Using A VU Meter To Do Gain Staging

so helpful dude, thank you

I don't think you're doing this correctly. You're supposed to gain stage each track to around zero VU, and if your stereo buss is clipping then you just pull your faders down.

I know this will be very controversial but as a sound engineer of ye old analogue systems the vu meter was misunderstood by many then and I feel it has absolutely no place in the modern digital signal chain now. ( heads for the bunker😂😂😂).

I thought all your tracks should peak to no more than -6 db

what a GREAT explanation. THANK YOU!

Thanks for an informative video! If I’m getting it right, i should do the same process right after i mix all instruments and vocals, shouldn’t i?

You said you use -18dbs for mixing but what about mastering? Once you end mixing, what measure do you use for mastering? Because it gets louder on the mixing stage.

how you get side information up to 0

Good vid i like how u explained how to use a vu meter

This is gold. Thank you!

Raw Techniques Vids, always 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥

So why do some people have VU meters on all their individual tracks??? And where should it go on the single chain? The beginning of the chain or at the end of the plugin chain???

Great explanation..Thanks for the video..

why put the meter on a bus track instead of just putting it on the master track?

Does Using a K-20 Meter inside the Pro Tools and then reducing the clip gain on each track so that it is near 0 works the same way as using VU meter?

Great Video. One thing I don't fully understand if the VU meter is calibrated at -18db, does that mean the volume on the mixbus should be hitting at -18db while the VU reads 0?

Doesn't this technique have the disadvantage that you have to gain stage individual tracks again when applying analogue hardware/plugins to their fx chains?
Let's say (after your adjustments) you want to apply an analogue emulating compressor to a snare track. The plugin expects -18dbFS. With your technique the snare will be much quieter and therefore has to be gain staged up to meet the sweet spot input volume. The output then has to be gain staged down, because it would probably kill your ears if not.
Wouldn't it be a better approach to gain stage all tracks to e.g. -18dbFS (which overall sounds awful of course), then apply your fx chain plugins and only after these steps you're gonna adjust the track's gains in order that everything sounds good and distributed?

I’ve been producing for years and never fully understood gain stating.
When I stumbled open a VU meter plugin review I found a video explain how to Gainf stage tracks and more importantly WHY it is needed to be done
.
Why is their not more videos on this topic???
It’s like the best kept secret.
It was the final key that unlocked Pandora’s box for me with producing.

This should be the FIRST thing anyone starting mixing should watch and fully understand.

It literally increased my production level instantly, and answered soo many questions I had about why my beats just weren’t quite their.
Problem solved.
Gain Staging Changes Lives.

Thanks for making this simple to follow tutorial man, no bs and straight to the point ⚡️

AWESOME!! I really needed this....thanks. I have Studo One but concept is the same I believe..... :)

Important thing is 0, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100.
you might know this is the vu scale
but I regard it as dBSPL.
you may have seen the chart about 60dB = talking, 80dB = helicopter and so on.
what if we're going to match the music world and real world?
if there is 140db sound(it causes hearing loss) and you're gonna imitate that on mixing, what you will do?
first, you can't get over 0 dBFS.
you can try satulation, distortion.
it means it is very loud sound.
your ears can't take that sound.
so it'll clipped by your hearing system.
generally you can oversaturate(saturation, drive, clipping...) your track,
if the track should be very loud.
if there is no reason for that, you don't need to do that.

you can measure the popular songs first.
about 100 vu scale(100 dBSPL) = what tracks are here?
about 80 = what's here?
about 60 = what's here?
and so on.
then you can use that on your song.

I don't care 100 means 100% or 100 dBSPL.
I can use this as my standard on my mixing.
do you ever heard 100 dBSPL sound?
acoustic guitar can't get over about 80 dB in real world.
it's the physical limitation.
so, you should think it very careful and very literary.
what's the meaning of 130 dBSPL voice?
what's the meaning of 50 dbSPL voice?

Hi ! Thank you for this very informative tutorial on "Gain Staging" But ! tell me why don't you adjust your "Gain" with the "Trim" control of the "VUMT"? but rather directly on the audio wave? Thank you ! Yours truly !

Does this method work for the jannies?

Where did u put the VU meter? The 808 mixer bus or Master bass?

Towards the end I noticed you said that you don’t need to try and get vocals to hit the -0 mark on the VU meter. Thank you for clarifying that but do you simply try to just blend in the vocals within the mix to find that “pocket” in the beat? Would be okay to add a little gain to a vocal track for the sake of making it sit well?

What's your take on soloing the tracks and using pink noise instead of a VU meter?

It's one of the best ways to get a balanced gain stage 👌🏻

Select track/s... Click output.. Select new track from sub menu... Choose track type and name it, quicker way of routing.

interesting!! thx

Wow.. great

Would you take off the VU meter plug in after this process was done or leave it there for the whole mixing process??

In Pro Tools you can shit+option+click the output of 1 of your selected tracks and choose "track" in the menu. After that name your new track and all outputs will be routed to the new track you created.

Great video; nicely explained with a killer beat to showcase the technique!! Great job...

haha im mad im just learning this..thank u

If you have a computer capable of streaming, what is the point of the mix bus? Why can't you throw the VU meter on the master track?

ahhh i get it. The -12 peak and -18 minimum rounds out to 0 on the VU meter almost every single time lol.

Does this work with Trap Music as well? lets say it has a Dry Kick & 808 Sub Bass?

you can put the vu on a 2 track too

Some says kick and bass should be 0dB on Vu meter, Kick only -3dB

good money

Thanks

Excellent man..

Do you always build your gain staging around the 808?

Great information bro !! Dropping Keys 👌🏽👌🏽🔥

why we should use a VU meter istead of gain staging each track to hit peak at -12 db and minimum -18 db , does it play any role with the plugins that emulate the analog gear or if we do the -12 we are good with analog too?

🙏🏽 you need to finish that beat, I can actually see myself doing something
To it. That synth is A hit maker, do t you hear the way it hitting? Simple but lethal is my motto.

Thanks for sharing the knowledge. What's your take on soloing each track to do the gain staging? I like your approach as well. Different techniques to reach your ultimate goal.

To each their own but its kinda counter productive to me. If the point of mixing is about balance then this method of gain staging causes things to not sit really where you want them to and then you have to go playing with the faders again. Might as well balance from the jump. For example, after you gain staged the 808 was too loud, snares too low etc. But it works for your process cause at the end of the day your mixes still end up 🔥.

Thanks for this man.


Please make a video on how to eliminate mic ambience that sometimes comes during dub.

Secondly, a video on keeping industry standard recording levels i.e. how to sound check if we are achieving the proper levels or not. How to set those levels in tracking and finalise the take.


Would wait :)

To much work bro! Use the stage gaining plugin from hornet plugins

💯💯💯 as always .