Hello - first post here and thank you in advance on any advice/help you can provide. I am trying to set up a Cubase 11 template using the approach described in Billy Decker’s “Template Mixing and Mastering”. A key element to his template, and to all mixing, is proper gain staging. I tested out the template by exporting a Kontakt track via Cubase Audio Mixdown, and then loaded the resulting WAV file into the proper audio channels. Before any gain staging, what I noticed was that the WAV file image suggested that the file was too hot - the waveforms filled the entire file view. So, I used the clip gain tool to reduce the waveform energy down to where the average waveform fills 50% of the window - this is what Decker and others do. Unfortunately, when I do that I can no longer hear anything!! So it appears that there is a disconnect between the clip view and the clip gain. Does anyone have any idea of what is going on here? The normal looking WAV file has a volume too low, and the waveform that sounds OK looks like it is massively clipping. Thanks!
Also - I should note that when I use the clip gain to reduce the waveform to fill 50% of the space, the tool reports that the file is at -26db (Diff 0 db).
Hey, Kailas, welcome!
The reliable way to judge the levels of the wave file is in the Sample Editor, and the Statistics of the file in the Pool. If we’re talking about the project window instead, it is true that waveform zoom is indeed disconnected from actual level. Notice how on the right of the project window there are actually TWO scroll bars. One big, one little. The big one is for vertical scroll of the project, the little one modifies waveform zoom. So that you can have a pretty quiet recording and then increase waveform zoom so that it looks “bigger”/“hotter”.