Gain Staging Mistakes Part 1: Setting preamp gain

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Chapters:

0:00 Introduction
0:40 A gain setting that works every time without fail
1:34 Recording with as high a gain as possible
2:27 Gain setting too high causing distortion
3:22 Recording with the gain setting too low
4:30 Different gain settings compared at the same level
7:12 Summary and conclusion

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[Fivend]

This is literally the only video anyone wanting to learn about gain staging at the recording phase should watch. Absolutely simple and perfectly explained.

[kaij]

This was straight to the point. Thank you

[teashea]

very excellent - organized and clear presentation - nice production values

[pianolover]

Best video ever about recording gain setting! Great job 👍👍

[kadencemusik]

This was awesome. Very informative after butchering the gain so many times in my life.

[arianna]

This is a great video. Clear, informative, engaging. Thank you!

[philnewman]

Normalized "good" -10 level 4:47
Normalized "bad" -40 level 6:57

I have to turn up everything pretty loud to be able to hear the noise over the signal. Is that bad hearing (of the high frequencies) or to be expected? I found the bad sample sounded slightly rougher/ harsh, but the noise is not audible at normal (or lower) listening levels.

[LAKXx]

Cleared some things up for me! thank you

[rist]

The one that was just about under the threshold of peaking. Imma say on most preamps, it will have distorted. Its mild, but its been measured on most interfaces.

[nileshnagare]

Best video explained all the aspects..very helpful

[johnRivs]

How do you deal with a situation where a vocal or guitar performance gives you -24dBFS RMS and -6dBFS peaks?

[incargeek]

Why is a minus sign missing from the values alongside the dB scale?

[owlmega-]

Thank you for this video. I'm wondering what the normalized level is. Did you apply any limiting /dynamics?

[nickygacha]

Do you stage on a track or the main track?

[majewskimusic]

Thanks, (finally clearly explained) thank you, ;-)

[Alexandra-Rex]

Recording while playing games (for recording or on stream) I have to set normal voice at around -30 or so, cause the peaks are very high, but still, with the processing afterwards (afterwards in teh chain with VSTHost, so it's processed live), it works just fine for both live and recording. A bit of noise is much better than peaking which just sound painful to listen to if it is the norm in a recording. And for gaming, the game sound mostly covers the noise anyway.

[KhavelX]

So, -10 or -12 dbfs is a good peak signal for gainstaging, right? For basically any source? Same for percussive and non-percussive? And what do you think about doing the gain staging to 0 dbvu without going over 0? What is better?

[inopartners]

Thank you for the useful informations in the video. Can you recommend how to properly set gain for mixing from DAW to analogue console line inputs (in my case Focusrite Saffire Pro into old Studiomaster 16-4-2 Series 5, using Logic and Pro Tools). Regards.

[SouthYarraMan]

Hello David. What about the track input gain control itself? Would you adjust that also to -18dB or leave it set at 0dB and just use the fader only? When would you opt for using the input gain control as abviously its there for a purpose. Thank you so much. PS - Will enrol in your course!

[preciseaudioblog]

Hi! Great video. What do you mean with normalice?