Volume Automation..

[thierryhenry]

Yo peeps..

Quick question here, aimed at the experienced mix engineers:

Is it ok to do all my volume automation using clip gain?

I will stick my neck and say yes but I would rather do things the right way. So is this an ok thing to do? Seems like it would take less time and is more accurate due to visual referencing.


Thanks

[Meads]

Clip gain happens before the signal goes through the plugins, so "automating" it would result in your sound always changing, whenever you touch it (if you have level-sensitive plugins like compressors/deessers, etc).

Also you can't really automate it. You can't ramp, and it's overall not very handy to use it the way you would use volume automation.

I only use it for evening out levels, before I start mixing. It's fantastic for that, but I wouldn't use it for anything else.

[Stig Eliassen]

Originally Posted by Meads

Clip gain happens before the signal goes through the plugins, so "automating" it would result in your sound always changing, whenever you touch it (if you have level-sensitive plugins like compressors/deessers, etc).

Also you can't really automate it. You can't ramp, and it's overall not very handy to use it the way you would use volume automation.

I only use it for evening out levels, before I start mixing. It's fantastic for that, but I wouldn't use it for anything else.

You can do pretty much anything with clip gain that you can do with volume automation, except recording fader moves to the clip gain line. Use the pencil to draw whatever ramps and curves you like. Only thing I miss is the ability to cut a clip gain selection to make a linear ramp.

But, like you said, clip gain is pre-inserts, so one should have this in mind.

[Meads]

Originally Posted by PT Lover

You can do pretty much anything with clip gain that you can do with volume automation.

Disagreed. You cannot say, that you could take your "automating workflow" from volume automation and transfer it 1:1 to clip gain.
Try using key commands like cmd+d or cmd+x. This will get you nowhere with clip gain.

Originally Posted by PT Lover

Use the pencil to draw whatever ramps and curves you like.

Yeah, well, you can do that.
But how convenient is drawing automation with the pencil tool? Maybe it's just me, but using mouse/trackball to draw levels is way too inaccurate.
Not everything one can do is worth doing, is it?

[Stig Eliassen]

I was a bit sloppy with the coloring and wording - my bad. I meant that using the pencil tool is pretty much the same between the two.

Convenience is quite personal, so I don't know what the OP find convenient. I use a console for automation work, and I will never go back. Still, it's nice to use clip gain on vocals so they hit the compressors just right.

[Meads]

Originally Posted by PT Lover

Still, it's nice to use clip gain on vocals so they hit the compressors just right.

+1!