Music friends and sound engineers! In the world of digital audio, every decibel matters, and signal level control is the foundation of professional mixing. Sometimes, the standard tools of a DAW are not enough, or specific tasks arise where a more flexible tool for working with loudness is needed. This is where the excellent plugin suite called Gain bundle from Blue Lab Audio comes to the rescue. As a musician, I know how important it is to have reliable and simple tools for level correction at hand, especially when it comes to the subtle nuances or solving unexpected problems with recorded material.
What is Gain bundle and why do you need it?
Essentially, the plugins from this set perform one, but extremely important function – they allow you to accurately and transparently change the level (loudness) of your audio track. This may seem like a simple task, as every DAW has faders. But the Gain bundle opens up new possibilities and helps solve a number of typical problems that everyone who works with sound faces.
The set includes three separate plugins, each offering a different gain adjustment range:
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Gain12:
Adjustment range from -12dB to +12dB. Ideal for fine level correction when you need to add or remove a few decibels.
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Gain24:
Adjustment range from -24dB to +24dB. Provides greater flexibility for more significant level changes.
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Gain60:
Adjustment range from -60dB to +60dB. This plugin is a real “heavy artillery” for a radical change in volume, for example, to correct tracks recorded at too low a level.
Scenarios for using Gain bundle plugins
These plugins do not simply duplicate the functionality of the mixer fader. They are powerful tools for solving specific tasks:
1. Level correction without changing the fader position:
It often happens that there is already volume automation on the track fader that you do not want to violate. Or previous plugins in the processing chain have led to an unwanted reduction or increase in level. Gain bundle allows you to make the necessary corrections “after” or “before” other effects in the chain, without touching the main fader and its automation. This provides transparent level adjustment at the desired point in the signal path.
2. Advanced volume automation:
Sometimes you need to automate the volume, but for some reason (for example, complex interaction with other DAW parameters or the specifics of the workflow) it is inconvenient or impossible to do it directly on the fader. You can use the Gain plugin with the desired range and create automation directly on its “Gain” parameter. This gives an additional level of control over the dynamics of your track.
3. Restoring overly quiet recordings:
This is perhaps one of the most common and useful scenarios. If you have received or recorded an audio track with a critically low signal level, simply increasing the volume on the fader may not be enough or may lead to unwanted consequences in the later stages of processing. You can insert one of the Gain plugins (for example, Gain60 for extreme cases) and use it offline (during export or rendering of the track). This will allow you to “raise” the level of the entire file in one step, preserving the sound quality and preparing the track for further mixing.
Technical details and compatibility
Gain bundle plugins are available in popular VST and AU formats, ensuring their compatibility with the vast majority of modern digital audio workstations (DAWs) on both Windows (32-bit and 64-bit) and MacOS platforms.
Blue Lab Audio offers this set completely free of charge, making it an accessible tool for every musician, producer, or sound engineer, regardless of experience level or budget.
Conclusion
Gain bundle from Blue Lab Audio is a simple but extremely useful set of plugins that should be in the arsenal of anyone who is serious about sound. It solves typical signal level problems, provides additional automation capabilities, and helps save low-volume recordings. Its transparency and effectiveness make it an excellent choice for both quick correction and more complex tasks. Don’t miss the opportunity to add these valuable tools to your plugin collection!
