you choose there. I say that as someone speaking from years inside the work. And let's separate one thing right away: this is not gain mixing. Riding gain instead of faders to build a mix is a very common habit, but it isn't the right choice — it's only necessary in certain situations. Let me tell you about a turning point. When I first came to Turkey in 1996, through Turgut Kerki of MOST Production, I worked as Technical Director for the Rumeli Hisarı concerts on behalf of Playback Müzik. The desk back then was analog — a Soundcraft Vienna — with Lexicon, Yamaha and TC Electronic outboard, and a pile of gates and compressors. In those years most artists didn't travel with their own engineer, so more often than not I was the one at the desk. After a few concerts I noticed something: whenever the sound was truly good, all the faders were sitting near unity. Once I saw that, I started paying closer attention — using my gains, my preamp values, far more deliberately and correctly. The textbook habit, the one taught in school, was to set gain by PFL.
That was the moment gain management was born for me. Over time I understood why it had to be that way — and both the quality and the speed of my work clearly improved. In this series, I'll walk through that foundation, step by step.
Have you ever noticed a relationship between "good sound" and where your faders end up?