In audio engineering, a gain stage is a point during an audio signal flow that the engineer can make adjustments to the level, such as a fader on a mixing console or in a DAW. Here's an image to explain why this is a problem. (function () { Here is an example describing this process: Your goal is to create a large sound stage full of details. A good rule of thumb is to equate -18dBFS with the analog standard of 0dBVU. 4. Preamp and line inputs play an important role in gain staging. However, 80% of the time I’m mixing someone else’s work, I get a mix that’s way too hot. var n = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; Mid-Band EQ Gain. You want to begin testing levels and set the trim on your preamplifier until you're dancing around -18 dBFS in the DAW on the fader. So, basically, the level that’s coming into the channel is the same as the level coming out. How should you configure your gain structure in order to optimize the gain staging throughout your mix? High-Band EQ Gain. When pushed above a certain limit you’d get a soft compression/saturation effect at the beginning and the louder you pushed the input signal the more overt the distortion became. Your dynamic range represents the volumes in which your signal is free from noise and isn't clipped and distorting, but there's a caveat as always. Gain staging is actually a pretty straightforward concept—it’s the process of optimizing the level at every point in your signal chain to ensure a clean, clear sound. If you did it right, you should find that your master bus levels are low enough that you don’t have to worry about clipping. Amateurs are telling each other where the peaks of their amplitudes should be hitting at a maximum, mainly because DAWs use sample-peak metering. Again, set all of the faders to zero, and monitor your microphone (or instrument if you're direct injecting) levels on its own fader. Headroom in analog circuitry and tape recorders was a gradual thing. Good Gain Staging begins when you’re recording, so ensure material that … But you do want it all hooked into the interface or mixer. Exactly how people feel about their gain structure in mixing – “Gain Staging” being the strategy you chose to use your bank account of dBs, if you even have a strategy….And this is what we need to talk about! The more bands your EQ has, the more potential gain stages you must account for. Recall that -18 dBFS is equal to 0 dBu, so this means you're hitting your preamp's output at the right levels, which will mean you're hitting the input of the next piece of gear at the right level. Anyone who's had roomates who like to have disco dancing rave after-parties until 4 am know a thing or two about unwanted noise.But for our discussion here Engineers would try and find the best balance point between noise at the bottom and distortion at the top, which is ultimately what gain staging is all about. We said all of that above so we could say the following and have it make sense: In the analog stage, you want to bounce around 0 dBu. Keeping it conservative will help you maintain proper gain structure throughout your mix. It's not a war for more volume at the cost of audio attrition. In the same vein, if you're recording too hot, you'll encounter the distortion ceiling. The need for proper gain staging doesn’t end when your tracks are recorded…. The same goes for boosting on one track, but what you don't want is a boosted, accumulated noise floor where it's all added together and noticeable. The goal was to keep your signal as high above the noise floor as possible to maximize your signal-to-noise ratio. Gain staging is the process of managing all of these volume levels within a project for the purpose of achieving the cleanest mix possible. Just Industry News, Tips, and Exclusive Deals. s.async = true; • If the next piece is a compressor and you're compressing with 10 dBu of gain reduction, then you'll want to add 10 dBu back to the average signal with the output gain. They both concern and are the boundaries of what is called the dynamic range of your signal. It's so easy to record studio quality vocals these days with the right mic... Analog uses dBu, which stands for decibels unloaded, Digital uses dBFS, which stands for decibels full scale. The tracks feeding those Reverb and Kick auxiliary busses are staged correctly too, although I'm feeding them in at lower levels. If the signal is too quiet, you may capture … When gain staging, it’s our job to make sure that all the relative track volumes are at the proper level relative to one another while maintaining a specific master output level. As with the Low-Band Gain, the Mid-Band gain contributes to the overall gain-staging of a signal. But remember, at 24-bit and 32-bit recording you have plenty of headroom (about 18 decibels worth). Don’t Ignore Plug-In I/O Gain. While this does increase the volume of the noise floor a bit, your signal-to-noise ratio increases at a greater rate, and since human hearing is based on averages the detectable noise is even lower. Monitoring the input and output levels of devices is crucial. The more the sound is amplified across gain stages, the more the noise is … If you apply the information here to your next tracking and mixing session, you will, without a doubt, notice a difference. I applaud everyone that doesn't bog down in technical details and jumps right in, because music is art. If you need help, I've written about how to use a limiter here. Just keep in mind that more dynamic instruments like drums or percussion might need more space as their signals can have very large peaks. So give headroom and gain staging the time they deserve. opt: { There are a few things you can do to help you wrangle in your signals so they can hang in around -18 dBFS without peaking or sounding cruddy. You shouldn't be worrying about peaks or maximums. 3. So why should you care about gain staging if it looks like digital recording has fixed all the problems? In the process of boosting the volume, you're also boosting the noise floor. To make everything sound as good as possible, you have to achieve the right balance between all of these. All About This Beautiful Sound Effect & Its Uses, Recording Studio Cables: All You Need to Know. And as a mixer or recording engineer, there's no excuse for not perfectly executing your gain staging. Boost them all, and you potentially add up to 15 dB or more to your signal before it hits the mix. Good gain staging was an engineer’s way of navigating safely between them. Gain staging is the process of making the dB level of a sound consistent throughout the entire processing system. There are many ways to ensure you’re starting off with the best … Your goal is to manage the output of each piece of gear so that you're dancing on average at 0 dBu, which will read -18 dBFS inside your recording software. You can't just push it till you see your peaks nearing the red lights. Every recording medium has a finite amount of headroom. Back in the good old days of analog recording, you had 2 main things to consider when it came to recording a healthy yet clean signal: Good gain staging was an engineer’s way of navigating safely between them. Transient peaks are fine as are dips below, but in general you want to be hanging out there at 0 dBu. No Spam. How to Gain Stage 1. If you're only 5 dB above the noise floor, you will always be only 5 dB above the noise floor, because you didn't achieve a high signal-to-noise ration. Any signal above it will get clipped. Channel Output Level. Keeping it conservative will help you maintain proper gain structure throughout your mix. It meant making sure that the gain structure between devices was set up properly. This is why we call the process of leveling the mix “gain staging”. Hardware equipment works in dBu, which is a measurement of voltage. }); In digital we have an absolute limit (0dBFS, or decibels Full Scale). Although there's no exact standard, the best magic numbers to remember are: This will keep you safe on any system. In a general sense, loud sounds good, but once your output crosses a certain threshold it begins to distort. That's it. It also has to be converted back to analog on the way out to your monitors. Adjust the threshold to your preferred working level, which is usually -12dB. This meant that quieter passages wouldn’t be obscured by a bunch of hisses and other undesirable noise. You'll want to do the same once you've recorded at this perfect level and start working with plugins. So what's a gain stage? Learn more about. Get the best of our production tips and news, weekly in your inbox. But in general, if you’re pushing all your plugins with high levels it may start to make your mix sound brittle, harsh, and 2-dimensional. Well, the primary reason is that any digital chain still contains at least one (and usually 2) analog stages (hint—it’s the A in your AD and DA converters). What we’re talking about is the importance of gain staging – a basic yet crucial audio concept that can have tremendous impact on the quality of your recordings and mixes. It ensured that any device in the signal path would receive an optimal signal level to its input, and output an optimal signal level to the next device in the chain. 32-bit floating bit rate is pretty clip proof because … This does not mean to compress like crazy so you can get louder though. There are several reasons, all of which are complex and beyond the scope of this conversation. A VU meter forces you to mix at softer levels, that is why it is highly recommended for gain staging.I’m not going to bore you with the history and information that you can find on Wikipedia, I’m just going to give you the steps on how to use a VU Meter for gain staging. “Gain staging” is simply the process of managing input gains and output levels. This refers to the way signal levels are set between the various components in an audio system. s.src = 'https://servedbyadbutler.com/app.js'; If your gain structure is too low, you undermine your ability to finish the puzzle by leaving pieces of the puzzle in the box. But on average all of our gear is designed to perform best at that level. We can wrap the first two points up in one discussion. This keeps the noise low. That's not how this works or how to gauge it. The Level Meter plug-in is most informative when set to Peak & RMS modes, showing averaged and instantaneous levels. I try not to push a peak higher than -5 dB, personally, because some transients will slip past you even with compression. Today we're going to cover this topic in it's fullest extent. But if you've done your recording engineer job properly, you'll have a huge signal-to-noise ratio where this isn't a problem. Gain staging will allow the audio producer to minimize noise by eliminating many gain stages. The ultimate goal here is to always be hitting your analog-to-digital converters (into your sound card or interface) and your digital-to-analog converters (back out to the speaker monitors) at 0 dBu / -18 dBFS. Watch as Weezna shows how to get a clean and loud signal from the mic..preamp..compressor..interface..DAW. You should be looking at averages, because the goal is to fill every computer bit with as much digital information as possible while operating at the levels in which your gear performs best. On the plugin itself, you will want to set the output to an appropriate level before sending it to any effect devices. var s = document.createElement("script"); In the picture above, you can see my mix bus is dancing around -18 dB, although it peaked as far as -8.3 dB (it actually goes higher across the whole song). Any frequency range that you boost will also boost the noise floor in that range. Al Isler is a musician as well as a recording, mixing, and mastering engineer who, according to his mom, "works with computers". Most have never even heard of this aspect of signal processing. If you keep your peaks hitting not much above -10dBFS, and keep the average level around -18dBFS you should have a signal that’s right in that sweet spot. This includes trim knobs, input and output gain controls whether in a plugin or hardware, your mixer faders, the volume controls on your instruments, and more. How many are modeled after old analog gear like compressors, EQs, console channels, tape machines, etc.? The reason is that that is a very quiet volume and you or your listener will have to raise the amplitude to hear it comfortably. It also represents the sweet spot you want to set all of your gain stages to on average. Start with the Best Possible Sound. The name of the game here is full resolution audio, but you don't want that full of noise and distortion either. In the analog world especially, gain staging refers to adjusting the level at each point of amplification to ensure an optimal signal-to-noise ratio, without (unusable) distortion. It also helps you then run through each piece of the signal path without adding more noise in each jump of the chain. So maintaining the same concept of optimal gain staging that you use during recording is your best bet: -18dBFS is a good average level to aim for. }, Obviously if you cut drastically you'll have to push up the fader, which on the surface seems to create the same problem. Digitally it refers to the bits and information they can hold before their cup is too full. The answer lies in the name itself: It’s the process of setting the optimum level (i.e, the best possible “gain”) at every stage in the signal path. But averaging lower leaves plenty of headroom and dynamics for the mastering engineer to work with. Digital equipment like our sound cards, interfaces, DAWs, and computers as a whole work in dBFS, which is a measurement of detail held in a binary number. How to Achieve Low Audio Latency While Recording, What is Reverb? At the bottom is the natural noise floor of electronics and background sounds that creep into your signal, and at the top is your distortion ceiling. But the related reason is that you've recorded in at the proper levels and have found that you want to sculpt the frequency response of a track so it sits in the mix better. Too much and you're clipping and distorting. If you want a certain frequency to sound louder, then you should cut around it instead. Some producers recommend mixing to a higher level, but to my mind, it makes things more difficult later. This quick explanation will help you understand exactly what headroom and gain staging are and why they’re necessary—even in the brave new digital world. And that's the real crime, the situation most people find themselves in because they aren't aware of this critical balance between gain and resolution. It ensured that any device in the signal path would receive an optimal signal level to its input and pass on an optimal signal level to the next device in the chain. Electronically this refers to the maximum amount of voltage a signal path through a piece of hardware is designed to take. Gain staging is the oft-forgotten diamond in the studio recording and mixing process. If it has plugins on it, it needs to … Keep grinding! These analog stages are subject to the same gain structure problems we mentioned earlier: So when you’re recording it’s best to set your levels conservatively. Your gain matters at every step, from the preamplifier, equalizer, compressor, converters, and even when printing the mix for your album release. A big challenge for anyone doing live sound is something called gain staging. Noise Floor – the level of the gain stage where the noise is louder than the actual audio signal. handler: function (opt) { I'll say it again in a different way to help burn it into your noggin: It's good to understand why we're shooting for these numbers, even without digging into the math. Gain staging is important because our ears perceive loud sounds as … Use 24-bit Or Be Mindful of The 32-bit Float Trap. So the same rules apply: the harder you push them the more they’ll start to compress, saturate and distort. AdButler.ads = AdButler.ads || []; The only problem with trying to keep your signal high above the noise floor is that you ran into the other issue—headroom. It's like a desktop puzzle. Here's the short version of a long story. Fortunately, we all have the computers and hard drive space to be recording in 24-bit these days (instead of the old 16-bit standard). It is entirely possible to increase a signal’s internal gain while maintaining a consistent volume in your speakers, just as it is possible to increase the volume coming out of an amplifier without increasing the input gain. I'll explain what it is you're missing with great visual analogy so you know what to listen for, because it's subtle, but it's the difference between an amateur garage band and a pristine professional result. Remember when choosing an audio interface was confusing before you read this? There's no maximum voltage you can send through a wire except for the fact that you'll burn it and break it at a certain point, although typically you'll hit a real distortion ceiling around +20-24 dBu. Too little gain is like saying "I know 4k Blu-Ray is a thing now but I'd rather sound like a VHS tape.". He has also mixed, mastered, & recorded for countless independent artists. Leave plenty of headroom for mastering! So besides managing your levels in and out of every piece of hardware and software, here's a couple other tips to keep you in the sweet spot. But what are they exactly? LANDR is the creative platform for musicians: audio mastering, digital distribution, collaboration, promotion and sample packs. var abkw = window.abkw || ''; You may not be able to average -18 dB in a full mix, but you will want to use all of the resolution you can by pumping as much volume as possible without clipping the peaks of your waveforms. The only people who have an excuse for recording near the noise floor these days are those who don't realize they need to be using a preamp with their microphones... and even then it's barely excusable (and easily fixable). var plc291816 = window.plc291816 || 0; Senior Audio Engineer at LANDR. var AdButler = AdButler || {}; AdButler.ads.push({ } keywords: abkw , You had to think globally, across the whole chain of gear. It’s either clipping on the master or […] Let's jump right into it with... Gain staging is the process of setting each gain stage to the proper levels to achieve a maximum quality, both in the analog or digital realm. On the face of it, gain staging couldn't be simpler: you ensure that you feed an appropriate level from the first stage of your signal path to the next, and repeat this from the second stage to the third... and so on, all the way from your instruments, mics and preamps to the final stereo mix bus. To get this, you really need to understand the difference between gain and volume, which we've covered in our Gain vs. Volume article. He acts as owner, editor, lead author, and web designer of LedgerNote, as well as co-author on all articles. You need to leave headroom when you’re mixing music!

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