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Using the Change Gain Feature in BIAS Peak
05/24/2007

Even when you're careful about miking an instrument (or even an entire ensemble), you may find that on playback, one side of the stereo recording is not quite as loud as the other. You can open these files within BIAS Peak (now at version 6) and compare the waveforms. If one side (left or right) appears to be smaller, this indicates (at least in the majority of cases) it's not as loud and that a simple gain change will bring the quieter side's level up to match the louder side. Peak conveniently offers a Change Gain function under its DSP menu. But before attempting to pump up the volume of the quieter channel, click on the Clipguard button. This will assure that no part of the audio will be so loud that it will produce nasty digital clipping. In fact, when you click on the Clipguard button, Peak automatically sets the gain slider to the maximum allowable level.

Since the editing you are doing in Peak is non-destructive, you can choose to change the gain to the level indicated by Clipguard, then have a listen to the results. Usually this does the trick, but if one side still seems louder, it's possible that there is a time delay or offset between the right and left channels. In that case, you can go to a peak transient at the beginning of the recording and match up both sides by sliding one side forward or backward to line up the transients. If this works, it simply means that one mic was farther away from the instrument (or group of instruments). The ear will always interpret the earliest signal as the loudest, even if the volumes are almost exactly the same.





Other Techtips from May 2007:
May 31 - Using the Autodrop Function in Apple's Logic Pro
May 30 - Adding Glossy Overtones to an Electric Guitar Recording
May 29 - Using a Microphone's Proximity Effect to Your Benefit
May 25 - FAQ: When is the best time to make a tech support call?
May 24 - Using the Change Gain Feature in BIAS Peak
May 23 - Accessing Both Channels of a 2-channel Amp
May 22 - Biasing Tube Amps "Hot" or "Cold"
May 21 - Avoiding Frequency Conflicts with Wireless Mics
May 18 - Mysterious Downloads in OS X
May 17 - Titanic Tone from Diminutive Amps
May 16 - True X-Stage Mixing
May 15 - Isolating your amp from the floor
May 14 - Adapting Big Amps to Small Spaces
May 11 - Cleaning Your Guitar's Fingerboard
May 10 - Obtaining a "Carnet" for Your Guitar When Traveling
May 09 - Using BIAS Peak's Loop Tuner
May 08 - Changing Strings on a Bigsby-equipped Guitar
May 07 - Using Plug-In Envelopes in BIAS Peak
May 04 - Setting GarageBand Preferences to Minimize Processor Load
May 03 - Changing the Velocity Levels for an Entire Track in Garage Band
May 02 - Using Logic Pro's Audio Energizer
May 01 - Will a Rusty Transformer Hurt Your Guitar Tone?


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