This is because if a signal is clipping before it hits the mixer, it will go into the effect plugins, distorted.īut, I would recommend not starting this process until you get a good idea down that you want to stick with so you don’t gain stage a project that will never get finished. Not to mention, you might be making adjustments or adding in effects that won't sound the same if you gain stage after the fact. Distortion can ruin a really good mix and it's best to do it right away as it can be hard to figure out why your mix doesn't sound good later on.Įspecially after adding a bunch of elements and making a lot of changes in your project. That is the reason you don't want to clip. Pretty much all audio software (including plugins and DAWs) will let you know that your signal is clipping when you start to see red on a decibel meter.īut, it's not always this obvious, you might be just Barely skimming 0 dB, and that can be enough to cause distortion.Ī quick tip, it's okay to move your fader past the 0 dB marker but what shouldn't is the actual signal volume.Īnd when dealing with many tracks or sources of audio (including mix buses), the decibel level of all of these will add up and can cause distortion that might not be noticeable on their own but can be more obvious when they combine into the master track. Okay, the main objective of gain staging is to ensure that nothing is clipping, which would be reaching a decibel level of anything 0 dB or higher. This process really is just setting levels so nothing is distorting on its own or when summed together in the master.Īnd it's also done to make it easier to adjust levels in the mixer, which I'll explain why later on. Then, I'll be going through the process of how to do it.īut don't let gain staging intimidate you. Stick around, because I'm going to be talking about what you can do in your DAW, as well as your plugins to properly set up gain staging.įirst, I'm gonna talk about what Gain Staging is and why you might want to do it. If you're unsure about what gain staging is or why you should be doing it, this tutorial will teach you how to use gain staging to get a better mix.
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