This video is the single greatest explanation for gain staging that has worked for me after watching countless other videos on the subject. I appreciate so much that you didn’t skip any details or make assumptions about what your audience knows (ex - what does VU stand for?). You’ve actually illustrated two things to me - one is the subject of this video, but the other implicit one being, building a mix around the key elements of the arrangement and keeping that perspective throughout the process. Your approach has also inspired me to think less and do more; like how changing gears when driving a manual transmission car becomes after a while. Thank you!
Your channel just got a new fan and a new subscriber! Excellent teaching, excellent content, excellent topics, excellent speaking voice and tempo in your lessons. What a gem! Cheers from a certified high school/college teacher of music, SAE alumni, producer and general geek.
This was so amazingly helpful. I've watched dozens of videos on mixing, but never did I get such useful information, it may actually have saved a mix I have been working on for weeks. Thank you!
Thanks for a very informative session. I used to work in analog studios for years and have been in the digital world for over twenty years now and I had forgotten just how great the VU meter is. The visual of it puts everything into perspective. Since I started using the VU meters again my tracks are more consistent and natural sounding. Thanks for reminding me of the power of the VU meter and what it can do to produce great mixes.
Just stumbled on this by accident, and wow, this is such a great explanation! I'll definitely try to implement it into my workflow. Also, I immediately felt right at home on your channel: it's a very welcome change of pace from all the high-octane, over-produced YT content full of attitude and marketing techniques, and I left the video feeling singularly relaxed and well-informed. You're doing a fantastic job and your unagitated, to-the-point approach resonates with me much more than 99% of the other studio-related content on YT. You've found an instant subscriber and I'm looking forward to checking out more! As for my own gain staging approach, it really doesn't quite exist yet, and I've always been doing this at the seat of my pants for the most part, just using a bit of clip gain or slapping a gain reduction plugin on most tracks at -6 to -12 dB as the first insert and hoping that it'll be more or less alright. Well, we live and learn, and since I do all the stages of music production entirely by myself, some things are bound to be less ideal than others. Do you have any tips for gain staging when the process of arranging/producing/recording material can't really be separated from mixing? I always start doing mix moves very early on (even before all the elements are in place) because it's part of the sound design process in my production workflow. Guess I should just check the VU right from the start for every track I start editing, then, be it a recording or a VST instrument… And maybe double-check the low-end once everything's arranged.
I'm so pleased that you are enjoying the channel! Regarding your method of working, I would always have a VU meter open that's across the mix bus output and keep my eye on it. I'd experiment with a -18dB and a -14dB calibration point to see which works best in that scenario.
Excellent tutorial, I will try your technique at -14 dbfs. Gain creep has always been a problem with my mixes. My biggest issue thus far has been reverb it sounds good on my monitors but way over what I think is acceptable in say a car test or small speakers . I will search your channel for a video on reverb. Your approach is uncomplicated and simple Bravo !
Sara, a VU meter is in my shopping list and next mix will be accordingly. One thing though about clipping that seems to be forgotten quite often is that “clipping” on each channel is actually not going to cause any clipping in the sound, according the massive headroom 32 bit processing gives. Not to be confused with having 0 at the master bus that will be causing clipping.
This was very informative. I recently bought the waves VU meter plugin but was confused on the calibration aspect. This cleared it right up. You also answered the question on how to start setting the gains and ballparking each element. Thank you!
This was a better explanation of using a VU meter and gain staging than any of the other videos I've come across. I realised I was doing all this incorrectly because other channels over complicated the process. Thanks!
Just came across this! what a spectacular way to explain it all! I really like how you explained the loudness of the kick and then the loudness of the kick with the bass and finally the entire mix. this has really demystified the vu Meters for a lot of people I can imagine
Phantastic content, perfectly explained. The first time I heard about the kick-drum-bass-guitar-technique was from Jacquire King and since then I never struggled with my mix balance. Really like your style of explaning stuff, thank you Sara. Keep up the good work! BTW: the Klanghelm plugins are amazing. Tony Frenzel is such an amazing engineer and a very humble guy!
@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing Absolutely! Setting the calibration of the VU meter to -14 dB and then level the kick to about -7 to -5 dB is brilliant. Thus, the mix level for most of the streaming services will be in the ballpark virtually by itself. By the way: what immediately caught my attention is that you don't move the faders beyond unity gain. This may seem nerdy, but I can totally relate to it. 😀
@@boldbearStudios Thanks! Yes, and if you need them louder then just apply a some limiting with a -1dB true peak output and you're good to go! The Unity thing is probably because of the way I was trained but also, I'm a bit of a neat freak by nature: tidy desk-tidy mind!!!
Oh my goodness! This video is outstanding, the clarity of the explanations, the process and the information transmitted is off the charts. Thank you so much for this! Cheers from Madrid!
Finally!!! I now know what I was doing so very wrong trying to gain stage everything. I was gain staging my kick to 0VU and then trying to bring everything else in. My mix was averaging way too hot with my peaks clipping 0db. The -7VU on the kick was the missing piece for me. Sara, you get three hearts! 💖💖💖
Finally I get to fully grasp this concept. Great explanation and way of teaching. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge in such a clear and professional way. You have gained a new subscriber.
Sara, thank you so much for your instruction on metering. I'm a music producer/artist that enjoy recording my own projects. I'm fairly new to audio engineering. I've only been certified in AVID Protools as a User and quickly discovered that I was a novice in the finer points of Audio Engineering. I appreciate your lesson in gainstaging. I've gone back over one of five songs that I've been producing over the past five months and discovered that my gainstaging needs additional work. I haven't had any clipping on my submix bus or master bus due to my diligence in watching the dbfs meter. However, going back and properly gainstaging ,with the VU meter, has made my mix pop more in the bass and drum area. Thank you so much. I'm a new subscriber!!! Also thanks for the unity gain tip.
Ok! been messing around with staging for awhile now and your simple explanation of setting the Kick and Bass/Drums and then everything else around that cleared up my perspective. Thanks.
Hi Sara! Love the teachings! I just have a quick question… I have been trying to use your gain staging technique but I keep finding my kick peaking in the VU meter and peak meter when I have my kick hovering around -7VU. What do I do?
This is a really great tutorial. There were still things that I've been strugging with about gain staging and this cleared them up. The struggle was largely that I was seeing it recommended that you hit processing plugins from instruments at between -3 to 0db VU. As such I'd been aiming for this as the output to 2 buss both before and after processing. This lead to a VU level which was far too high. If I understand correctly, you gain stage individual channels for processing at -3 to 0db VU, but then aim to hit the 2 buss at a lower volume determined by a kick at -7db. I tried this, and whilst it ends up with pretty low levels (I'm calibrated at -18dbfs which I will probably now be able to adjust) the overall level, space and balance is amazing. And oodles of headroom to spare. By all means tell me if I've misunderstood something, but otherwise, this was awesome. Thanks!
This is what I was wondering as well. Set everything at just under 0db......set kick at around -6db, and place everything around that kick, bass being first and staying just above the kick number. That would bring everything down lower than originally staged, but end result would keep the total mix at around -18db to -14db. In the past, I've just gain staged everything at -18db, including kick, then mixed, and gain staged my mix bus a final time at -18db. Maybe not perfect, but miles cleaner than when I first started and new nothing about gain staging lol.
thanks alot you're a great teacher!!!!! ,I had no idea how to gainstage properly and ended up squashing my mixes to bits with the limiter ,I can't thank you enough!!!!!!!
Great video, Sara. Thank you. I've learned a lot. In my template I have a VU meter on all of my tracks, buses and call me paranoid, two on my master bus. One before the master buss processing on after. I use them to check the levels of the tracks, but I never thought about watching the VU meter to check the balance between Drums and Bass. Very valuable and it'll definitely make its way into my mixing toolbox. And thank you for using Freaking Out for the video! I still love the mix you did of the song!
I was using VU Meter from waves pack but I was like a robot, all I knew was that I needed to set my instruments to some level. Unfortunately I was mixing at -11 and this didnt give enough headroom for my mastering enginner. I looked up your video and now I understand everything about it. I mixed it "right", but with the wrong set on my VU, now I'm mixing at -15. At least it was easy to solve the problem, I just did a -6db on every instrument and then it was perfect mix! Thanks for the explanation. I can now mix my own music tracks and this will help me a lot for understanding more and more about music
stumbled upon this channel, what a relief ! A real to watch in-between all the hyperactive men and nerds treating subjects like this. Great video, very clear and with a pleasant tone. Thank you. I subscribed,
Really blown away by your knowledge and the professionalism of your workflow. Loved the video! I calibrated my audio monitors as well so I'm always monitoring at consistent volume, and combined with these gain staging concepts I'm able to have an incredible foundation for mixes and productions.
@@renanluy Play pink noise via a sound file or system generated noise in your daw, and set the level so that your daw meter reads your desired target. For example, I set mine so that it plays at -20dBFS, which is the standard for film. Then you decide on your desired dBSPL level in the room (around 82dB is great - but do some research here) and calibrate each monitor individually by playing the pink noise signal through the monitor and adjusting the monitor level until you reach the desired loudness in room in the listening position (use a dB meter). The beauty of this is that you're now monitoring sounds at the ideal loudness in your room while composing/mixing/producing for appropriate frequency response and internally in the daw you would still have 20dB of headroom, which gives you all the room you need for both mixing and mastering.
Exceptional video, Sara. I always enjoy your channel; your presentation is always so nice to listen to, and you offer information that is pertinent, in a way that engages your viewers, neither “shouting” at them or boring them to tears. 😉 FWIW, You are setting up the VU’s in your DAW exactly the way that I do (though there are some occasions when I’ll set the VU calibration at -18db, depending on the musical style and inherent dynamics of the tracks I’m working with). I started out years ago working in the analog realm, as that was just the way things were in every studio (back in the bad old days of mullets and swatches, LOL) and using VU’s was just a day to day part of recording and mixing, so it was always a second nature thing for me. I became so acclimated to it, that even in the modern digital age of recording, I still prefer using VU’s in my DAW to do gain-staging with. Question… With the Klanghelm VU’s that you are using, is there a particular meter ballistics setting that you find you prefer, or use most? An example of which would be meter ballistics for instruments with faster transients, like kick and snare, versus elements with slower transients, such as vocals, synths, guitars… Just curious. 😊 Again, great video! 🙏
Thank you so much, I teach first year higher education students in Music Production and your videos have been so informative and clarifying! Thanks again
Very useful meter tutorial Sara. Thanks. I recently began using my Studio One 6 DAW stock VU meters, one set to -18 at the beginning of my audio before any plug-ins. I use a second on my Master bus after everything which is set to -12. The S1 meter doesn't have the edit options like your Klanghelm VU does, however mine is a combo VU, digital peak, and correlation meter. I can change my VU's zero to -18, -12, -6, 0, and then a sensitivity knob. I am beginning to get better consistent mix levels when I'm going by my VU meters. I'm still used to my analog roots.
@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing It can't hurt to make sure. I'll look into the Klanghelm meter. Thanks for the feedback. PS ordered the Klanghelm meter. Great price.
In studio one you can highlight all tracks then click on normalize audio -12db. This will bring all tracks to that level. You can adjust your tracks to any -db you want in studio one. It’s nice that it’s just a few clicks to get the job done!
This my first time meeting you and im really amazed , u are one of a kind .the world needs more female producers...im impressed about this tutorial ...im From Ghana ,west africa
12:15 i believe that VU stands for voltage unit not volume unit. It it used to measure the voltage of an electrical signal that corresponds to 1.228 volts RMS.
In Harrison mixbus there is a k-meter on the master bus where as 0 is minus -14db. I use that for headroom. I sometimes use a separate VU meter for some gain staging though
I love VUMT - bought it recently and now consider it the most useful tool in my kit for mixing. Don't know if it's right or wrong, but I put mine on each channel at the end of any FX chain I might have and use the trim control to bring my levels under control (this is after setting my channel inputs to -18 on instruments or normalising audio to -18 first). I find the RMS meter a very useful meter as loudness is much harder to quantify with standard VU scale. Thanks for the video!
Very well explained Sara - I loved that you gave us some 'ballpark' numbers that we can experiment with; very useful! And, of course, 'ballpark' is the right word, because these figures will naturally need to be adjusted if you're working with different genres e.g. anything from hip-hop to folk-rock ballads... Or maybe not?
Glad it was helpful! The ballpark figures will work regardless of genre, except maybe anything without drums! I just don't want people to get too hung up on the numbers and at -14 there is enough headroom built in for any adjustment based on personal taste, client requests, genre etc.
I like to have my faders at 0 so I do the gain adjustment at the clip level to achieve that. You get a finer adjustment at 0 than at -10 because faders are logarithmic volume controllers.
This video make me happy ti know details I was ignoring for balance kicks and bass. Thaaanks! I’m using vu meters inside the great Waves Shoep Omni channel that I use to put on every track, it’s a very powerful tool. I’ll put the Vu meter in top of my master channel starting today!!! Love this video, love your channel and the way you explain.
Remember to find out how to change the calibration for the Omnichannel VU, it most likely defaults to -18. You want to set it at -14 to use my ballpark numbers. Have fun!
I have some questions. I use hardware in 80% of my session and 20% plugins. Would I set my vu meter to -18 or -14? In the video, you mentioned to have the kick to hit @ -7 on the vu meter. In almost every other video I’ve watched, they suggest to have almost track to hit at 0 on the vu meter. Now I’m kinda confused.
Sara! Just found your channel and it is fantastic. This is THE best explanation of how to build your track levels that I’ve ever seen and I can’t wait to put what I’ve learned into practice. Plus, the quality of your voice is so soothingly pleasant to listen to I could listen to you all day! Thank you so much and glad to be a new subscriber to you channel. Cheers!
What I have just learn't from this. I use the VU method -14 but thought I had to match all sounds to be the same level, I understand you have a preference -7 -5 for Kick & bass. I think I need to get my head around this idea more.
The idea I wanted to get across in this video is that by setting the kick and bass like this at the start, continue to. mix everything else using your ears so they sound balanced to the kick and bass. Then once the mix is finished it should (hopefully) be in a healthy range to send for mastering, avoid clipping any plugins etc without micro managing every single track level. Hope that helps!
Hello Sara! thank you very much! My english it´s not quite well but there´s something that I want to say you about this video : 1-very clear every detail about V.U meters,2-your way to explain make this issue very easy to understand (beside your have a lovely ,smooth and clear voice),3-I never seen yours videos before,I just find them a few minutes ago,and they´re amazing!!!..and,of course,I´m suscribed now...and 4: I use to set the V.U meter around -2 to -0,5 db in each track (-18 db calibration) in every instrument and voices,and I use to set the drums peaks around -10 db(V.U set in Peak Mode) am I doing the right thing? I can get good mixes using those values and I think that I´m right,but your opinion it´s very important to me Thanks a lot Sarah!!! best regards from Argentina.
Thanks for a great video. Well reasoned info minus any hype or click bait. :) Personally I think the default peak metering in DAWs and the lingering myth of recording digital as close to 0FS as possible hinders learning to mix. This vu/averaging meter approach in the box is a good antidote to that. Thanks again!
I've been looking into Peak meters and I think I prefer a digital Peak meter because Vu meters have a 300?ms latency, where as digital meters are 40?ms I forget the exact numbers but it was significant enough to give me pause.
Brilliant, Sara. Thank you. Although I just learned I've been mixing way too hot, and did not understand gain staging at all. Gah! I've never seen this so well explained. Back to the mix.
i found your channel by luck... learned new things, more approaches in stuff in things i already knew, you're doing really a great job :) keep up it :) seriously i love the way you explain everything, it's not "we do this" it's also "why", specially for beginners known WHY other than just "doing this" probably is more important than the thing itself to actually for someone to get himself in the way "why or when i should do this, and what i am trying to achieve?" ... thank you so much for making so great stuff...
Hello Sara, I was interested in your video about VU metering and agree that -18dB is a little too low and -14 is more useful let's say (but each to his/her own of course). I liked so much the song used in your presentation and if you mixed that, well you did a fantastic job! Congratulations! Like you, I also work totally within my DAW and no outboard hardware at all. I see no point, except for the vibe or the use of a real tape recorder for summing. Having said that, there are now so many tape modelled plugins, there is no real need to buy an external R2R. I prefer to always work with 3dB or 1.5dB increments and 'the rule of 3' is something I try to work within. How are you doing with Pink Noise as a reference point in your final mastering? I ask this because pink noise is used in speaker manufacturing/design and testing, and finally, even at mastering studios as a 'go to' reference range when adjusting track profiles. This is one of the reasons that a professionally mastered track will translate correctly - and correspondingly - onto other systems. You cannot ignore pink noise as a reference point because its very similar to the way we hear music and its a de facto in speaker manufacture as well as final mastering. My point here is that no amount of room or monitor adjustment will result in a perfect balance unless you factor in pink nolse too. There is solid reason for my comments here and I can point you to a very relevant video by David Mellor, Director of AudíoMasterclass, its called 'The frequency balance of a hit record'. I hope David uploads one called 'The frequency balance of a flop.' LOL!!! PS: In your presentation @ 13:55 you said that you attenuate any waveforms using clip gain if they are too loud - so what would you nominally consider to be a perfect volume for a waveform prior to gain staging? I've been using -3dB as my average and wonder if this could be -6dB (after normalisation).
Wow, thanks for your detailed feedback! I must admit to not exploring the pink noise method you mention, maybe I should!! When I clip gain a loud track, I doing it by looking at the waveform and roughly adjusting it so it looks about right and lands in the green to yellow zone on the track meter. Granted, this is using my eyes and not my ears but I've been looking at DAW waveforms for a long time so it's just quicker. I will round it up or down to the nearest whole number to be neat (that's just me!), this usually ends up being anywhere between -3dB to -10dB depending on the incoming tracks.
Hi Sara, once again very helpful and informative. I've been working with gain staging at the -18db settings for some time now and will give this a go for sure. I wanted to ask you something that I never hear anyone talk about and get your opinion. When doing an initial static mix and setting up my gain staging, when it comes to the high hat say or, any other short, high transient sound, it often barely is reading on the VU yet, is already quite loud. Of course, I end up just mixing this by ear but, it's left me scratching my head a few times when trying to figure out if I'm able to hit my processing on that track with enough signal. Am I just dense? Am I over thinking? I hope the later. Any thoughts on how I can approach this (and am I the only one who has been scratching his head with this LOL)? Thanks for your time.
A few points: - other analog meters existed pre-digital aside from VU meters, such as PPM. - -18VU is confusing and wrong. Analog meters are typically calibrated so that 0VU=4dBu. When this is in a DAW, the default calibration that is often (but not always) used is -18dBFS=0VU=4dBu. This is only when using a sine wave, as dBFS is peak level and dBu is relative to voltage. This also assumes your converters have 22dBu of headroom (this varies between different converters). With 22dBu of headroom, at 4dBu, you have 18dB of headroom (therefore -18dBFS). If your converters have 20dBu of headroom, then you’d adjust the meter to show 16 etc, as they’d have 16dB of headroom above 4dBu. - Many analog modelled plugins use 4dBu=0VU=-18dBFS as their internal reference level. For these plugins, you’d probably want to use a meter set to -18 to make sure you aren’t running into these plugins too hot. For plugins that use -12dBFS=0VU as their reference level, you can adjust your meter to -12 and gain stage accordingly. Always check as plugins vary with their internal reference level (as do converters). This one is more opinion than fact, but I don’t really like the idea of setting kick and bass levels with a meter without knowing what role they have in the arrangement. IMO it’s better to just mix the song and keep an eye on the entire mix level at the mix bus. VU meters generally don’t show much useful information for kicks because they are too transient heavy and short. I think it’d very good practice to use and understand analog and digital levels, and different meter types. The problem is there is SO MUCH bad/contradictory advice online that people misinterpret or just turn a blind eye to.
Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!!! You have answered my questions on how to use a VU meter. Can you do o ok me on frequencies? I mainly do hip hop and R&B but can do some fundamentals on where certain frequencies need to sit to have better separation and depth. My mixes sound so flat compared to professional ones 😢
Thanks for that. Coming from recording in 24 track 2" tape back in the 90s I love VUs. So I have always had a Klanghelm on my master buss for monitoring but this vid was a masterclass in looking at the earlier stages of the mix with the VU that has set my mind racing. Thanks; you have another Sub!
Watched this several times and found extremely useful - a clear, well organised explanation; thankyou. You mention keeping an eye on the red re clipping but do you have any more specific figures on peak values? Also, variation in all your figures re VU meters depending on genre - I tend towarsrds softer acoustic material that sounds progressively worse if the volume increases, especially in mastering.
Thank you for this video! I recently picked up the waves VU meter and implemented this by sending my bass and drums to a mix bus (after some light mixing) while using pre fader sends in logic so I could turn the faders all the way down on the original tracks after and make all my changes from there. My tracks sound better already, I appreciate it!
Very useful video. What are you doing with audio channels which are barely moving a VU needle? I learned to calibrate to -18 db on a VU meter plus using an additional true peak meter at the related single channel. At basic level staging, watching both meters and use the level which is first happening on one of the plugins. -6db on the VU or -18db on the peak meter. I think going from -18 to a -14db calibration might be a good idea. Some analog modelled plugins are calibrated to that butt most still at -18. So -18 is on the very safe side. I'm not really certain about that subject a d like to hear different opinions and approaches too. Cheers
I only really use a VU on group busses/ auxes and my mix bus because of that. At the track level I just eyeball the DAW meter. I'm happy if the level its where it goes from green to yellow. I don't overthink it anymore. Thanks for the comment, good question!
Hello Sara, Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I usually set my VU for my tracks and busses to -18 and my master buss to -14. I will set my peak level at the end of my master bus to -1.6 db. Thanks again - Cheers, mvh
excellent video.made me realize that there should be feature that lights up the plugin's icon when there's clipping within that plugin...that would be incredibly helpful!
Glad it helped! I've just learned that in Pro Tools there is a yellow led at the top of the track meter that stays lit if a plugin is clipping, which I didn't know, I do now!
@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing yes! I'm on PT12.4 and it does that as well, but wouldn't it be wonderful if it lit up the little dot to the left in the plugin slot that was clipping just like a little L.E.D. :-)
Just to reinforce:--are you saying you gain stage to -6 for the kick drum? Do you set it to '0' first at the gain point then bring it down to the -6 level? Does then the bass, after setting to 0 drawn to -3/4? Its just on other videos all demos show setting to 0 first then modifying. Thanks so much!
Another question re gain staging: re th-cam.com/video/Cz0KsK_teFA/w-d-xo.html time. What do you do for the stereo channels, as opposed to the mono ones? Is there a change in signal for the meter and do you make allowances for this in the preferences or the VU meter itself?
Another absolutely fantastic video Sara!! Thanks ever so much for sharing!
Thanks so much!! 😊
You both are awesome. Thanks for being in my life as a mentor. Respect. 🤘
If Warren gives it an approval?...you just KNOW you need to be watching from beginning to end lol 😁✌🏽
yes and she responds back to people lol and you don't have to pay money to join her Facebook
This video is the single greatest explanation for gain staging that has worked for me after watching countless other videos on the subject. I appreciate so much that you didn’t skip any details or make assumptions about what your audience knows (ex - what does VU stand for?). You’ve actually illustrated two things to me - one is the subject of this video, but the other implicit one being, building a mix around the key elements of the arrangement and keeping that perspective throughout the process. Your approach has also inspired me to think less and do more; like how changing gears when driving a manual transmission car becomes after a while. Thank you!
Wow! I’m so happy to hear that it has helped you in such a big way! That’s amazing. Thanks for sharing that.
At last, I found an experienced engineer explaining how VU meters work. Thank you for this video. Extremely educational.
You are welcome!
No single piece of instruction has done more my mixing than this video. Beyond grateful for what you're doing...Thank you!!
You are so welcome, I'm so glad to have helped you so much! 😊
Your channel just got a new fan and a new subscriber! Excellent teaching, excellent content, excellent topics, excellent speaking voice and tempo in your lessons. What a gem! Cheers from a certified high school/college teacher of music, SAE alumni, producer and general geek.
Awesome, thank you!
Most relaxing voice of sound engineer ❤️
Jenis Music, thank you so much 😊
4real!
true 👌
Yeah she has teaching voice.
Since her dialog sounds so good, I'll listen to her advice 👂🖐
Most brilliant and easiest to understand mixing tutorial i have ever seen
Great! Glad to help!
Thank you, Sara.
Fast and easy. Nice rule of thumbs. (Kicks -7, bass -4-5)
Bye.
Glad it was helpful!
Sara, you’re a genius. Thanks for sharing this. It’s a basic step that every mixer should know.
You're so welcome!
This was so amazingly helpful. I've watched dozens of videos on mixing, but never did I get such useful information, it may actually have saved a mix I have been working on for weeks. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for a very informative session. I used to work in analog studios for years and have been in the digital world for over twenty years now and I had forgotten just how great the VU meter is. The visual of it puts everything into perspective. Since I started using the VU meters again my tracks are more consistent and natural sounding. Thanks for reminding me of the power of the VU meter and what it can do to produce great mixes.
Glad it was helpful!
Just stumbled on this by accident, and wow, this is such a great explanation! I'll definitely try to implement it into my workflow. Also, I immediately felt right at home on your channel: it's a very welcome change of pace from all the high-octane, over-produced YT content full of attitude and marketing techniques, and I left the video feeling singularly relaxed and well-informed. You're doing a fantastic job and your unagitated, to-the-point approach resonates with me much more than 99% of the other studio-related content on YT. You've found an instant subscriber and I'm looking forward to checking out more!
As for my own gain staging approach, it really doesn't quite exist yet, and I've always been doing this at the seat of my pants for the most part, just using a bit of clip gain or slapping a gain reduction plugin on most tracks at -6 to -12 dB as the first insert and hoping that it'll be more or less alright. Well, we live and learn, and since I do all the stages of music production entirely by myself, some things are bound to be less ideal than others. Do you have any tips for gain staging when the process of arranging/producing/recording material can't really be separated from mixing? I always start doing mix moves very early on (even before all the elements are in place) because it's part of the sound design process in my production workflow. Guess I should just check the VU right from the start for every track I start editing, then, be it a recording or a VST instrument… And maybe double-check the low-end once everything's arranged.
I'm so pleased that you are enjoying the channel! Regarding your method of working, I would always have a VU meter open that's across the mix bus output and keep my eye on it. I'd experiment with a -18dB and a -14dB calibration point to see which works best in that scenario.
Excellent tutorial, I will try your technique at -14 dbfs. Gain creep has always been a problem with my mixes. My biggest issue thus far has been reverb it sounds good on my monitors but way over what I think is acceptable in say a car test or small speakers . I will search your channel for a video on reverb. Your approach is uncomplicated and simple Bravo !
I hope you find it helps
Sara, a VU meter is in my shopping list and next mix will be accordingly.
One thing though about clipping that seems to be forgotten quite often is that “clipping” on each channel is actually not going to cause any clipping in the sound, according the massive headroom 32 bit processing gives. Not to be confused with having 0 at the master bus that will be causing clipping.
Thanks for commenting!
The most practical and effective video about gain staging on TH-cam... Thanks
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you so much Sara I’ve been searching for a proper explanation of how to use a VU meter all day this one is the best definitely subscribed 👍
Great! Thanks, glad it helped
This was very informative. I recently bought the waves VU meter plugin but was confused on the calibration aspect. This cleared it right up. You also answered the question on how to start setting the gains and ballparking each element. Thank you!
Great! Glad to have helped 👍
Thank you for sharing, great explanation of a VU meter💗
Best tutorial YET on gain staging, and getting the foundation, (kick and bass) right first! You go Sara! :-)
Thanks David Anthony that means a lot 😊
David Anthony, thank you so much :)
This was a better explanation of using a VU meter and gain staging than any of the other videos I've come across. I realised I was doing all this incorrectly because other channels over complicated the process. Thanks!
Glad to help!
Just came across this! what a spectacular way to explain it all! I really like how you explained the loudness of the kick and then the loudness of the kick with the bass and finally the entire mix. this has really demystified the vu Meters for a lot of people I can imagine
Glad it was helpful!
Phantastic content, perfectly explained. The first time I heard about the kick-drum-bass-guitar-technique was from Jacquire King and since then I never struggled with my mix balance. Really like your style of explaning stuff, thank you Sara. Keep up the good work! BTW: the Klanghelm plugins are amazing. Tony Frenzel is such an amazing engineer and a very humble guy!
Cool, thanks! I think that's where I picked up the concept but adapted it to my needs.
@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing Absolutely! Setting the calibration of the VU meter to -14 dB and then level the kick to about -7 to -5 dB is brilliant. Thus, the mix level for most of the streaming services will be in the ballpark virtually by itself.
By the way: what immediately caught my attention is that you don't move the faders beyond unity gain. This may seem nerdy, but I can totally relate to it. 😀
@@boldbearStudios Thanks! Yes, and if you need them louder then just apply a some limiting with a -1dB true peak output and you're good to go! The Unity thing is probably because of the way I was trained but also, I'm a bit of a neat freak by nature: tidy desk-tidy mind!!!
Oh my goodness! This video is outstanding, the clarity of the explanations, the process and the information transmitted is off the charts. Thank you so much for this! Cheers from Madrid!
Thank you so much, I'm glad it was helpful!
Sarah, you are one of the absolute best teachers on you Tube.
Thanks Joe Reilly that means a lot 😊
Finally!!!
I now know what I was doing so very wrong trying to gain stage everything.
I was gain staging my kick to 0VU and then trying to bring everything else in. My mix was averaging way too hot with my peaks clipping 0db. The -7VU on the kick was the missing piece for me.
Sara, you get three hearts! 💖💖💖
Glad to help!
Same for me!
Finally I get to fully grasp this concept. Great explanation and way of teaching. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge in such a clear and professional way. You have gained a new subscriber.
Thank you!
Best gain staging video I've saw yet. Awesome..
Wow, thanks!
Sara, thank you so much for your instruction on metering. I'm a music producer/artist that enjoy recording my own projects. I'm fairly new to audio engineering. I've only been certified in AVID Protools as a User and quickly discovered that I was a novice in the finer points of Audio Engineering. I appreciate your lesson in gainstaging. I've gone back over one of five songs that I've been producing over the past five months and discovered that my gainstaging needs additional work. I haven't had any clipping on my submix bus or master bus due to my diligence in watching the dbfs meter. However, going back and properly gainstaging ,with the VU meter, has made my mix pop more in the bass and drum area. Thank you so much. I'm a new subscriber!!! Also thanks for the unity gain tip.
that's great news! I'm glad it's worked for you
Ok! been messing around with staging for awhile now and your simple explanation of setting the Kick and Bass/Drums and then everything else around that cleared up my perspective. Thanks.
Glad it helped!
Hi Sara! Love the teachings!
I just have a quick question… I have been trying to use your gain staging technique but I keep finding my kick peaking in the VU meter and peak meter when I have my kick hovering around -7VU. What do I do?
I use a gentle limiter on my drum group, and also on my mix bus. This a result of mixing hotter at -14 rather than -18 calibration.
This is a really great tutorial. There were still things that I've been strugging with about gain staging and this cleared them up. The struggle was largely that I was seeing it recommended that you hit processing plugins from instruments at between -3 to 0db VU. As such I'd been aiming for this as the output to 2 buss both before and after processing. This lead to a VU level which was far too high. If I understand correctly, you gain stage individual channels for processing at -3 to 0db VU, but then aim to hit the 2 buss at a lower volume determined by a kick at -7db. I tried this, and whilst it ends up with pretty low levels (I'm calibrated at -18dbfs which I will probably now be able to adjust) the overall level, space and balance is amazing. And oodles of headroom to spare. By all means tell me if I've misunderstood something, but otherwise, this was awesome. Thanks!
This is what I was wondering as well. Set everything at just under 0db......set kick at around -6db, and place everything around that kick, bass being first and staying just above the kick number. That would bring everything down lower than originally staged, but end result would keep the total mix at around -18db to -14db. In the past, I've just gain staged everything at -18db, including kick, then mixed, and gain staged my mix bus a final time at -18db. Maybe not perfect, but miles cleaner than when I first started and new nothing about gain staging lol.
@@sashlipinski7034 Im stil confused with that too
thanks alot you're a great teacher!!!!! ,I had no idea how to gainstage properly and ended up squashing my mixes to bits with the limiter ,I can't thank you enough!!!!!!!
Let me know if it works for you, glad to help!
Great video, Sara. Thank you.
I've learned a lot. In my template I have a VU meter on all of my tracks, buses and call me paranoid, two on my master bus. One before the master buss processing on after. I use them to check the levels of the tracks, but I never thought about watching the VU meter to check the balance between Drums and Bass. Very valuable and it'll definitely make its way into my mixing toolbox.
And thank you for using Freaking Out for the video! I still love the mix you did of the song!
That is awesome!
I was using VU Meter from waves pack but I was like a robot, all I knew was that I needed to set my instruments to some level. Unfortunately I was mixing at -11 and this didnt give enough headroom for my mastering enginner. I looked up your video and now I understand everything about it. I mixed it "right", but with the wrong set on my VU, now I'm mixing at -15. At least it was easy to solve the problem, I just did a -6db on every instrument and then it was perfect mix! Thanks for the explanation.
I can now mix my own music tracks and this will help me a lot for understanding more and more about music
one of the best videos about basics of mixing (and i watched a lot)
Thanks for watching!
stumbled upon this channel, what a relief ! A real to watch in-between all the hyperactive men and nerds treating subjects like this. Great video, very clear and with a pleasant tone. Thank you. I subscribed,
Wow, thank you! Glad you are enjoying the channel
Thank you! Glad to be more calming in your feed!
thank you...time to dig out the old under-utilized Klanghelm VU meter> and yes it is not without some real bells and whistles.
This was fantastic. I normally do -18 and always limit to -14, so this is much helpful to get to -14.
Really blown away by your knowledge and the professionalism of your workflow. Loved the video! I calibrated my audio monitors as well so I'm always monitoring at consistent volume, and combined with these gain staging concepts I'm able to have an incredible foundation for mixes and productions.
Glad to have helped!
How do you calibrate your monitors? Can i calibrate my headphones also? (beginner here)
@@renanluy Play pink noise via a sound file or system generated noise in your daw, and set the level so that your daw meter reads your desired target. For example, I set mine so that it plays at -20dBFS, which is the standard for film. Then you decide on your desired dBSPL level in the room (around 82dB is great - but do some research here) and calibrate each monitor individually by playing the pink noise signal through the monitor and adjusting the monitor level until you reach the desired loudness in room in the listening position (use a dB meter). The beauty of this is that you're now monitoring sounds at the ideal loudness in your room while composing/mixing/producing for appropriate frequency response and internally in the daw you would still have 20dB of headroom, which gives you all the room you need for both mixing and mastering.
Exceptional video, Sara.
I always enjoy your channel; your presentation is always so nice to listen to, and you offer information that is pertinent, in a way that engages your viewers, neither “shouting” at them or boring them to tears. 😉
FWIW, You are setting up the VU’s in your DAW exactly the way that I do (though there are some occasions when I’ll set the VU calibration at -18db, depending on the musical style and inherent dynamics of the tracks I’m working with).
I started out years ago working in the analog realm, as that was just the way things were in every studio (back in the bad old days of mullets and swatches, LOL) and using VU’s was just a day to day part of recording and mixing, so it was always a second nature thing for me. I became so acclimated to it, that even in the modern digital age of recording, I still prefer using VU’s in my DAW to do gain-staging with.
Question…
With the Klanghelm VU’s that you are using, is there a particular meter ballistics setting that you find you prefer, or use most? An example of which would be meter ballistics for instruments with faster transients, like kick and snare, versus elements with slower transients, such as vocals, synths, guitars…
Just curious. 😊
Again, great video!
🙏
That's brilliant, thank you!
Your voice sounds you mix it as it comes out of your mouth, so soothing
not a single excessive frequency
Thanks!
Thank you so much, I teach first year higher education students in Music Production and your videos have been so informative and clarifying! Thanks again
You're very welcome!
Very useful meter tutorial Sara. Thanks.
I recently began using my Studio One 6 DAW stock VU meters, one set to -18 at the beginning of my audio before any plug-ins. I use a second on my Master bus after everything which is set to -12.
The S1 meter doesn't have the edit options like your Klanghelm VU does, however mine is a combo VU, digital peak, and correlation meter. I can change my VU's zero to -18, -12, -6, 0, and then a sensitivity knob.
I am beginning to get better consistent mix levels when I'm going by my VU meters. I'm still used to my analog roots.
The last time I used S1's VU meter it wasn't that accurate. Might be worth checking against the Klanghelm or the Waves VU
@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing It can't hurt to make sure. I'll look into the Klanghelm meter. Thanks for the feedback.
PS ordered the Klanghelm meter. Great price.
In studio one you can highlight all tracks then click on normalize audio -12db. This will bring all tracks to that level. You can adjust your tracks to any -db you want in studio one. It’s nice that it’s just a few clicks to get the job done!
Thanks for sharing!
I use Studio One. I’ll have to try this.
This my first time meeting you and im really amazed , u are one of a kind .the world needs more female producers...im impressed about this tutorial ...im From Ghana ,west africa
Thanks Aqwesi Broni that means a lot 😊
12:15 i believe that VU stands for voltage unit not volume unit. It it used to measure the voltage of an electrical signal that corresponds to 1.228 volts RMS.
I can see the logic but it does stand for volume unit.
In Harrison mixbus there is a k-meter on the master bus where as 0 is minus -14db. I use that for headroom. I sometimes use a separate VU meter for some gain staging though
Nice! Thanks for sharing that
I love VUMT - bought it recently and now consider it the most useful tool in my kit for mixing. Don't know if it's right or wrong, but I put mine on each channel at the end of any FX chain I might have and use the trim control to bring my levels under control (this is after setting my channel inputs to -18 on instruments or normalising audio to -18 first). I find the RMS meter a very useful meter as loudness is much harder to quantify with standard VU scale. Thanks for the video!
It’s a really versatile plugin, thanks for watching!
Thank you so much for this video. It was insightful and this is about to improve the quality of my mixes.
Great to hear!
Very well explained Sara - I loved that you gave us some 'ballpark' numbers that we can experiment with; very useful! And, of course, 'ballpark' is the right word, because these figures will naturally need to be adjusted if you're working with different genres e.g. anything from hip-hop to folk-rock ballads... Or maybe not?
Glad it was helpful! The ballpark figures will work regardless of genre, except maybe anything without drums! I just don't want people to get too hung up on the numbers and at -14 there is enough headroom built in for any adjustment based on personal taste, client requests, genre etc.
my thought was you gain stage everything to -6db before treating them? and turn the faders down to around 10
I like to have my faders at 0 so I do the gain adjustment at the clip level to achieve that. You get a finer adjustment at 0 than at -10 because faders are logarithmic volume controllers.
@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing ok thank i guess what i meant is after you gain stage is it ok to turn the vol down to -10 before treating tracks?
@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing what if you record at Analog level with plugin instead of watching the digital levels?
Bought the VU meter using your link. Thanks for the gain staging demonstration.
That's great, have fun!
Thanks for using my pic and for the credits! best of luck with your endeavors
No worries!
Thank you Sara, first video of yours that I've watched. Will be back for more.
Awesome! Thank you!
This video make me happy ti know details I was ignoring for balance kicks and bass. Thaaanks! I’m using vu meters inside the great Waves Shoep Omni channel that I use to put on every track, it’s a very powerful tool. I’ll put the Vu meter in top of my master channel starting today!!! Love this video, love your channel and the way you explain.
Remember to find out how to change the calibration for the Omnichannel VU, it most likely defaults to -18. You want to set it at -14 to use my ballpark numbers. Have fun!
180 Top Darts! thank you so much. The lack of your 'I'm so good worship me' is very refreshing. This also makes so much sense. Kudos
Thanks, glad to help
Seems a good level comfortable and sure.
Good video. It's so nice that the concept of headroom made a comeback. It's a long time since I heard anyone say "you gotta use all the bits".
All this time around this particular topic, this is the best explanation about it!
THX!
Glad you think so! Thanks for watching
You're just amazing, Sara! Thanks for this class! 🙏🏼
You're so welcome!
I have some questions. I use hardware in 80% of my session and 20% plugins. Would I set my vu meter to -18 or -14?
In the video, you mentioned to have the kick to hit @ -7 on the vu meter. In almost every other video I’ve watched, they suggest to have almost track to hit at 0 on the vu meter. Now I’m kinda confused.
Great video, love your voice, love how easy going you are and cohesive the material is. Keep it up!
Julien Mancilla, thank you so much :)
Absolutely great.And the way you say "LUFS" is cool too.Thank you.
Thank you! 😃
Can I use the gain knob on the master channel? Cubase has one.
Thank you for introducing me to Klanghelm. Off I go into the rabbit hole.
Hope you enjoy it!
Sara! Just found your channel and it is fantastic. This is THE best explanation of how to build your track levels that I’ve ever seen and I can’t wait to put what I’ve learned into practice. Plus, the quality of your voice is so soothingly pleasant to listen to I could listen to you all day! Thank you so much and glad to be a new subscriber to you channel. Cheers!
Awesome! Thank you so much! ☺
Thank you so much for this informative lesson on how important gain staging is
Any time! Thanks for watching 😃
What I have just learn't from this. I use the VU method -14 but thought I had to match all sounds to be the same level, I understand you have a preference -7 -5 for Kick & bass. I think I need to get my head around this idea more.
The idea I wanted to get across in this video is that by setting the kick and bass like this at the start, continue to. mix everything else using your ears so they sound balanced to the kick and bass. Then once the mix is finished it should (hopefully) be in a healthy range to send for mastering, avoid clipping any plugins etc without micro managing every single track level. Hope that helps!
@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing thank you for your reply.
Iam getting one of these now. Thanks Sara!!!
Have fun!
Great video Sara. Thank you!
You're so welcome!
Hello Sara! thank you very much! My english it´s not quite well but there´s something that I want to say you about this video : 1-very clear every detail about V.U meters,2-your way to explain make this issue very easy to understand (beside your have a lovely ,smooth and clear voice),3-I never seen yours videos before,I just find them a few minutes ago,and they´re amazing!!!..and,of course,I´m suscribed now...and 4: I use to set the V.U meter around -2 to -0,5 db in each track (-18 db calibration) in every instrument and voices,and
I use to set the drums peaks around -10 db(V.U set in Peak Mode) am I doing the right thing? I can get good mixes using those values and I think that I´m right,but your opinion it´s very important to me Thanks a lot Sarah!!! best regards from Argentina.
If you get good mixes using those values then go for it!! It's all about doing what works best for you, your set up and your music!
@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing Thanks a lot Sara!
Thanks for a great video. Well reasoned info minus any hype or click bait. :) Personally I think the default peak metering in DAWs and the lingering myth of recording digital as close to 0FS as possible hinders learning to mix. This vu/averaging meter approach in the box is a good antidote to that. Thanks again!
Thanks for sharing! I always say to watch the DAW fader meter and go for green to yellow!
I've been looking into Peak meters and I think I prefer a digital Peak meter because Vu meters have a 300?ms latency, where as digital meters are 40?ms I forget the exact numbers but it was significant enough to give me pause.
Congratulations Sara...
Precise and concise...
Thank you 🙂
Brilliant, Sara. Thank you. Although I just learned I've been mixing way too hot, and did not understand gain staging at all. Gah! I've never seen this so well explained. Back to the mix.
Wonderful! Good luck 😀
Wow, that was a fabulous lesson. I now understand metering and the importance of using it. Subscribed.
Thanks for subscribing and glad you enjoyed the lesson!
Thanks for sharing! Well done!💯🎯
Thanks for watching!
i found your channel by luck... learned new things, more approaches in stuff in things i already knew, you're doing really a great job :) keep up it :) seriously i love the way you explain everything, it's not "we do this" it's also "why", specially for beginners known WHY other than just "doing this" probably is more important than the thing itself to actually for someone to get himself in the way "why or when i should do this, and what i am trying to achieve?" ... thank you so much for making so great stuff...
Thanks for your feedback, it's really helpful. Thanks for watching!
Hello Sara, I was interested in your video about VU metering and agree that -18dB is a little too low and -14 is more useful let's say (but each to his/her own of course). I liked so much the song used in your presentation and if you mixed that, well you did a fantastic job! Congratulations! Like you, I also work totally within my DAW and no outboard hardware at all. I see no point, except for the vibe or the use of a real tape recorder for summing. Having said that, there are now so many tape modelled plugins, there is no real need to buy an external R2R. I prefer to always work with 3dB or 1.5dB increments and 'the rule of 3' is something I try to work within. How are you doing with Pink Noise as a reference point in your final mastering? I ask this because pink noise is used in speaker manufacturing/design and testing, and finally, even at mastering studios as a 'go to' reference range when adjusting track profiles. This is one of the reasons that a professionally mastered track will translate correctly - and correspondingly - onto other systems. You cannot ignore pink noise as a reference point because its very similar to the way we hear music and its a de facto in speaker manufacture as well as final mastering. My point here is that no amount of room or monitor adjustment will result in a perfect balance unless you factor in pink nolse too. There is solid reason for my comments here and I can point you to a very relevant video by David Mellor, Director of AudíoMasterclass, its called 'The frequency balance of a hit record'. I hope David uploads one called 'The frequency balance of a flop.' LOL!!! PS: In your presentation @ 13:55 you said that you attenuate any waveforms using clip gain if they are too loud - so what would you nominally consider to be a perfect volume for a waveform prior to gain staging? I've been using -3dB as my average and wonder if this could be -6dB (after normalisation).
Wow, thanks for your detailed feedback! I must admit to not exploring the pink noise method you mention, maybe I should!! When I clip gain a loud track, I doing it by looking at the waveform and roughly adjusting it so it looks about right and lands in the green to yellow zone on the track meter. Granted, this is using my eyes and not my ears but I've been looking at DAW waveforms for a long time so it's just quicker. I will round it up or down to the nearest whole number to be neat (that's just me!), this usually ends up being anywhere between -3dB to -10dB depending on the incoming tracks.
@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing Hi Sara. I messaged you on Facebook with some extra notes. Hope to hear back from you there!
Hi Sara: You are talented. Thanks, Lou Lollio
Oh thank you!
Hi Sara, once again very helpful and informative. I've been working with gain staging at the -18db settings for some time now and will give this a go for sure. I wanted to ask you something that I never hear anyone talk about and get your opinion. When doing an initial static mix and setting up my gain staging, when it comes to the high hat say or, any other short, high transient sound, it often barely is reading on the VU yet, is already quite loud. Of course, I end up just mixing this by ear but, it's left me scratching my head a few times when trying to figure out if I'm able to hit my processing on that track with enough signal. Am I just dense? Am I over thinking? I hope the later. Any thoughts on how I can approach this (and am I the only one who has been scratching his head with this LOL)? Thanks for your time.
I have exactly the same confusion here - Sara? 😃😃😃
@@lukemccarty7096 Glad I'm not the only one 😆
A few points:
- other analog meters existed pre-digital aside from VU meters, such as PPM.
- -18VU is confusing and wrong. Analog meters are typically calibrated so that 0VU=4dBu. When this is in a DAW, the default calibration that is often (but not always) used is -18dBFS=0VU=4dBu. This is only when using a sine wave, as dBFS is peak level and dBu is relative to voltage. This also assumes your converters have 22dBu of headroom (this varies between different converters). With 22dBu of headroom, at 4dBu, you have 18dB of headroom (therefore -18dBFS). If your converters have 20dBu of headroom, then you’d adjust the meter to show 16 etc, as they’d have 16dB of headroom above 4dBu.
- Many analog modelled plugins use 4dBu=0VU=-18dBFS as their internal reference level. For these plugins, you’d probably want to use a meter set to -18 to make sure you aren’t running into these plugins too hot. For plugins that use -12dBFS=0VU as their reference level, you can adjust your meter to -12 and gain stage accordingly. Always check as plugins vary with their internal reference level (as do converters).
This one is more opinion than fact, but I don’t really like the idea of setting kick and bass levels with a meter without knowing what role they have in the arrangement. IMO it’s better to just mix the song and keep an eye on the entire mix level at the mix bus. VU meters generally don’t show much useful information for kicks because they are too transient heavy and short.
I think it’d very good practice to use and understand analog and digital levels, and different meter types. The problem is there is SO MUCH bad/contradictory advice online that people misinterpret or just turn a blind eye to.
Thanks for sharing, I agree with many of your points
Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!!! You have answered my questions on how to use a VU meter. Can you do o ok me on frequencies? I mainly do hip hop and R&B but can do some fundamentals on where certain frequencies need to sit to have better separation and depth. My mixes sound so flat compared to professional ones 😢
Thanks for that. Coming from recording in 24 track 2" tape back in the 90s I love VUs. So I have always had a Klanghelm on my master buss for monitoring but this vid was a masterclass in looking at the earlier stages of the mix with the VU that has set my mind racing. Thanks; you have another Sub!
Thank you so much, I'm glad it's given you a new use case!
what a lovely style of presentation.
Thank you 🙏
killer video. thanks
You’re welcome
Watched this several times and found extremely useful - a clear, well organised explanation; thankyou. You mention keeping an eye on the red re clipping but do you have any more specific figures on peak values? Also, variation in all your figures re VU meters depending on genre - I tend towarsrds softer acoustic material that sounds progressively worse if the volume increases, especially in mastering.
Probably for softer genres and your observations about the sound, the -18dB is a better calibration point for you.
Thank you for this video! I recently picked up the waves VU meter and implemented this by sending my bass and drums to a mix bus (after some light mixing) while using pre fader sends in logic so I could turn the faders all the way down on the original tracks after and make all my changes from there. My tracks sound better already, I appreciate it!
You're welcome!
Very useful video. What are you doing with audio channels which are barely moving a VU needle?
I learned to calibrate to -18 db on a VU meter plus using an additional true peak meter at the related single channel. At basic level staging, watching both meters and use the level which is first happening on one of the plugins. -6db on the VU or -18db on the peak meter.
I think going from -18 to a -14db calibration might be a good idea. Some analog modelled plugins are calibrated to that butt most still at -18. So -18 is on the very safe side.
I'm not really certain about that subject a d like to hear different opinions and approaches too. Cheers
I only really use a VU on group busses/ auxes and my mix bus because of that. At the track level I just eyeball the DAW meter. I'm happy if the level its where it goes from green to yellow. I don't overthink it anymore. Thanks for the comment, good question!
@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing Ah okay, that explains it. Thank you :)
Wonderful. The fab filter Pro L 2 output does not affect the limiter threshold, this was implied but is not correct :)
Thanks for the clarification!
Amazing relaxing voice and concise explainations.. just found an amazing mixing channel.. Thnx sara
Thank you so much!
Hi Sara, where I do set the VU Meter in mono or stero ? And also do I take it down to -18dbs or - 12dbs after do I mess with any of faders
Hello Sara, Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I usually set my VU for my tracks and busses to -18 and my master buss to -14. I will set my peak level at the end of my master bus to -1.6 db.
Thanks again - Cheers,
mvh
Thanks for sharing!
Outstanding! Very nice tutorial.
Glad you liked it!
Hi Sara: Thanks for the video it is helpful.
You're so welcome!
Excellent video. God bless you woman!
Thank you!
excellent video.made me realize that there should be feature that lights up the plugin's icon when there's clipping within that plugin...that would be incredibly helpful!
Glad it helped! I've just learned that in Pro Tools there is a yellow led at the top of the track meter that stays lit if a plugin is clipping, which I didn't know, I do now!
@@SaraCarterSimplyMixing yes! I'm on PT12.4 and it does that as well, but wouldn't it be wonderful if it lit up the little dot to the left in the plugin slot that was clipping just like a little L.E.D. :-)
Hi Sara, great video. Thank you. Are these levels also applicable to bass heavier genres such as house music and other electronic drum/bass styles?
Voice so soothing, it will put a baby to sleep. ❤
You are so kind
Just to reinforce:--are you saying you gain stage to -6 for the kick drum? Do you set it to '0' first at the gain point then bring it down to the -6 level? Does then the bass, after setting to 0 drawn to -3/4? Its just on other videos all demos show setting to 0 first then modifying. Thanks so much!
Another question re gain staging: re th-cam.com/video/Cz0KsK_teFA/w-d-xo.html time. What do you do for the stereo channels, as opposed to the mono ones? Is there a change in signal for the meter and do you make allowances for this in the preferences or the VU meter itself?