Default Gain Staging of Clips
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Default Gain Staging of Clips
Does anybody get the distinct feeling that most clips and samples come in at WAY too high a gain by default? I'm always importing a clip and then subtracting 12db of gain before I even start to do anything else. Why eat up so much headroom at the input by default... I just don't get it?!?!
Re: Default Gain Staging of Clips
Indeed! I don't understand either. I guess it's a remnant of the beginning of DAWs (16bit, noisy convertors,...), and a mixup of scales and techniques.
everything peaking at 0 dBFS, and then leveling with faders (end of chain) = bad
everything at 0 dBVU at the input stage (and throughout chain) = it practically mixes itself
especially important for all the 'analog' emulation (these devices from them olden days were designed to operate best when feeding them levels around 0 dBVU).
Made the same mistake for years myself.
everything peaking at 0 dBFS, and then leveling with faders (end of chain) = bad
everything at 0 dBVU at the input stage (and throughout chain) = it practically mixes itself
especially important for all the 'analog' emulation (these devices from them olden days were designed to operate best when feeding them levels around 0 dBVU).
Made the same mistake for years myself.
andy
2015 MBP, OSX 10.12, Live 10.1 64bit, RME Fireface 800
2015 MBP, OSX 10.12, Live 10.1 64bit, RME Fireface 800
Re: Default Gain Staging of Clips
Watch your a$$, you're a dying species.djyogurt420 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 5:07 amI'm always importing a clip and then subtracting 12db of gain before I even start to do anything else. Why eat up so much headroom at the input by default... I just don't get it?!?!
Look around any audio forum. They're being swamped by questions á la, "Why is my sample/recording so low, how do I get it louder?"
Re: Default Gain Staging of Clips
Yep, and I'm pretty sure that it's the reason why anything you'll get from packs, libraries and so on are so loud. I don't think this is going to change soon.chrk wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 12:33 pmWatch your a$$, you're a dying species.djyogurt420 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 5:07 amI'm always importing a clip and then subtracting 12db of gain before I even start to do anything else. Why eat up so much headroom at the input by default... I just don't get it?!?!
Look around any audio forum. They're being swamped by questions á la, "Why is my sample/recording so low, how do I get it louder?"
Ableton Forum Moderator
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Re: Default Gain Staging of Clips
My guess would be a mix of a sort of "loudness war" and it just being easy to say "make everything hit at 0 db" for the sake of consistency when scrolling through. Could they have everything hit at -8db? Sure, but that's not the way it is. Like chrk mentioned, most people want stuff to start loud and turn it down rather than the other way around.
Re: Default Gain Staging of Clips
If only.
Next question you'll get is "Which compressor or limiter?"
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