pinguinotuerto
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Interesting Article for Engineering Newbies Like Myself : Gain Staging In Your DAW
Gain Staging In Your DAW SoftwareTechnique : Recording / Mixing If you don't understand gain structure, you may be undermining your recordings and mixes without even realising it. By Matt Houghton http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep13/articles/level-headed.htm As a musician who's trying to understand the engineering side better, I found this article extremely enlightening. Hope others do too.
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robert_e_bone
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Re: Interesting Article for Engineering Newbies Like Myself : Gain Staging In Your DAW
2014/08/02 22:12:08
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Thanks for the post. I need all the help I can get. :)
Bob Bone
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bitflipper
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Re: Interesting Article for Engineering Newbies Like Myself : Gain Staging In Your DAW
2014/08/03 09:51:36
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 All else is in doubt, so this is the truth I cling to. My Stuff
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pinguinotuerto
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Re: Interesting Article for Engineering Newbies Like Myself : Gain Staging In Your DAW
2014/08/03 12:04:30
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☄ Helpfulby Nino Vargas 2014/08/15 09:07:26
Very glad to hear that from both of you! I found the article extremely helpful and enlightening, but wasn't sure how more experienced users would take it, hence the disclaimer "for newbies".
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smallstonefan
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Re: Interesting Article for Engineering Newbies Like Myself : Gain Staging In Your DAW
2014/08/03 12:43:08
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☄ Helpfulby ShellstaX 2014/08/15 08:21:44
Bar far the biggest improvements to my mixing in the last year came from improving my gain staging. I'm a big fan of the Klanghelm VU meters (and they are cheap!). I also use the Hornet meter control run in auto-mode as the first insert on every track. It acts as a trim control, so that all of the tracks are leveled out and the Sonar faders stay at 0. I don't like leaving it on though, so after I make a pass with it I manually adjust the Sonar track's trim control to the value provided by Hornet and delete the hornet plug. I then use an instance of the Klanghelm before and after EVERY plug as I mix (I just have a pair in every FX Chain I can move around or turn off) to manage my levels through each plugin.
DRAMATIC improvements for me!
Thanks for this article - it really confirms a lot that I have been learning...
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BenMMusTech
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Re: Interesting Article for Engineering Newbies Like Myself : Gain Staging In Your DAW
2014/08/03 22:21:37
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This is something I worked out years ago. I'm amazed that all the audio schools I have been too still don't teach this and I'm also amazed that experienced audio engineers still are working this out.
Ben
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Chregg
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Re: Interesting Article for Engineering Newbies Like Myself : Gain Staging In Your DAW
2014/08/04 05:11:28
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gain staging was one of the first things drilled into me at audio school, and am thankful for it
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Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
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Re: Interesting Article for Engineering Newbies Like Myself : Gain Staging In Your DAW
2014/08/04 07:33:59
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☄ Helpfulby pentimentosound 2014/08/04 08:46:07
Yes to date there are many plugins that don't react well to signals above 0dBFS. Either they internally are not using float data everywhere in their internal signal flow, have lookup tables that are not high gain aware or have DSP that is not tolerant of this. Its not that common though, so while its a good practice to be aware of gain staging good practices while mixing you dont have to worry that much about it unless you have a plugin that doesnt handle high gain. A tip to address this. If you notice distortion, drop the input gain (trim) level on the track/bus which is pre-effects and then boost the normal volume of the track/bus which is post fx bin. If the gain with this is insufficient for some reason, remember that you have access to yet another relatively unknown per track/bus gainstage in SONAR by using offset mode! Simply switch to offset mode and adjust the offset volume and you get another 6db of gain available. That should be plenty for most purposes. Take a look at this article and this documentation for some signal flow diagrams in SONAR.
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pentimentosound
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Re: Interesting Article for Engineering Newbies Like Myself : Gain Staging In Your DAW
2014/08/04 08:52:36
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Thanks Noel. Good stuff is always appreciated!
Michael
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bobguitkillerleft
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Re: Interesting Article for Engineering Newbies Like Myself : Gain Staging In Your DAW
2014/08/04 09:16:28
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Excellent article OP,and follow up Noel,it's something I haven't been aware that was why a lot of my stuff was lacking dynamics,and was getting harshness along the way [some poss, a bit more]it's a vital piece of info for someone like myself who's never recorded digitally until picking up music again 3 years ago.
Bob
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mettelus
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Re: Interesting Article for Engineering Newbies Like Myself : Gain Staging In Your DAW
2014/08/04 10:36:46
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+1 Very nice thread! I am happy to see this one posted 
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pinguinotuerto
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Re: Interesting Article for Engineering Newbies Like Myself : Gain Staging In Your DAW
2014/08/04 12:09:58
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I'm very glad some people have found the post useful. Thank you Noel for the additional information and links, which have made it even more relevant within the context of Sonar.
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Splat 
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Re: Interesting Article for Engineering Newbies Like Myself : Gain Staging In Your DAW
2014/08/04 14:49:06
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Sell by date at 9000 posts. Do not feed. @48/24 & 128 buffers latency is 367 with offset of 38. Sonar Platinum(64 bit),Win 8.1(64 bit),Saffire Pro 40(Firewire),Mix Control = 3.4,Firewire=VIA,Dell Studio XPS 8100(Intel Core i7 CPU 2.93 Ghz/16 Gb),4 x Seagate ST31500341AS (mirrored),GeForce GTX 460,Yamaha DGX-505 keyboard,Roland A-300PRO,Roland SPD-30 V2,FD-8,Triggera Krigg,Shure SM7B,Yamaha HS5.Maschine Studio+Komplete 9 Ultimate+Kontrol Z1.Addictive Keys,Izotope Nectar elements,Overloud Bundle,Geist.Acronis True Image 2014.
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brconflict
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Re: Interesting Article for Engineering Newbies Like Myself : Gain Staging In Your DAW
2014/08/07 09:34:29
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Gain/mix before Automate.
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Sir Les
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Re: Interesting Article for Engineering Newbies Like Myself : Gain Staging In Your DAW
2014/08/09 10:55:03
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1. Intel 5960x 3.5mhz , ASUS x99 deluxe u3.1, Asus Thunderbolt ex II, G skills f4 3000 Memory 32GB , ADATA ssd 250GB Main Drive, Lots of WD Red 7200 Mechanical Drives with Black Drives, 14x multi optical Drive, LG Multi Blu Drive, 2X Extern WD Mybooks usb 3.0, AMD r7 270 video card, Motu 828x TB , Motu Midi XT. 2. USING MAC PRO, as win 10 has damaged 2 x99 systems 8.1 is also to blame for the final burnout trying to roll back! 3. Something Wonderful: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AlHkRy9cXBbYpQNvVBCt8r7fQ5PS
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ShellstaX
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Re: Interesting Article for Engineering Newbies Like Myself : Gain Staging In Your DAW
2014/08/15 08:27:37
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Just wanted to say thanks to all for this post (despite being a couple of weeks old ... in my in-tray  ). Special mentions to @ pinguinotuerto as OP and @ smallstonefan for your insights / tools (I had my eye on both when this post hit - very timely). I just swung past the forum on my way to grab the Klanghelm VU Meters (8 euro) and HoRNet VU Meter (2.39 euro) - 40% off for another day - cheap as chips! The HoRNet sale seems to happen every month - I picked up Deelay (4.79 euro) and Autogain Pro (13.20 euro) last month. The VU Meter also appears to include an autogain feature. Whilst I'm yet to figure it all out the concept makes sense to me and further ratified by this post. Less then $15 for the 2 - fan-flippin-tastic!
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Nino Vargas
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Re: Interesting Article for Engineering Newbies Like Myself : Gain Staging In Your DAW
2014/08/15 09:15:24
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Nino Vargas
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Re: Interesting Article for Engineering Newbies Like Myself : Gain Staging In Your DAW
2014/08/15 09:24:57
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jude77
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Re: Interesting Article for Engineering Newbies Like Myself : Gain Staging In Your DAW
2014/08/15 10:51:51
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Shellstax,
Like you, I took smallstonefan's advice and grabbed the HoRNet vu meters. One of the things I really enjoy about this community is the help folks give each other. I appreciate it!!
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smallstonefan
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Re: Interesting Article for Engineering Newbies Like Myself : Gain Staging In Your DAW
2014/08/15 10:54:44
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Let me know if you have any questions on my workflow - I'd be happy to help! I didn't "grok" the concept at first, but man o man are my mixes better now that I have.
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pinguinotuerto
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Re: Interesting Article for Engineering Newbies Like Myself : Gain Staging In Your DAW
2014/08/15 15:19:49
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Very glad this thread has been useful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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