question about audiosuite gain plugin

[keithl]

Does using the audiosuite gain plugin a bunch of times on a vocal track degenerate the sound quality in any way? I found that using this plugin a bunch of times on a track, freed me from trying to get the volume right automating with the 002.

Thanks!
Keith

[audioboffin]

Does using the audiosuite gain plugin a bunch of times on a vocal track degenerate the sound quality in any way? I found that using this plugin a bunch of times on a track, freed me from trying to get the volume right automating with the 002.

Thanks!
Keith

I know a very popular film mix engineer here in Australia who tells me the only things he actually renders in Protools (apart from the final mixes) are gain changes. With +12dB available at the fader and +12dB available with a single instance of a trim plugin it probably isn't so necessary now.

[casperfun]

freed you....you answered your own question. Obviously, you love the results or else you won't keep using it. Hence the audio quality is good,


Personally I use it without s seconds thought. Technology is amazing these days. If the initial signal is digitally clear so to speak. There is no reason to worry about inherent noise like way back in the day with analog tape. Unless you grew up in those times, you have no need to worry about degradation of sound.

[daeron80]

It should be fine for many generations, especially in a 24-bit session. If your session is 16-bit, and if you process the same portion of audio a few dozen times, you might begin to notice some dither build-up if your prefs are set to use Audio Suite dither. That would probably be about it.

If you're worried about it, do a nul test. Keep track of the changes you've made to a single region, and then place the original on another track with an inverted trim plug (aligned with sample accuracy). Bypass all plug-ins on the processed track. Set the volume fader of the unprocessed track to the level that is the sum of the changes you made using the gain plug-in. Solo those two tracks and listen to that region. You should hear nothing (if they're identical except for phase, they'll cancel each other out completely). If you hear little bits of jittery noise, then some degradation has occured.