Sample Volume and Proper Gain Staging.....???

Chew_Bear

New member
Practicing a lot of editing, chopping and time stretching samples in Ableton.

Just recently noticed that I have some samples that are really quiet and do not match the volume of other samples in the same pack/folder....as well as my whole collection/library.

My channel gain and master gain are at 0db. But the sound of the sample is very faint/weak.

So...I go to adjust/increase the gain slider in Ableton's Sample Editor Window and I noticed...

1. The waveform (transients) gets bigger and darker.
2. The sample gets louder.
3. The channel gain/meter level increases...as well as the master channel gain/meter.

Questions:

1. How much gain should I increase on a weak sample...???

Some of the samples I am editing...I had to go from 0 to 15+ db increase on the gain slider in order to get the waveform big enough and the sample loud enough to work with.

2. Is this too much...??? Will there be induced distortion the more gain I set in Ableton's Sample Editor...???

3. How does one properly gain stage a sample that is too weak/faint so that all your levels (mixer, editor/sampler) are all at 0db...and still have the sample be clean, crisp and loud....???

As of right now...I leave the sample and master channel gain at 0 db on the mixer. Than...I 'only' increase the gain slider in Ableton's Sample Editor until the channel/master meter levels increase to 0db while trying to keep the meters out of the yellow/red.

Hopefully this is the right way...???
 
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Google or youtube 'compression' I know it seems like an half ass answer but its a tool perfect for this. If you're on a tutorial that say ratio and threshold are the most important parts then go to a different one lol attack and release are the most important factor when it comes to compression.

Also, EQ ... find matching frequencies and all that in the sample(s) and cut and build.

If i got the question wrong i apologise lol i've had a few drinks!
 
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