Why Mix With Faders At 0?
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- Mixing in high resolution is the practice of keeping the faders in your mix as close to unity as possible. It sounds easy enough, but it can be difficult to do in a live sound environment with many inputs. In this video, I'll teach you why mixing in high resolution is important as well as how to navigate the common problems that arise when you do so. Hope this helps!
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Schuyler
Thank you for this, I really appreciate it.
Needed this. Cheers 😁
There's a great Robert Scovill video on this subject.
I’ve learned so much from that guy. He’s an absolute master at what he does.
Yeah, and Robert knows what he is talking about. Maybe the guy here should watch the webinar too.
But what about gain staging? At what level do you set your drum/guitars/bass/vocal tracks before applying eq and compression? Some people like to normalize their tracks to -6, -10 or -12 dbFS.
Gain staging is actually a separate process from setting fader levels. It's the first step in the signal chain, while getting your faders into good mixing resolution is the last step. I made a video about this a while back; you can watch it here: ua-cam.com/video/uKuJiv9F2Qw/v-deo.html
Ok so at church I always set gain correctly and the vocalists at 0 on the fader but one of my vocalists is too loud so according to this video I should just turn the vocalist group down, for her fader to be in the high fader resolution area but then I would have to turn up all the other vocalists on their faders so they don’t sound quiet either. But then once they are up they are still to quiet because the lead vocalist is just too loud. I’ve tried setting compression but I noticed she was clipping due to being over compressed so I made the compression as soft as possible so she doesn’t clip, but at that point she’s really not even being compressed, so in the end she is still too loud. Do you have any tips or suggestions for this?
Sure! Here's a couple thoughts:
1. The concept of keeping the faders at 0 is more about creating a good workflow. It's not a hard and fast rule in mixing. Sometimes, the setup doesn't allow for perfect execution of this concept. Just get as close as you can, and don't worry too much about the rest! If your vocal is too loud, and the gain is set correctly, just use the input fader to turn it down.
2. If any signal is clipping, that's an issue with the gain structure, not compression. Compressors turn the signal down, not up (unless you're using too much makeup gain). I'd go back and check your gain structure on that vocal, and then use the compressor to control the dynamic range of the signal (like if the vocal sings quietly on some parts and very loudly on others).
If you need more information and getting the gain set correctly, this video might help: ua-cam.com/video/uKuJiv9F2Qw/v-deo.html
What you don’t have a way to create “group” ?
You don’t always have a way to create groups, like on a small analog console, but you always have a Master fader, which you can use in the same way. Mixing with faders at 0 is just a good practice whenever you can.
What if the mixer has no group channels? You kind of have no choice but to use the indiviudal faders, seemingly
I would use the master fader (which is a kind of group when you think about it) to get the faders as close to 0 as possible, and that’s about as good as you get. Obviously, this has to be a guideline and not a hard and fast rule, because like you said, it isn’t possible to make it perfect for every fader every time. In general, you just want your input faders to be close to 0.
Thanks bud. I actually ran live sound tonight for a festival and indeed I was running a small mixer with no group channels. I deduced that I should work with the master fader to do those kind of tweaks and as long as the pre fader gain was set to bring in a good signal, I didn't have to mess with the individual channel faders so much if at all. Great video
There ya go! Always get that gain structure right, mix in high resolution as best as you can, and you’re on the right track!
Even though mainly used for live sound if recording ISO multitrack via Dante split is it enough signal level recorded if you reduce the preamp gain? If mixing those multitracks later for album release?
Correct me if I'm misunderstanding, but what it sounds like you're asking is "if I'm going to mix the song in post later, does it matter what the gain structure is when recording". Many people would argue that the gain structure doesn't really matter in this situation, because you can always add volume in post. I would say that "volume" and "gain" are not the same thing, and if you have an opportunity to optimize gain (or really anything) at any point in the signal chain, you should. I don't see a reason to leave higher resolution on the table.
Never do this.
Interesting
Can I ask why? Learnt this in college and passed all my finals with flying colours with this method