Logic Pro X Gain plug-in

[chuckfoster1953]

I have recently become a fan of Logic's gain plug in as a tool in gain staging. Most people that I have seen using this plug=in use it ar the beginning of the signal chain. I have been using it at the end of the plug-in chain as I do not want a change in gain going into any plug-ins I already have set. Thoughts?

 

[Markdvc]

That may depend on where in your overall mix you are using the gain plugin. I have seen it used in the stereo output 1-2 to reduce a very hot (like, +15 dBFS) signal coming into the sum and therefore not overload Plug-ins being used there. Otherwise, as with any working method, if it sounds good then it probably is good. As with any of these things, trying the various options open to you will usually allow you to choose which works best for a given situation.

kind regards

Mark

 

[chuckfoster1953]

Thanks Mark.I am actually using them on each channel. I have seen many use them this way as the first plug in on every channel. It makes it very quick and easy to make adjustments to each channel's pre-fader gain.(I realize this can be done by the region gain or normalization control albeit more cumbersome and doesn't apply to midi regions) However I believe it affects some plug-ins that way once they have been set, particularly changing the gain going into a compressor. This is why I make it the last plug-in on each channel. I may be over or under thinking this.

 

[bayswater]

I'd guess most people use it where they would have used the trim control on a hardware mixer, and set them to get the levels across channels to the same general level. With 32 float mixing in most DAWs, it probably doesn't bring much to the party. And it's not clear to me why you'd use it at all at the end of the signal chain after all the processing is done. What is it doing that the fader won't do? If, at that point, you need to make any significant change to levels that the fader can't do, perhaps there is a problem further back in the path.

 

[Peter Ostry]

I'd guess most people use it where they would have used the trim control on a hardware mixer

Actually Logic should have a trim control. I don’t know why Apple does not implement it, they must have tons of feature requests for that.

And it's not clear to me why you'd use it at all at the end of the signal chain after all the processing is done. What is it doing that the fader won't do?

Many people use gain controls after the plugin chain. They want to keep the faders at unity gain until the last volume automation. Some use the faders first, after the rough mix they copy the dB values from faders to plugins and start automation with all faders at zero. Not really necessary, but nice if you drive a couple of automation sessions. You always know that zero is the starting point.

 

[bayswater]

Yes, I've seen that. I wouldn't have thought it was a common practise -- more of a way to keep things tidy.