Why We Keep Our Plugin Output Levels Low
How to set Kontakt output levels for mixing
The crucial role of headroom and optimal gain staging in preventing digital clipping, preserving dynamic range, and facilitating professional mixing workflows for composers using large templates. Learn how lower output levels empower you to create cleaner, more controlled, and higher-quality mixes.
If you’ve ever wondered why our Kontakt instruments, like those from our friends at Spitfire Audio or Orchestral Tools, often appear to have lower default output levels? There’s a good reason for it!
High levels from many individual tracks simultaneously can lead to disturbed audio, and clipping, in busses and in effects
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It is the same with hardware. To control the output level of the individual tracks and sound sources is the key to a good mix.
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Understanding headroom in digital audio
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Think of headroom as the safety net in your digital audio. It’s the space between your signal’s peak and the absolute maximum level (0 dBFS) before digital clipping—a harsh, irreversible distortion—occurs. When a plugin or instrument starts out “hot” (too loud), you’re immediately losing this crucial safety margin.
In complex sessions, where you’re layering dozens, if not hundreds, of tracks, adding processing like EQ or compression can easily push your combined signal into the red if individual instruments are already peaking. By delivering our patches at a conservative, lower level, we ensure you have plenty of headroom right from the start. This means you can build up your mix with confidence, knowing you have room to grow dynamically without accidentally introducing nasty digital distortion.
Why is my Kontakt patch volume low?
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Optimizing sample library volume for film scoring — Control track and bus levels. Boost the master instead.
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Optimizing Gain Staging
Gain staging is the process of managing audio signal levels throughout a signal chain to optimize the signal-to-noise ratio and prevent distortion. It involves setting appropriate levels at each stage of your audio production, from recording to mixing, ensuring a clean and balanced sound.
If every instrument loaded in loud, you’d constantly be pulling faders down, battling levels instead of focusing on the music. We set our default outputs to allow for an optimal gain stage, giving you the flexibility to add gain within your DAW’s mixer as needed. It’s always better to turn something up cleanly than to try and salvage an already clipped signal.
Gain staging is simply setting the right volume at each step of your signal chain.
String Libraries
Wrongtools String Libraries:
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Feathersome Strings
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Double-Bass Quartet
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Osmosis Strings
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Jasmine Strings
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