is informative.

[@stevenviola4317]

Underbelly: "But judging based off the rest of your life, it's not a problem for you" Me: "So many facts"

[@bobbywingood]

"But judging based off the rest of your life, it's not a problem for you" Aaaaand subbed.

[@TUBEDIGGA]

‘Purp’......best colour in the world

[@Huumf]

lmao

[@ThePaoOfTooh]

The upper inflexion when he mentioned his parents leaving was too real.

[@dougthemoleman]

Funny, precise and to the point. And you explain things in a way where you can take the same principles and apply them to other DAWs. Such a great approach and I hope you keep doing it for as long as you can.

[@Dani-El.]

1st step of gain staging really is to add a plugin to each track to lower the volume by 10dB or so. This can be an EQ or a simple gain/volume adjuster. And the reason for doing this is so you can have your faders set higher up whilst maintaining a low/safe/non-clipping volume. If you have your faders low down at -12 or -18 dB, any small adjustments will be magnified, whereas if they were higher up (around -3 or -5dB), any small perfectionist adjustments you make will be more precise. Very good though apart from that.

[@bfirme]

you can also use a mix bus to lower the overall volume then work on those ranger, right?

[@Dani-El.]

@@bfirme No because you'll risk clipping that bus, as the input comes before the fader.

[@AndrewChin-ck9uk]

So if I'm understanding it correctly, can I use a limiter and put - 10db on gain?

[@Dani-El.]

@@AndrewChin-ck9uk No. Limiting affects the dynamic range. Best thing to use is just a simple volume/gain plugin, or an EQ.

[@gutenman7112]

Holy shit . I just found this channel . It teached me a lot , simple , entertaining , crystal clear information and a good tip . Thank you dude !

[@myidentityisamystery5142]

1:27 I died laughing at your reaction lmao

[@lakshyarajput2854]

Then how did you comment from 6 ft unduh

[@TEZRA_]

New to making electronic music and i must say, these videos are so concisely put together. Straight to the point, and delivered in the perfect manner. Thanks under!

[@EEKmusic]

"ok just a sweet pumping in my ear holes"

[@heymr.k]

best series I've seen and its only been 2 episodes.

[@B7musicstudio]

It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy when I hear that familiar "you suck at ___".

[@miss.antidote]

This is the best video you have put out in while. Congrats! x

[@exxosetty]

Dude it’s super hard to make me laugh. Your implicit wittiness is hilarious and your teaching is super helpful

[@tdavis85]

love your vids man. very straight forward. reassuring me of the simple things and teaching me others!

[@user-fl2fj8co4n]

1:24 your'e such a gentleman for lowering the volume no one does that and i felt dat 🤙

[@JohnJohn-zj9pf]

Finally someone who explains this in an easy to understand way and with some clear and easy to follow examples! Thank you!

[@pearceodegard582]

thank you dad this is exactly what I've needed

[@soniibeatz]

I was wondering what gain staging meant. I haven't heard anyone talk about it much. I usually just put a soft clip on whatever I think is clipping and a limiter on the master. This seems much better. Thank You!

[@AerphGaming]

Bro I love your content delivery lol. first time here. Great video. Informative and you made me laugh like multiple times the mental note of "FIX ASS BASS" is a note I have left myself much to many times xD

[@anotherguyonthepc5]

This is the funniest production youtube channel I didn't know I needed

[@Guntherthefool]

Thanks for this series 🙌

[@johnlizardking]

hey man, thanks for all you share with us, it's gold. in the first episode you removed all effects, when you bring them back? it will change the gain staging again didn't it?

[@louis-charlesdufresne522]

Wowzers...this thumbnail. Is that a default skin for Live's faders?

[@seanlindholm7094]

Louis-Charles Dufresne yes

[@KitKalvert]

Thanks for a super helpful video. May I ask as regards to effects like delay and reverb; I assume you add these back in at mixing stage and have already bypassed all the creative stage effects you may have used before mixdown?

[@SVN62534]

this is the best channel on youtube by far.

[@MrHargrow28]

Soon as the video starts I felt so bad after I found out I suck at mixing. After the video I felt like I graduated or accomplished knowledge. Thank you for teaching me some new things about mixing 👍🏾

[@JUICE-wk2tz]

These videos are all always the best lol love them, and very informative. 4:59 so funny. Since I started watching these videos I have picked up a new function in youtube which im actually utilizing now called "liking a video" :P

[@crossroadbeats]

"The sweet pumping in my ears" got me 😂😂😂

[@lucashoffmann2404]

best video I've seen on the subject, thanks!

[@chuckanschutz5406]

Had to subscribe. Good lesson and just too funny to pass up.

[@mitchell9345]

Would it be more beneficial to gain stage pre-faders instead of using the channel faders?

[@taajmccain868]

The best tutorials period!!!

[@prodbygoblin3959]

So some people describe gainstaging the way you do but I've also seen it described as manually setting the volume for each track to a specific dB before exporting instead of using normalize and adjusting relative volumes later. Is one method better than the other and why?

[@artbluevibe6629]

thank you so much!!! have you done any processing on the kick as in lowpass filter? My problem is even though I do this my kick sounds too clicky as in too punchy and with alot of low end using sampled edm kicks, then the kick sounds too punchy and overpowering the overall mix when building the mix around the kick. Should I use transient shaper to lower the attacks a bit? or is there something Im missing?

[@2107tonyface]

I'm so relieved to have found this exiting channel. If we have some annoying house guests show up. We pop this on the TV, they soon fcuk off a bit sharpish. Ta chav.

[@RaveenaAroraOfficial]

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TUTORIALS, I'M A NOOB AT THIS AND I'M EXCITED. :D you're hilarious and a great teacher

[@lewismitchell5364]

Genius way of teaching Unity Gain. Fantastic

[@jamesjorgensen8090]

Man these videos are awesome! Super helpful and I can't stop laughing

[@xDrossGamingx]

Thanks a lot bro ! Very Nice tips! Appreciated!

[@shq1723]

Man, this is probably the funniest shit I've watched on youtube for a while hahaha

[@micartist1]

yo i love the trash talk so much ill subscribe and tell others ps thanks for the lesson too.

[@pavle988]

Still the best, man keep it up!

[@PrimevalArt]

I love the way you make videos

[@samsmusichub]

Thanks for this.

[@MonsterDubClub]

Amazing. I hope all of you dingus's, listen to this shitguit, because he knows what he is talking about. Thank you Underbelly, your way of teaching sooths my soul.

[@DaRza17]

How can you judge if he knows what he's talking about if you've just watched a tutorial on gainstaging and volume settings...

[@MonsterDubClub]

@@DaRza17 I watch tutorials very often my friend. this channel has a playlist if you want to check it out with 1500+ videos gathered over my 6+years now of producing. This comment was made 3 years ago, a time where I was still learning but had plenty of knowledge of what gain staging was back then, but not enough to fully understand it and apply it. I’m unsure why you’re questioning if Underbelly knows what he’s talking about? Kind of a stupid thing to even say. He has a great attitude towards teaching and sharing his wisdom and knowledge in making great musical beats ..(and any possible childhood trauma). I’ve learnt many techniques over the years from this channel alone. If you apply yourself and actually watch his videos, you wouldn’t have needed to ask that question.

[@mugheeshassan5857]

@@MonsterDubClub Damn absolutely roasted him

[@johanboucher9344]

great content thank you man 🙏

[@3Prayt]

I freaking loved this

[@marwanagourram5466]

what's the intro\outro song name?

[@lukebogacik2793]

I Love you man,,, plutonic passion shit. ✌🏼🌶

[@mace7754]

First time watching... This guy is funny!! Liked and subbed

[@nevaehpinkney5053]

I have no choice but to subscribe at this point. Your videos are seriously helpful and I get a laugh or two in there while attaining this sweet knowledge. Thanks man

[@filimonedakei7738]

I would rather gain stage the tracks input signal first to -18 then use the full scale volume sliders Great work!

[@youtubewatcher2006]

That's not gain staging at all. That's leveling. Gain staging starts with setting gain levels from plug in to plug in and into the fader. Faders are used to set loudness levels not to gain stage.

[@Da_Beef]

okayy mr smarty pants

[@RILCOMusic]

Do you ever EQ individual tracks after youve bounced them to audio and reached this stage? Or should you already have everything pretty sculpted once youre setting relative volumes and then do an overall EQ for the bounced mixdown? Great work man.

[@RILCOMusic]

Sorry wrote this before finishing the video, but still, do you ever EQ everything before you bounce them to audio?

[@sam-no5qb]

I need some help. I love all of these videos when the vocals are already recorded and the post processing info is great, but I am having some issues getting there. How do you set up the gain on the mic vs. the gain on the compressor? And do I want to use something like an 1176 if it has a lot of character or something like ableton's stock compressor? I want to know the steps to get to an equal leveling of a dynamic vocal take that doesnt sound compressed all to hell when it hits hard, and doesnt raise the high end so much it sounds weird? (aka the audio file looking consistent in peaks and valleys) How do you set all the faders so that when you need to raise how loud the vocal is, you're not just pushing that one fader up? Like when you adjust gain do you increase the audio file size, or the fader, or the gain on the compressor? What are you guy's tricks? I have a TLM 102, apollo twin, 1176 and la a2 Uad plugins.

[@Radeo]

mic gain: depends on the sweet spot of your preamp, where that is you have to test for...might also be different for different instruments. if it's transparent, it doesn't really matter, as long as you have some headroom leftover. compressor: use a vu meter after the compressor to compare non-compressed loudness to compressed loudness: adjust the comp gain so that they are basically the same level how not to have it compressed to hell 1: cut separate tracks for verse and chorus...and sometimes pre-chorus...compress them differently to taste how not to have it compressed to hell 2: after getting the tone you want, instead of slamming a second compressor on the end, send the vocal to multiple (3-5) auxs, each with a different compressor to taste, with GR only about 1-3 db each. by parallel comping like this, you get your reduction without smashing the vocals. can be combined with tip 1 so that verse has a different compressor set than chorus why duz my audio file look weird: probably your attack and release settings are weird, also the pre-comp eq may be poor resulting in an unwanted area of the frequency spectrum triggering the compressor first --- with vocals this happens usually in the low end where people who use headphones or don't have large speakers don't notice...check your 70-120 hz and see if by gently shelving off you stop the compressor from triggering unnecessarily...HP filter is also your friend how do you raise vocal loudness: adjusting gain is your first or second step in the mix. But after you start adding inserts leave the clip gain alone as it feeds into the compressors you just set...they will compress more harshly then. You should only do post-fader work on your vol...automate each phrase by riding the fader (in the "volume" area of your daw only)...then correct with a mouse. vocals should just ever so slighly edge above the mix itself...proper vocal automation can take awhile.

[@simonroyjonesuk]

Really helpful. Thanks a lot.

[@hyga.8520]

still useful nowadays, thanks sir !

[@asdfdfggfd]

I feel like I suck a little less at producing now because I had figured this out by my self. Good video though, nice to have validation of my techniques.

[@darthvildar9311]

These are so good

[@harrisboy98th]

If you export all individual audio elements with EQs and compression on, would you have that problem at 6:15 with the bass needing EQ and compression?

[@ashwin8029]

Wow!!! Are you psychic? This is the exact topic I am stuck right now.Thank you very much:)

[@fattyjaybird7505]

Love that forced smile 😬

[@TheTomallon]

gain stage ? isnt it going to be too hot for some plugins to get normalized sample, wont you agree on taking down clip gain in all of them prior to intial balance? thnks

[@falco7626]

1:24 This is the reason I watch your videos

[@MrHarry1]

How do you get all wave forms so clean and central/all volumes the same ?

[@oskargrusiecki817]

everything super fine but how to keep everything in time?( my bmp is the sames as the original) do I have to set everything manually to be in time gooshhh help plssss

[@robvilla_YT]

Informative and hilarious lmao... “because we normalized, it’s going to sound like this” ... agggg!!!!!!

[@Forwardslashhug]

The normalize method of gain staging isn't bad but it should be noted that if you do it with really low signal tracks it will can raise the noise floor...so if you're working with external instruments and stuff it can problematic is what I have been told. It might not be an issue with soft synth stuff

[@solismuzik]

So does this mean no effects on the individual tracks or master out at this point?

[@caramellapaztello4639]

I almost can't pay attention because I'm producing too much laughter at all of his jokes

[@sixdegrees6889]

Where you getting that bass sound from, vst?

[@boomernati]

What Shortcuts did you use to: *select all the tracks and turn down the gain? *select a specific area in the arrangement view and place a loop marker?

[@krachpegelmenju1637]

Please i wanna know, too! Especially the "select all tracks"

[@boomernati]

Command + L for looping selected area

[@BradBakes]

Krachpegel Menju click on any of the clips and then ctrl/cmd A

[@eliash.6142]

What's the benefit of putting drumsamples in separate tracks and not drumrack? To send all separately to return tracks is the first that comes to mind.

[@Adsterr]

before the mixdown, am i not supposed to use eq or sidechains, or any mixing?

[@mohanshiva_musical]

Bro your adjusting fader knob, can we use gain knob???

[@sludgemind9024]

Hey, what's your opinion on doing this with pink noise? Heard about that somewhere, play some pink noise, because frequency spectrum looks like "nicely mixed track", and then drop everything to -inf and increase till you can just about hear it through the noise, so you end up with freq. spectrum that looks like slowly dropping curve from low to hi freq.

[@colinmitchell6006]

It's a cool exercise, but you won't have a good mix from using pink noise. It's better to learn more about fletcher munson and use your ears. Also, grab a VU meter. I got WAVES VU meter recently for free, I generally set it's 'Headroom' option to -18 (typically good choice for gainstaging, as many plug in's act like their analog counter-parts.) This helps you deal with 'average' volumes, which is really how you get a balanced mix, not by looking at peak values (deal with peaks with compression, not gain/volume faders). Just because we have 32 bit float doesn't mean we throw out all the practical mixing techniques for creating space and headroom (learn more about analog gainstaging).

[@Sc0tther]

It's great as a starting point to the mix, and if you're still working on your ear training. Do it before you add effects like reverb, etc. It won't give you a perfect mix, though--you'll still want to make some finer balance adjustments afterward, as well as EQ out muddiness or harshness and add compression. It's definitely useful, but it also doesn't allow for that note-taking stage the video describes, since you're doing all the levels at once. You'll still want to listen carefully for needed adjustments and to make sure all the tracks are fitted nicely together.

[@leftmono1016]

Abudzaba Dabila - it’s definitely worth exploring if you’ve not had a go already. I tried it and was very pleased with the result. As mentioned above, it’s not perfect but very useful nonetheless

[@Intr3pico]

maybe you are configuring wrong the spectrum. i put my configs like this: block = 16k ; refresh= 40ms ; and the mode set to range. this way the spectrum line won't be hitting the ceiling and fooling you around. check to see if it works for you, bc it does for me.

[@thedude5853]

thats a terrible waste of time. id suggest trying it out just to see how bad it is. the only way i could see this being viable is if allllllll of your audio is egregiously compressed or limited, because the pink noise doesnt take any of the supporting elements of frequencies into consideration. 90% of the audio quality is being ignored because youre only looking for what passes through the noise. if you have dynamics in your music or samples (like any interesting music does) the pink noise shortcut will not work because thats all it is, a shortcut. some people say it saves time, but its only a time-saver if you dont know how to level or eq anything that isnt perpetually consistent in db. dont take my word for it, try it out yourself. or just take the time to learn the craft, that works too.

[@warlock4455]

Thanks, again!

[@the_other_dude]

Thanks, David Gallagher! kidding aside, thanks for all the uploads! great work, cheers!

[@Alex-js2id]

Thank you so much for this mixing series

[@MichaelSeethaler]

Would love thoughts on this: not sure whats the point of normalizing the audio when you bounce, as you need to restart the mix from scratch. Could be redundant work. Why not just freeze the midi to audio in the session and mix from there. Thoughts?

[@Titere05]

I might be wrong, not a pro or anything, but I believe in general it is good practice to bounce and record "as loud as possible" so as to introduce as little noise as you can. Imagine you have a little noise in your signal, if you record as loud as possible and then turn the fader down, you are practically getting rid of that noise. Not the case if you bounce at the "ideal" level. Besides, if you bounce something at what you think is the ideal volume at the time, but want to increase the volume afterwards for any reason, you have to amplify that signal, increasing noise and losing some quality in the process

[@schalomforever]

I just finished watching the first part (this video is part 2) and Underbelly adresses it in the first part. Essentially he says that you get better results if you do it a second time since you have to reevaluate all the parts again.

[@AutPen38]

I'm not necessarily a fan of normalising before exporting and starting the mixdown, but another benefit of it is that if you come back to the project at a later date, or want to sample a bit of it, or get someone else to mix/remix the song, normalized "stems" are kind of easier to work with when you're assessing which parts to use in a new version.

[@hpetty9404]

This shit is so funny dude. I've never enjoyed learning so much lol

[@HidanPain]

Underbelly, is panning something we should remove aswell, so that we can do that later when mixing ?

[@ayrtonhollingsworth4268]

should I automate the volume/ gainstaging when composing? maybe buy a mixer to automate this easier?

[@user-km1tu9yl3q]

I personally wouldn't nor ever needed to. If you add effects or change your sound in any way it can possibly effect it's volume and you will have to re adjust the gain. Just set your gain after you are done processing a sound.

[@utah710]

This is great

[@johngabriel2214]

ur awesome bro, subbed. will watch other videos too ❤

[@cloud9savagehenry]

Thank you. Some great tips here. Like Mom took at the drunken barn dance.

[@natechapman3275]

“Fix ass bass later” I feel that on another level

[@ShenFM]

yes dig this

[@user-zl3hz6wd3i]

the goattt

[@user-iw9ww7xo6v]

Thank you dude! You are definitely is something else hahahahaha

[@talas3draft367]

Can you make tutorial for FLstudio ?

[@mrdrgonzo]

When you keep adding more to the mix, won’t the overall volume increase too? What happens if it goes beyond 0db and your clipping? Do you bring down the master group volumes or decrease them all by the same amount say -3db for each channel?

[@hankjohnson5986]

I'm fairly new to mixing but from what I know and researched you shouldn't really be messing with the volume faders that much. What he's doing in this video isn't actually gainstaging. He's not manipulating gain, which is different from volume. You should be going into the first source of audio and lowering the volume there, NOT using the volume faders. So you will have to lower all the tracks to a certain peak using a meter and then when your mixing lower the output gain in your plugins. It's not really that hard once you understand and there are plenty of other videos that explain it well, which I have used to learn. Best of luck👍

[@markuskopter]

@@hankjohnson5986 This! Too bad you can like comments only once.

[@TheLegatoFox]

I can't wait for episodes 3 through 9999