Rounik, you've helped me out a ton this past week. I really appreciate all the solid tips! I've reinvented my mixing methodology this week and I'm feeling really good about it thanks to this forum! I agree about using sends pre-fader, that's how I prefer to do it. Based on our discussions of late here are my new philosophies for mixing (chime in if you think they are bad :) 1)NEVER clip the outs! Mix on a dry output strip 2)When I pull down ALL my faders I always need to be aware of which tracks are associated with aux strips (this will be something I constantly need to be aware of and should just find a system that best works for me). 3)Instead of writing volume automation on a track(when I'm early in process of building and mixing a new project) I'm going to insert a gain plug in on the LAST insert slot (and always keep it as the last insert) on the strip and automate that instead. Doing this will allow me to pull the channel fader down if I ever need to later on in the mix while keeping the relative volume changes I've made with the gain plugin. I hope this sounds good. I'm feeling like this is a good work flow for me right now. Thanks again!

Hey CoFane, Thanks for sharing your mixing methodology... 1) Yes! You know there are occasions that I will actually lower the output fader... Some will say it's a big "no, no" but I've yet to notice the world spinning off it's axis. 2) OK. 3) Yes, this is a nice idea. I sometimes employ the Gain plugins in a different way: Automate the faders of the respective track and then raise of lower the Gain plugin of that track (as last insert)... Both ways are good - your way may well make it much easier to mix by still using the faders to adjust levels - but you will not visually see faders moving up/down unless the Gain plugin is open. Really though... it ALL sounds good! :) Rounik

Hi, just to chime in again I've been watching a vid tutorial where the producer uses automation to lower some peaks in an audio region before he applies compression. In his words this means he can choose some softer compressions settings because he's not trying to control one or two really high peaks. So how does this fit into the signal path you guys are developing here? I thought volume automation was inseperable from the fader. So if we use volume automation on a region, at the start of the signal chain, doesn't that mean the fader is moving up and down at the end of the chain? So why would the compression be affected? We already decided that compression wasn't affected by the fader moving afterwards because the compressor worked off the region. So is the automation working on the region, or the fader? Yours, confused

hmmm... Hamish, could you contact me via our Support area: [url]http://www.macprovideo.com/support/[/url] (put my name in the subject) and give me the link to this vid please. Thanks R

Hi Hamish, Thanks for posting the link to me via Support. I remember this video and suspected it was the one you were talking about... but I don't think there's any need to show-up a competitor on our forums - our videos do that well enough! ;-) Anyway, back to your question. In Logic the fader controls the payback volume of the channel strip AFTER the signal has been processed by the insert plugins. Try this out: 1. Record your voice. Make sure to create a significant sharp peak in one area that we'll test on. 2. Automate the level of one large peak only. Playback, you'll hear the difference. 3. Set the Automation mode to OFF for the track. 4. Insert a compressor on the track and after adjusting the settings notice the amount of gain reduction being applied at the "Peak". 5. Turn Automation mode on to 'Read'. Playback again and see if there's any change to the gain reduction at that peak. (There shouldn't be!) :) Rounik p.s. You'll get different results if you insert a gain plugin before the compressor and via automation reduce the gain at that same peak. Bypass Volume automation.... and check the results... This gain plugin, (because it is inserted BEFORE the Compressor) WILL mean you can use softer compression settings.

Great, thanks Rounik! I thought it might be something like that. I'm glad its the other guy who's confused! :) Its intersting, because he thinks the signal path works differently he's actaully using a combination of compression and volume reduction, but thinking its just the compression! I'm pretty sure he can still getting some great sounds out of it though. It comes down to what the end result sounds like, and his method probably works brilliantly for him even though it doesn't make sense! I'll try your test tonight, thanks again Rounik H

Hey Hamish, No problem! Sure, at the end of the day, despite his misunderstanding of signal flow in Logic, I'm sure he makes good music... As a Certified Logic Trainer, I meet students who have watched videos from other companies/trainers or YouTube and have it in their heads that whatever they've seen/heard is true... Sometimes, they'd prefer to trust the "name" of their fave producer over the way Logic really works - and it can be hard for them to 're-learn' some concepts. I don't want to point the finger at him and his training co. in particular. But in today's "easy access to info" web-based world, teaching misinformation can lead to the "emperors new clothes" scenario! ;-) Best Rounik