Mix Prep - Gain Staging in Reaper

[Mark WarnerParticipant]

Anyone reading this should jump to 4th comment down (14th December) for a much faster method.

I recently watched Gavid Glenn's video on mix preparation in which he talked about gain staging. This is something I have never done mainly because my recording tends to flow into mixing however when taking on mixing from stems for others I see the benefit of setting a starting point. David demonstrated a plugin that automated the process in Pro tools which saved a lot of time, something I have not found for Reaper yet.
So this is my take on now to do this in Reaper the hard way. So I use David's target levels of -15db for lead vocal, bass, kick and snare and all others at -18db for highest peak.
1. How do I find the highest peak in A stem? Fortunately Reaper has a quick way to do this. Double click on a WAV file in Reaper and it opens the source properties window. Halfway down on the right is the Normalise button. Wait!!! I hear you cry that can effect the wave form destructively!! Well in Reaper normalisation does not seem to be destructive and even if it was you can hit undo to reverse any action. So for example if I hit Normalise it will tell me the difference between 0db and the amount brought up to the highest peak, say 1.5db for example. Once the value is known I can undo the normalisation to reset the gain level back to 0.
2. Using the value from the test normalisation 1.5 DB if I then subtract the target value (-18db or -15db ) from it I get the amount by which to adjust the level by. 1.5 - -18 = -15.5db.
3. Using the Calulated value then adjust the volume ( gain ) slider in the item properties screen to the left of the normalisation button to this value.

It might be possible in Reaper to write a macro that does this automatically but I have never written Reaper macro's so if someone reading this knows how this could be done I would be very interested to here about it.

I have searched the Reaper forum for an an answer but only methods for what appears to be dynamic gain staging for specific plugins seem to exist on there. As this suggest, it means that the initial gain stage would not be fixed but would vary which in my mind would defeat the desired result of creating a mix starting point.

ATB Mark

• This topic was modified 7 years ago by Mark Warner. Reason: Improved method added

[Mark WarnerParticipant]

I have just tried to use the above method for the first time on a mix/project setup. One issue I found that was the in step 2, when adjusting the trim in the properties window, it alters the size of the Wave graphic. So instead I have switched on "Trim" on each channel and selected "Volume" and pulled down the green bar to the required level. I thought this might effect the slider position as this is part of the automation setup but It seems ok. It does effect the motor driven fader on my Faderport but I can live with that I think.

[Arthur LabusModerator]

Thanks, will try this out 🙂

[Mark WarnerParticipant]

Since writing this "How to", I have changed the way I now gain stage in Reaper.

I still work out the gain stage reduction value as I did in the original method above. Now instead though I go to the "Take FX' button at the bottom of the Item properties window (double click on the WAV stem to open this window or left click the stem and choose item properties near the top).

Once you have clicked on the Take FX button it opens an FX chain window into which you can select and add FX plugins in the normal way. I search and select the JS Vol plugin and set the value to the one calculated. I then also copy the plugin for pasting into the next stem which saves a little time if there are lots of stems. The great thing about this method is that this FX chain is hidden and separate to the normal track FX chain. Consequently the value/setting is not effected by the track slider which remains at 0db and therefore this method is closer to having a true gain knob on a channel strip.

There is also, I believe, a method for adding this gain control to the Reaper channel strip, which I will post about when I have worked it out fully. It would be great if this can be included in a Template and have the setup automated 🙂

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by Mark Warner.

[Mark WarnerParticipant]

Just found a way faster method for initial gain staging before mixing in Reaper. I wanted to gain stage the Little Empire "Stronger" track which came as 155 stems which would take a long time by the previous method above.

New Method :
1. Select and expand all tracks for a given gain reduction e.g. -18 db or -15 db. Use the shift key and left click to select a range of stems/tracks and use the "+" button bottom right of the window to expand all the tracks.
2. Move the cursor to the top edge of any track and wait until you get a little double arrow pointing up and down.
3. Click and drag downwards until you get the target DB reduction.

This takes seconds to do the entire song and I don't know why I didn't do this before DOH!!

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by Mark Warner.
• This reply was modified 7 years ago by Mark Warner.

[Arthur LabusModerator]

Hi Mark,
i just found that one solution, if you have SWS extensions installed
"omg man lol just select all items and run the action "Normalize loudness of selected items/tracks..." set it for -20 LUFS and its done. no need for extra CPU."
Frank B. (YouTube)
And ... it works 🙂

[Mark WarnerParticipant]

Ah yes I have seen that one too but Normalising worries me slightly. I am uncertain if it does more than alters the gain? Some people say its a destructive process?

[Arthur LabusModerator]

Not really know how it works - thats my first mix ever with that pre-workflow.
It seems to be not reversible. It may using pre-fader settings.
But honestly i am not really "in" yet 😉

[Pedro Pitta GrozParticipant]

I would recommend this video. It's long but detailed on everything about gain structure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv5H59Ri9as

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