Hi,

I just found out Acustica Nebula. So, excuse my newbie questions.

All of my tracks has been gain staged to -18 dbfs. If I'm about to start mixing by level balancing them, inserting the plugins and dialing in; is that gonna effect the initial gain stage if for example by using EQ cut or compressor gain reduction? IOW, are the plugins still on the sweet spot? Also, how are you sure all are calibrated at -18dbfs? What if some plugins need higher gain? Should I just then increase the input on nebula?

 

Dude just grab a VU meter like Klanghelm or waves. And check the meter everytime you apply any process like EQ or compression. Just adjust your input & outputs to hit -18 and keep 1 VU meter in the master all the time so you know that the whole mix is at the same level. It's simple dude,[( add plugins --> check VU --> adjust output ---> put another plugin)] and go on. Forget about this "if some plugins need higher gain" that BS. BTW when you trim the end your channel track output gain with a VU is way faster to adjust it later and keep track of them instead of going back and check every single one in case you want to add any nebula console or tape at the end for example. Basically if you balanced you tracks and gain staged them + your master vu is at -18, nothing that you do should change your master output level. This is all about nebula, since you may want to use consoles, tapes or comps on a BUS or on your master.

 

Last edited: Nov 7, 2024 at 12:23 AM

Exactly!

But be careful with changing one single parameter afterwards. Because then your gain staging is out of control again, gotta calculate everything again and your mix sounds horrible!
Not even mentioning sidechaining.

 

I will add there is a REASON why -18dBfs.
It is not an idiot or "because it is like that" reason.

Every time you double sound volume, you add 3dB.

2 tracks +3db
4 tracks +6dB
8 tracks +9dB
16 tracks +12dB
32 tracks +15dB
64 tracks +18dB

Now you see why -18dfs (as AVERAGE start point).
As most projects are more or less 64 tracks, it is a good starting point.

https://audiosex.pro/threads/whats-your-average-track-count.74849/

 

But the point of level balancing is to vary the outputs across the board. It's the input that has to be mantained. How is it then possible if the processing decrease the gain (which is lowering the analog quality)? Unless you do boosting with the eq.

 

Not really:
- Each single track peaks at -12 (green line),
- 2 of them already reach -6 (Track 1, 2 Tracks, red line)
- 4 of them peak at 0 (Track 4, 4 Tracks, red line) see

This has nothing to do with the 0VU = 18dBFS calibration.

 

Last edited: Nov 6, 2024

Or the one by TBProAudio which is free.

Not exactly.
This calibration is meant for plugins, not channels or the empty master! So you feed your pluggie with 0VU and adjust its output to 0VU again (if you gainstage this level).

 

Last edited: Nov 7, 2024 at 6:55 PM

You don't need to set your tracks to 0VU only the input of your plugins. If you're doing gainstaging, the output too, ofc.
You need to do this for every plugin which requires this level.

It is usually stated at which level a plugin works best, IOW to which it is calibrated.

 

User Tip: Use the "Drive" section on the Nebula host and push it until it sounds crapped out. The same amount of db you can boost on "drive" until it breaks is very probably the headroom you have on that especific library. Remember: Nebula is a software where you use 3rd party sampling, so every dev will calibrate their libs with different values. This is the easiest way to discover the amount of headroom and sweet spot of the lib.

 

The only help you really need for Nebula - quit this shit, bro.
After a while (in my case 7 years) you will remember this message.

 

Bro check this video that's really easy to understand what we are talking about. -18 it's not just related to a "sweet spot" . When you have many things at the same level they will add up on the master. This video is really easy to get the idea of why -18. I guess you're thinking that since everything is -18, all the elements will be at the same volume. After gain staging you can balance the volume as you please.

 

Last edited: Nov 7, 2024 at 12:42 AM

I was talking just about the plugins, use the VU on the chain while your adding your plugins, make sure you're feeding -18 from one to the next and use the plugin output in case you need to adjust it. And at least to me, is way faster to have a VU in the end of a track to trim the gain in case I use any nebula at the end or a console, comp or EQ on the master. If the end of the chain is hitting 0dbvu I can add any nebula stuff later without problems and the fader will be free.

 

Last edited: Nov 6, 2024

Brô, take a look at this....

and this absolutely

and this:

 

Last edited: Nov 7, 2024 at 1:50 AM

Yes since the topic is about nebula gain staging we need to feed each plugin at -18 unless the manual tells you otherwise.

 

Oh, shit. It's all redded out. Mind to elaborate?

 

Thanks for the tip.

 

Your gain is one thing and your volume is another thing. You're asking about nebula right? Simple ( -18(0dbvu) in ---> -18 out to the NEXT nebula plugin) . You can do whatever you want with the fader volume after the GAIN going into the nebula plugins is set. When I mentioned output I'm not talking about your post-fader volume, I'm talking about the end of your plugin chain hitting -18 of gain just **in case** you decide to add any console or tape at the end of a chain later in the mix for example without worrying about gain A-gain . After that you can push your fader up to +1000db that the GAIN inside the plugins will remain the same. I have no idea what do you mean by "analog quality" but all I'm saying has nothing to do with a proper mix gain staging, I'm talking about nebula and just gave a tip to have the output gain of your plugin chains at -18 to make things faster if you decide to add any other nebula at the end. Not talking about the fader level of the channel. Maybe you're also asking how is it possible to maintain the input IF the process decreases the gain? If you're talking about EQ cuts or other process that decreases the gain, you won't have "more or less analog vibe" if your gain is below -18, we keep it around -18 to avoid any distortion or artifacts and not to have "more analog quality" as you may think. Try for yourself, grab any nebula pre-amp or tape or console and hit it at -6 ~ 0 to hear all the weird stuff that happens.

 

Last edited: Nov 7, 2024 at 3:56 AM

This exact topic was covered.

 

Aaaah. So you put VU meters--plugin after plugin?

Not according to this man.

 

Last edited: Nov 7, 2024 at 7:20 AM

You made the video yourself. What a pleasure to watch it. But this doesn't answer my question.

Say if I use a compressor and then doing a gain reduction, doesn't it decrease the initial gain (-18dbfs) and lower the 3D effect?