Gain Staging Made Easy Using a VU Meter

Great video!

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?

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!

Immediate like ...Just for your aura ...Very likable persona to watch.

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.

Excellent video. God bless you woman!

So if your soloed kick is hitting -5 to -7 on the VU meter (let's say an average of -6 on the VU) then that means in digital scale your kick is hitting about -20db? If 0 on the VU is -14 digital scale and the VU meter reads kick hit of -6. That must mean you're going for kick hits peaking at -20db digital scale? Is that right?

I don't use the vu meter...I usually start by bringing the kick to a maximum of -12db and close the mix at -8 db (k scale 14)... do you think that's right? If I want to integrate a vu meter, how much do I set it to? -14? Thank you

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

if your mix "comes in too quiet" turn the master fader up. If it "comes in too loud" turn the master fader down. No need to complicate things.

please please please help me. when i do this my meter in my daw says im hitting -6db i just dont understand it please help me

I know it's not about the numbers, but wouldn't a -4VU at -14 reference be the same as 0 VU at -18 reference? It would save me the step of changing the reference if it ended up being EXACTLY the same..

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?

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.

Great! anyone know what the best VU meter is in 2023? preferably free, but if it costs a bit thats fine too

Sara excellent work flow in your mixing. Thanks for your time. A quick question do you start your mixes in mono or do you use the process to check phase issues? Very few Engineers actually take start to finish but dive into one detail and rarely talk about the space they work with in regards to acoustic or VU as they build the mix. The fact the clipping can be within a plug in that you will not see is the best reason to Gain Stage. Cheers from Nova Scotia!

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

So if you are not clipping on your master, how hard would it be for a mastering engineer to just lower the volume of your mix to which ever lvl he chooses to start from?

I feel that this gets repeated over and over with zero logic behind it

There is no noise floor in digital, who cares about -18db?

We are just gonna forget about 32bit floating point?

what year are we in?


Why are we repeating some notions derived from the analog world if one works in the box, because plugins GUI’s are designed to look like analog hardware? 😂

All that matters is the balance of each track in respect to all other tracks within the mix and the best decisions are made in the volume level that you are used to listening to music for pleasure

So when using vu meter when mixing my individual tracks my integrated Lufs should be -14 to -18dbs per each track? And what should the true peak read at for each individual track?

@Sara Carter, I really enjoyed and learned from this video. Appreciate ya.

Thank you so much Sara for this great Video on Gain Staging with VU Meters.

Nice explanation.Thank you.

Muchas gracias por las recomendaciones me ayudan de mucho ❤

Very informative video and well explained too, question,so what level should I record vst instruments please.

What if I use an instrument plugin and it’s too loud, but the gain levels are right. Should I turn down the volume by using the knob within the plug-in, or should I turn it down using the faders? What’s the difference?

Hi Sara, I love your video's! Very usefull.

Thank you, that was informative

Awesome vid. If you were gain staging without plugins and busses, where would the vu meter go? Would you monitor the vu meter inside each track or are you monitoring through the master?

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.

The VU meter I have has a calibration option of RMS -14. Is that the same as the -14 calibration you chose on the Klangheim meter. ( or VU and RMS readings completely different?)

This is sooo great and very clearly stated. Well done!

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.

Best gain staging video I've saw yet. Awesome..

From what I understand, -18dB is what nearly all digital plugin creators recommend. If you're concerned about sending a rough mix to a client, you would just use a transparent limiter and increase the gain.

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!!!!!!!

well explained thanks

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!
🙏

If the any instrumensts clipping or cross the red, so what we can set -7 by the compressor. Then sound will be good?

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.

This was so useful. Thanks Sara! Do you have any guidance on setting levels on songs with no drums—say bass, a guitar or two, piano, plus vocals? Thanks.

Thank you for being sincere and being practical and telling us straight up what to do, i feel this is much needed for in todays day in age. Many people don't tell us exactly what to do and is 100% practical. Saves me months, years of my life. Priceless. I will share this knowledge if anyone were to ask me in the future to pay it back.

I would love to see you do a tutorial on how to mix using elevator music. It would go PERFECT with your calming voice. 😁

Hi Sara, great content! I just wanted to clarify that your meter is post your 2 bus inserts?

Incredible content and powerful teacher

You need to turn that lava lamp on much earlier so it has enough time to heat up ☝🏻

Hi Sara: You are talented. Thanks, Lou Lollio

Hi Sara: Thanks for the video it is helpful.

Helpful stuff!