Volume level DCA

[vtmn7777Participant]

Good day! I want to ask you. Let’s say I have a guitar and a synthesizer. Both are 0 db. There is also DCA, it costs 0 db. I put a guitar and a synthesizer in there and raised the DCA by 5 db. It turns out that the guitar and synthesizer will actually be = 5 db?. And if so. then I can first remove DCA in -inf, add 2 instruments and raise it by +10 db. will it be very loud? or how does it start to work?

[BrianParticipant]

It’s a little hard to understand your question, but I think I understand. First, you have to understand that a DCA is simply a “remote control” for the channel faders. However it is not an actual audio path in the console.
So while it is true that if you turn a DCA fader up 5db, it increases the overall volume of the items in that DCA by 5db, the process of adding or removing channels to a DCA does not change their volume because the process of adding or removing channels from a DCA does not actually change any of the existing audio paths.

This means that DCA changes are always a “relative change” to the existing audio level. Adding channels to a DCA group does not change those channel’s volume – even if the DCA fader is above 0db. For example, if you have a DCA with instruments already in it and it is currently set to 10db, if you add another channel to that DCA, it doesn’t affect the volume of that new channel. Only physical changes to the DCA fader will change the volume of the channels in that DCA. So taking our example, if you turn the DCA down to 0 db, it would lower the volume of all the channels (including the newly added channel) down by 10db, but that would be the first time the newly added channel’s volume would have been affected by the DCA.

Hopefully that makes sense. Long story short, adding or removing channels from a DCA will not affect the volume of those channels, only the act of moving the DCA fader will affect the volume of the individual channels.

[vtmn7777Participant]

If my DCA is initially set to maximum and I add channels there, then I won’t be able to make it louder, because there’s nowhere to go higher? and therefore it is better to initially set DCA to 0 so that you can make the volume higher and lower. Did I understand correctly?

[BrianParticipant]

Best practices would say to start with the DCA at 0 (unity). This will allow you the most control/resolution of minor volume adjustments up and down.

If you ran into a situation where you have “run out” of adjustment of a DCA because the fader is at the limit, then you could remove all the channels from the DCA, then reset the fader back to unity, and then re-assign all of the desired channels into the DCA. This will “reset” the DCA fader without affecting the volume of the individual channels.

[vtmn7777Participant]

Thank you very much! You helped me with my question. Have a nice day 🙂

[BrianParticipant]

I think it is important reinforce the fact that the DCA is simply a remote control for the actual faders assigned in the DCA. Those “original” faders have a max position/DB value (+10dB over unity). You cannot use a DCA to increase a channel/buss/matrix, etc past the volume you would achieve if you simply pushed the input’s fader all the way up.

For example, if you have an input with its fader set at unity and then add that input to a DCA group and then push the DCA fader up 30dB, the input is not going to increase by 30dB because that is higher than the input can go by itself. It will increase the input to +10dB over unity and then not actually affect the sound when the DCA fader is pushed higher.

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