Screen 1: This Pro Tools screenshot shows the typical end result of using clip gain to control levels within a vocal phrase. Gain adjustments range from ‑0.9dB to +6.9dB.
Most DAWs give you the power to control the volume of recorded audio on a per‑clip level — and with this power comes immense creative potential!
I’d like to talk about clip gain. It’s a subject that, on the face of it, may seem a little dry. But clip gain has grown to become one of my favourite creative production tools, and I’d like to talk about why this is.
My music production journey began with experimental electro‑acoustic sound work. Computers didn’t have the processing power they have today, and dynamics had to be controlled using more rudimentary tools and effects. Much of my work involved hours of painstaking volume automation, carefully shaping a finished piece by combining pieces of recorded audio.
Fast‑forward to the present day, and in the work I do with artists as a producer, engineer and mixer, something of this early sensitivity to volume levels has taken hold in my production techniques. The best example is probably my use of clip gain in vocal production.
Vocal Clips
Vocals are the heart of any song. They engage the listener emotionally with the song and hence the record. I like vocals front and present and prominent in the mix, and I like them sounding smooth and utterly beautiful.
As much as I’d like every vocal take I record with an artist to be perfect (and getting a good take and capturing a great performance is certainly the starting point), most vocals require some comping and some dynamic control to make them ready for repeated listening. And it is at this point that clip gain comes in. I’ll make no apologies for being a Pro Tools person through and through in my examples, but the techniques I’m going to describe are readily applicable in most DAWs.
The process begins with vocal comping: adjusting the clip gain of the takes I’m choosing for the comp as I go. And as I listen and work my way through the vocal comp, differences in intensity and dynamics begin to reveal themselves. A quick Command+E to split the audio, followed by another at the end point of the selection, and a mouse click and drag to adjust the gain of the newly created region is all I need to control the flow of the vocal. Dial it back a bit, bring it forward. Intensity and perceived volume relate to distance from the mic as well as vocal production, and adjusting the clip gain in this way can help to bring a consistency to the recording. And before you say it, I know that this is a form of manual compression. But also, I use clip gain in addition to compression for greater control.
So, as my vocal comp starts to take shape, I’ll have made rudimentary clip gain adjustments during the comping process. Once it’s complete, I tend to start again from the beginning of the comp and listen in more detail, making further adjustments as I go. Now we all know there are multiple ways to do many things in most DAWs, and that’s certainly the case in Pro Tools. Rather than splitting the audio into separate clips, I could make the Clip Gain line visible and add nodes to it. But this has become the way I work. It’s quick and well practised for me, and visually, it helps to bring clarity to the changes I’ve made.
My clip gain adjustments can be quite granular, often controlling the levels of breaths and individual syllables as well as the progression of sustained notes. Screen 1 shows two short vocal phrases, with a breath between. It is very usual for all the breaths and a good number of ending consonants to require separate clip gain adjustment to control how they land.
Once I’ve reached this stage, I’ll likely spend some time making some tuning and EQ adjustments, followed by some compression for sound and tone, and some gentle additional levelling. This will be followed by my choice of reverb and delay for the specific vocal I’m working with.
It’s at this point that the adjustments start to feel really musical, and literally like controlling an instrument, as the clip gain adjustments being made control how the audio is flowing into the effects.
Into The Flow
When I have the effects and sends in place, I’ll render any Melodyne tuning to create new clips, then begin a second stage of using clip gain to make further adjustments. And it’s at this point that the adjustments start to feel really musical, and literally like controlling an instrument, as the clip gain adjustments being made control how the audio is flowing into the effects. This gives me increased creative control over how a note hits the EQ, compression, reverb and the delay, and over how the tone of the vocal is presented. It feels as if adjusting the clip gain can smooth out and control the production of the note in the way that the actual vocalist does when producing the note. The vocalist, of course, does this by controlling the airflow through their vocal cords, and although the mic has already captured the different intensities of airflow and hence the volume progression in the note, controlling the gain of a clip almost feels like a way of adjusting this airflow after the fact. Applied this way, clip gain adjustment seems to provide an otherwise unreachable level of control over an already recorded performance.
And so to endings, and the ending flow of a long note.
Screen 2: A single vocal phrase with a long note to end, the intensity of which is controlled via multiple clip gain adjustments.
You might think that the example shown in Screen 2 would sound uneven, but this is yet another example where it’s most important to trust your ears over your eyes. This vocal, controlled using clip gain adjustment through effects, may result in the waveform looking a little uneven, but it sounds far from it. The vocal produced is controlled and smooth in its flow. It can now sit front and centre and clear in the mix, ready for many repeated listens in the future.
So, if you’ve not previously explored the creative potential of clip gain, do enjoy your explorations. And if, like me, you choose to make your clip gain adjustments by chopping up the audio into shorter clips, don’t forget to select all at the end of your process and Command+F to put micro fades on all of the edits you’ve made. Happy clip gain exploring... and prepare yourself for some seriously smooth vocal control!
Mika Sellens is a producer, writer, mixer and engineer. She is a professor of Electronic and Produced Music at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and an Executive Director of the Music Producers Guild (MPG).