Table of Contents
What should the order of plugins be?
What’s the Best Effects Chain Order for Mixing?
- Gain Staging. Gain staging is managing levels at each stage of the signal path.
- Saturation. Saturation adds presence, character, warmth, excitement, punch, and cohesion.
- Subtractive EQ.
- Compression.
- Additive EQ.
- Modulation Effects.
- Reverb and Delay.
- Limiting.
Do you EQ before gain staging?
Gain staging is simply controlling the volume of each audio track in your song, along the signal path. e.g. You load a sample into a sampler. It then goes into an EQ, then a compressor, then a saturation plugin. It then goes to a synth buss, which then feeds into the master channel.
Is gain staging part of mixing?
Gain staging is one of the most fundamentally important elements in creating a professional-sounding mix. Without proper gain staging, your mix may suffer from unwanted distortion or excessive noise.
Does the order of your plugins matter?
Yes, plugin order matters. Reverb after the sidechain will result in the sidechained sound being reverbed. You’ll want your reverb before the sidechain if you want it to duck as well. Another example of plugin order mattering would be putting a delay before an overdrive vs after.
What order do vocal chains go in?
When making a vocal chain, you’ll want to process in this order: tuning, equalization, compression, saturation, excitement, upward compression, and then reverb and delay sends. There are other chains of course, but I’ve found this to be a great starting point with an overall professional sound.
What level is gain staging?
-18dBFS
So maintaining the same concept of optimal gain staging that you use during recording is your best bet: -18dBFS is a good average level to aim for. Keeping it conservative will help you maintain proper gain structure throughout your mix.
How can I increase my stage before mixing?
The first thing to do is set the input trims for all tracks in the mix. Pull all the faders down and then pull up each one separately, to unity gain (0db). Then use the trim setting on each channel to either increase the volume of the track or decrease the volume of the track.
Should I gain stage my vocals?
Whether you’re recording or mixing, gain staging is a crucial step to making your song sound professional. Turn up an instrument that was recorded too quietly and you’ll get a lot of extra noise with it. It’s super important for getting a professional sounding sound.
Does order matter FL Studio mixer?
There is no “best order”. There is a “proper order”. Top to Bottom = the sound runs through TOP SLOT down to the BOTTOM SLOT then out to the Master Channel. However, certain VSTi like the underrated, often-missed used FL Slayer as well as other guitars will sound better when the EQ is the TOP dawg on the effects rack.
How to come up with better mixes with gain staging?
If you want to come up with better mixes, you must understand the gain staging process. Underestimating it may lead you to compromise the whole recording and mixing without even realising. The digital audio recording world is changed today.
What is gain staging in audio production?
The name “gain staging” sounds fancy, but it’s actually very simple. Gain staging is just making sure the volume of your tracks is set well. You’re looking at all of your instruments and making sure there loud enough to be heard clearly, but not so loud that they’re distorting.
How do you gain stage a track?
The usual way of gain staging is to use a trim or gain plugin right at the beginning of the plugin chain. Simply adjust the gain until the track is hitting that sweet spot. Then repeat for every single channel. For example, let’s say you want to mix the kick first.
Why does the gain change when I add a plugin?
Probably you will notice the gain changes after applying the plugin. This happens because the compressor boosts the input gain. The work of a compressor is not boosting a signal but compressing the peaks for better loudness. So you must maintain the same input level and output level to unite the gain structure.