Trivial question about faders

[-Loco-]

I have a question, this may sound very trivial and stupid but:

If I have my faders all set to their respective values and I drop them all by the same amount, say I take every one down by 3dB should everything sound sonically the same just quieter? or will I be interupting with the balance of the mix since sound is non-linear. Can I treat the faders linearly in that respect?

Not sure if i'm altering too much with the perceived loudness or the intensity. I'm sure the compressor levels will be affected by having lower inputs set by the group tracks? Also, this is talking from a bedroom setup..nothing strictly analogue here.

 

[jipchen]

Lowering the faders normally doesn't influence the input for any plugins on the channel. The faders are the last part of the channel, they only affect the output. That's why correct gain-staging is so important because with too hot levels you might overload plugins at the input stage.. the only way to prevent that is tracking at conservative levels (between -16 and -18 db RMS with the peaks about -10 to -8 dBFS depending on the source) and the other is to insert a trim plugin on the first insert and on all inserts between the plugins on a channel, if necessary. Pretty much every DAW has a built in trim plugin (in Logic it's plugins->utilities->"gain") in PT it's even called trim if I remember correctly.
As I said, in nearly all DAWs the plugins are pre-fader.. very few can switch between pre- and post-fader for the inserts but the standard is the fader doesn't affect the signal coming to the plugins - at all. Just the same as if it were a channelstrip on a real console. The fader can't influence the amount of signal coming through the EQ and compressor etc.

I don't think the mix will be changed if you lower all faders.. beware of automation, because if you pull the fader down and the automation is already written it will stay the same on the tracks with automation because the fader will jump back up (if the automation mode is on "read", that is).
So why don't you just try it, it can't hurt to have a listen.

PS: The question isn't trivial or stupid at all by the way, and I suspect about 90% of the people today in non-professional audio engineering have no clue about how the faders in a DAW actually work or gain staging in general.. Most of them track hot as hell and it doesn't make any sense except you're more likely to cause clipping in the plugins (but the DAWs meters won't show it, you might not even hear it but it fucks with the signal) and can't work with outboard because if you sent the track out way too hot it will clip the outboard to hell and back.

 

[-Loco-]

Thanks for the response jipchen you confirmed my suspicion. Makes perfect sense, I was always aware of automation and I actually did some tests. I ran a snare track up with the compressor on but adjusted the fader to almost -inf to see if it affected the compressor but it was still chopping with the same amount of reduction. This is VERY fucking useful and more people should seriously read this before they even attempt a mix haha, if I'd known this years ago things could have been way more productive for me.

Also, while riding all my faders down by an exact amount and boosting my monitoring level I don't notice any difference whatsoever...Except that I had about 7 more dB of clean headroom.

 

[006]

In Cubase the first 6 inserts are pre-fader and the last two are post, on every audio track. Just in case you are using Cubase. So, lowering the fader will affect the input of any plug-ins in slot 7 or 8.