Whilst we’re on the subject of plug-ins, it’s also worth mentioning how better Gain Staging can improve the performance of plug-ins that use Analogue Modeling. You’ll also want to take a revised look at some of the key plug-ins used in mixing – namely EQ and Compression – to see how their adverse application can compromise good Gain Staging in your mix. In the case of Logic Pro X, Gain Staging is principally about using the Gain plug-in, Clip-Gain, VCAs or just better use of metering to maintain good headroom. The broad objective is to average all the signals in your mix around -12dBFS, attenuating Loops, Virtual Instruments and Audio Tracks so that they’re at the correct level before they hit any faders. The walkthrough illustrates a number of contrasting solutions you can take in Logic Pro X so as to actively Gain Stage your mix correctly. Likewise, you’ll also find that metering becomes your friend rather than battling against the dreaded ‘over’ of a mix pushed too close to 0dBFS. In the case of Logic, therefore, there are a number of strategies that you can take – both during tracking and just before a mix – that ensure you’re leaving enough headroom to mix properly. Put simply, Gain Staging is all about allowing Headroom in your mix, both on a track-by-track basis, but also in subsequent buses and, of course, the main stereo bus. A simple sign of bad Gain Staging, therefore, is either a Master Fader, or individual channel faders, dramatically attenuated below their unity position. To solve the distortion issue, you’ll take one of two solutions – either turning down the master fader (the quick and easy approach) or attenuating the individual faders, often pulling them right down in the mix. Assemble a collection of these loops into a composition, therefore, and before you know it, the Master fader is clipping red. On the whole, most Loops are recorded ‘hot’, often mastered with compression to peak at 0dBFS. If you’ve ever tried producing music using Apple Loops in Logic Pro X (or, indeed, and other loop-based sample content) you’ll soon be aware of the need for Gain Staging. As a result, many engineers are returning to a mixing and production workflow that values dynamic range and headroom – the art of Gain Staging, in other words.
Of course, this methodology is a guaranteed route to producing a loud mix, but even in the case of more compressed music styles (like EDM, for example) the lack of sonic headroom makes for a confined and restricted working environment.
One of the big problems of the Loudness Wars was a tendency to work consistently up to 0dBFS – in other words, pushing everything in the mix, even the mix itself, as close to the top of the meter scale as possible. Put simply, choice is being put back in our hands – we can choose between our music is pushed to the limits or an alternative where we give the arrangement room to breathe without fear the listener hears a dramatically quieter mix. Streaming has actively changed the way we produce music, in this case, driven by the Loudness Correction used by the likes of Spotify and iTunes that actively turns down overcooked masters. There’s a quiet revolution taking place in the music production industry – a movement that places emphasis on transient detail and dynamic range rather than the ‘needles in the red’ sound that epitomised the Loudness Wars.
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