Guides
Setting gain correctly on a digital mixer
Gain is the most important knob on the console – and the one most often set wrong. Too little and it’s noisy, too much and it distorts harshly and digitally. Here’s how to find the right setting.
What gain does
Gain (preamplification) brings the weak microphone signal up to a level the console can work with. It sits at the very start of the channel – before EQ, compressor and fader. Everything after it builds on it: a channel with too little gain can’t be “rescued” with the fader, it stays noisy; a channel with too much gain distorts, no matter where the fader is.
How much is right?
Digital consoles show the level in dBFS – 0 dBFS is the maximum, anything above is hard-clipped. Unlike analog consoles, there’s no “bit of overdrive that sounds warm”. That’s why you leave room at the top (headroom):
- Peaks at the loudest part of the loudest song around −18 to −12 dBFS
- With very dynamic sources (snare, kick, powerful vocals), leave a little more room
- Never stay in the red
Important: set the gain while the instrument plays as loud as at the gig. Singers often sing quieter during soundcheck – and then the channel clips in the first chorus.
Step by step
- Keep the channel fader down, solo the channel or keep an eye on the meter.
- The musician plays the loudest part.
- Turn up the gain until the peaks are in the target range.
- Only then use the fader for the mix.
Preamp gain or digital trim?
Many digital mixers have two places for gain: the preamp gain at the input (analog) and a digital trim in the channel. Normally you set the preamp gain. But if several channels share the same source, or the inputs come from a stage box shared by several consoles, trim is the safe choice – it doesn’t change anything at the input itself. Also important: if channel 1 isn’t patched to input 1, the gain belongs to a different input than you think.
Gain staging with BandAssist
In the Gain staging tab, you select the channels, have everyone play at once as loud as in the loudest song, and BandAssist sets the gain to the target value in several passes (default: peaks at −12 dBFS). It catches clipping immediately. This works over the network – USB audio isn’t needed. On the X32/M32 and WING, you can choose the digital trim instead of the preamp gain, and on the X32 also the stage box on AES50. Gain staging isn’t possible on the Yamaha TF, because its gain can’t be controlled remotely.
In detail: Gain staging in the user guide.
Guides