Gain Staging Made Easy Using a VU Meter

Gain staging doesn’t have to be a laborious process, it can be done quickly and easily on only kick and bass, so the entire mix self-balances without causing distortion. Watch as I use a VU meter when gain staging every mix so that it gives enough headroom for mixing with EQ, compression and volume automation.

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Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
01:39 Habits of a good audio engineer
02:13 Why is headroom important?
04:00 Why is gain staging important?
04:21 What is a VU meter?
05:06 What is dBFS?
05:16 VU meter vs Peak meter in audio
06:21 Most common cause of digital clipping
06:49 Klanghelm VU Meter plugin
07:14 Waves VU Meter
07:21 How to read a VU meter
09:55 Gain staging into plugins
10:06 What is unity gain?
12:03 Why I balance kick and bass first
13:07 Using a VU meter to set mix bus level
17:52 Setting the kick drum with a VU meter
19:47 Balancing kick and bass together
22:15 Reading a VU meter whilst mixing
23:04 Gain staging the mix, how do YOU do it?


📕 Download the FREE "How To Create Clarity And Separation In A Busy Mix" guide! 📕

-- Gain Staging Made Easy Using a VU Meter --

In this video, I'm going to explain what a VU meter is, why it's different to your DAW's standard metering and how to use one to balance the kick and bass in a way that automatically gain stages your final mix so it’s ready for further mastering and online streaming.
The method here isn't a hard and fast rule but is intended to get you in the ballpark, so don't overthink it, move quickly and have fun!

My name is Sara Carter, I’m a professional mix engineer with over 18 years experience, and on this music production channel I’m going to share some of my best mixing tips using a simple mixing tutorial style that will teach you how to mix music like a pro music producer in your own home studio.

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#GainStaging #VUMeter #MusicProduction #HomeStudio #MixingTutorial

~~ Music Credits ~~

Intro Music: Envato

~~ Photo Credits ~~
Photo by Yassine Khalfalli on Unsplash
Photo by Caught In Joy on Unsplash
Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

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DISCLOSURE: I often review or link to products & services I regularly use and think you might find helpful. Wherever possible I’ll use referral links, which means if you click one of the links in this video or description and make a purchase I may receive a small commission or other compensation.

[jenisp.galicinao]

Most relaxing voice of sound engineer ❤️

[Producelikeapro]

Another absolutely fantastic video Sara!! Thanks ever so much for sharing!

[patchesinblue]

This video is the single greatest explanation for gain staging that has worked for me after watching countless other videos on the subject. I appreciate so much that you didn’t skip any details or make assumptions about what your audience knows (ex - what does VU stand for?). You’ve actually illustrated two things to me - one is the subject of this video, but the other implicit one being, building a mix around the key elements of the arrangement and keeping that perspective throughout the process. Your approach has also inspired me to think less and do more; like how changing gears when driving a manual transmission car becomes after a while. Thank you!

[zakrahman]

At last, I found an experienced engineer explaining how VU meters work. Thank you for this video. Extremely educational.

[ratedepth]

No single piece of instruction has done more my mixing than this video. Beyond grateful for what you're doing...Thank you!!

[MOMirrors]

Thank you, Sara.
Fast and easy. Nice rule of thumbs. (Kicks -7, bass -4-5)
Bye.

[carlasker]

Your channel just got a new fan and a new subscriber! Excellent teaching, excellent content, excellent topics, excellent speaking voice and tempo in your lessons. What a gem! Cheers from a certified high school/college teacher of music, SAE alumni, producer and general geek.

[blackiewheeler]

Thanks for a very informative session. I used to work in analog studios for years and have been in the digital world for over twenty years now and I had forgotten just how great the VU meter is. The visual of it puts everything into perspective. Since I started using the VU meters again my tracks are more consistent and natural sounding. Thanks for reminding me of the power of the VU meter and what it can do to produce great mixes.

[outofthinair]

Excellent tutorial, I will try your technique at -14 dbfs. Gain creep has always been a problem with my mixes. My biggest issue thus far has been reverb it sounds good on my monitors but way over what I think is acceptable in say a car test or small speakers . I will search your channel for a video on reverb. Your approach is uncomplicated and simple Bravo !

[Macacos]

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!

[cornerliston]

Sara, a VU meter is in my shopping list and next mix will be accordingly.

One thing though about clipping that seems to be forgotten quite often is that “clipping” on each channel is actually not going to cause any clipping in the sound, according the massive headroom 32 bit processing gives. Not to be confused with having 0 at the master bus that will be causing clipping.

[timball]

Sara, you’re a genius. Thanks for sharing this. It’s a basic step that every mixer should know.

[davidlee-michaels]

This was a better explanation of using a VU meter and gain staging than any of the other videos I've come across. I realised I was doing all this incorrectly because other channels over complicated the process. Thanks!

[TunzAmazin]

This was very informative. I recently bought the waves VU meter plugin but was confused on the calibration aspect. This cleared it right up. You also answered the question on how to start setting the gains and ballparking each element. Thank you!

[richardstopford]

This is a really great tutorial. There were still things that I've been strugging with about gain staging and this cleared them up. The struggle was largely that I was seeing it recommended that you hit processing plugins from instruments at between -3 to 0db VU. As such I'd been aiming for this as the output to 2 buss both before and after processing. This lead to a VU level which was far too high. If I understand correctly, you gain stage individual channels for processing at -3 to 0db VU, but then aim to hit the 2 buss at a lower volume determined by a kick at -7db. I tried this, and whilst it ends up with pretty low levels (I'm calibrated at -18dbfs which I will probably now be able to adjust) the overall level, space and balance is amazing. And oodles of headroom to spare. By all means tell me if I've misunderstood something, but otherwise, this was awesome. Thanks!

[aqwesibroni]

This my first time meeting you and im really amazed, u are one of a kind .the world needs more female producers...im impressed about this tutorial ...im From Ghana , west africa

[inkursyomusic]

I was using VU Meter from waves pack but I was like a robot, all I knew was that I needed to set my instruments to some level. Unfortunately I was mixing at -11 and this didnt give enough headroom for my mastering enginner. I looked up your video and now I understand everything about it. I mixed it "right", but with the wrong set on my VU, now I'm mixing at -15. At least it was easy to solve the problem, I just did a -6db on every instrument and then it was perfect mix! Thanks for the explanation.
I can now mix my own music tracks and this will help me a lot for understanding more and more about music <3

[garyrandall]

Sara, thank you so much for your instruction on metering. I'm a music producer/artist that enjoy recording my own projects. I'm fairly new to audio engineering. I've only been certified in AVID Protools as a User and quickly discovered that I was a novice in the finer points of Audio Engineering. I appreciate your lesson in gainstaging. I've gone back over one of five songs that I've been producing over the past five months and discovered that my gainstaging needs additional work. I haven't had any clipping on my submix bus or master bus due to my diligence in watching the dbfs meter. However, going back and properly gainstaging, with the VU meter, has made my mix pop more in the bass and drum area. Thank you so much. I'm a new subscriber!!! Also thanks for the unity gain tip.

[Bronwyn]

Finally!!!
I now know what I was doing so very wrong trying to gain stage everything.
I was gain staging my kick to 0VU and then trying to bring everything else in. My mix was averaging way too hot with my peaks clipping 0db. The -7VU on the kick was the missing piece for me.
Sara, you get three hearts! 💖💖💖

[welwoodmusic]

Best tutorial YET on gain staging, and getting the foundation, (kick and bass) right first! You go Sara! :-)