Gain Staging Cheatsheet

3 Rules Of Gain Staging:

1. Don’t clip the mix bus

2. Optimize level into plugins
3. Keep faders close to zero

And remember—most plugins sound their best when the signal going into them is
around -18 dBFS.

How To Fix Common Gain Staging Issues:

My mix bus is clipping

- Turn down all the tracks in your session using clip gain or gain plugins on the first
insert of every track.

One of my plugins is clipping

- Add a gain plugin before it and turn down the level until the problem is solved.

The signal going into a plugin is too quiet

- Add a gain plugin before it and boost the level to around -18 dBFS.

One of my faders is too low

- Decrease the level of the track using clip gain or a gain plugin. Then bring the
fader up to zero.

For more mixing tips, visit ​BehindTheSpeakers.com​.

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