What is Unity Gain
Unity Gain is essential for ensuring that the audio signals passing through a signal chain can be controlled without flashes of unplanned peaks, distortion, and random gains. Basically, you are looking for the “input signal levels” to equal the “output signal levels,” and when this is achieved – this is called “Unity Gain.” As long as the signals coming into the Mixing Board are clean – the “Signal Balance” (Unity Gain) will result in an overall “Quality” mix. Establishing unity gain can also help with keeping feedback under control as well.
These are the basic steps in setting up Unity Gain on a Mixing Board Channel:
- With the Individual Channel Gain all the way down – Plug the Microphone in to the Channel.
- Next turn the Channel Fader and the Main Fader to “U” (Unity).
- Have someone talk or sing into the Microphone (or play the Instrument).
- Adjust the Individual Channel Gain until the “Main Fader” Meter signal reaches “0.” Once you start adding more Microphones / Instruments you will need to keep adjusting the Individual Channel Gains as needed.
Note: This is a fundamental way of setting up Unity Gain on a Mixer. Once you gain more experience and “hands-on” training, you can make more advanced adjustments to ensure “precise” Unity Gain is achieved.
