Ryan Schwabe discusses his straightforward approach to gain staging in mixing sessions by ensuring sufficient headroom before automation.
He prefers working with stems and initially lowers the clip gain to achieve about 5-6 dB of headroom on the master fader, keeping faders at unity for flexibility in gain manipulations throughout the mix.
Schwabe uses his Gold Clip plugin on the mix bus to maintain optimal gain staging, employing a personal preset of +4/-4 dB to monitor and adjust levels effectively. This setup helps maintain clarity and headroom, allowing for precise control and dynamic flexibility during mixing.