2015/02/02 20:53:24
olemon
Earlier I asked about Blue Cat Audio and was turned on to their free suite, which includes a Gain plugin.  Have it now.
 
M. Senior advises that a DAW's Volume Fader is best left near unity and that a track strip's Gain knob is underutilized.  I do use the Gain knobs in Sonar, but I've also inserted a compressor before, like the PC4K, set the parameters to 'null' and adjusted makeup gain + or - as needed.
 
Most of the time I'm automating volume on an imported audio track.  Let's assume I start by first setting the Volume Fader to -5db for that track in the mix, only to find afterwards that I need more or less overall output from that automated track.  Once automated, the Volume Fader is well, automated, and I found it convenient to just grab a compressor.
 
Good, bad, right, wrong, common?  Can a Compressor work as a Gain plugin?
 
 
2015/02/02 22:41:59
tlw
I suspect setting the track faders into "offset" mode before recording the automation then back to "normal" mode when finished might do what you are looking for without having to use plugins to alter track volume.
2015/02/03 00:36:37
AT
Sure, you can use the comp as a gain.  Usually I set the vol automation by eye and then set up the comp for:
 
1.  shaping
2.  any saturation etc.
3.  vol
 
Then I tweak the vol automation by ear.  If they whole thing needs up or down I'll use the input gain or output gain on the comp.  This usually works fine, esp. since I've used analog hardware going in - usually comp but also a little filtering.  2 dBs or less of compression, just to take the peaks down a bit.  It makes the whole track easier to manage since it is steadier.  Most of the time my ITB comps are barely touching the sound.
 
@
 
 
 
2015/02/03 06:46:38
olemon
tlw
I suspect setting the track faders into "offset" mode before recording the automation then back to "normal" mode when finished might do what you are looking for without having to use plugins to alter track volume.



I'm not familiar with offset mode.  I'll look it up.  Thanks tlw.
 
AT
Sure, you can use the comp as a gain.  
 



Thanks AT.  I never noticed any alteration of the sound by using the compressor gain alone, with zero compression.  But, since these gain plugins exist I started wondering 'Why?' if a compressor can do the same thing:)
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