diff --git a/gst/gstinfo.c b/gst/gstinfo.c
index 135e0e719a..f40a281029 100644
--- a/gst/gstinfo.c
+++ b/gst/gstinfo.c
@@ -491,6 +491,10 @@ gst_debug_log_valist (GstDebugCategory * category, GstDebugLevel level,
   GSList *handler;
 
   g_return_if_fail (category != NULL);
+
+  if (level > gst_debug_category_get_threshold (category))
+    return;
+
   g_return_if_fail (file != NULL);
   g_return_if_fail (function != NULL);
   g_return_if_fail (format != NULL);
@@ -988,9 +992,6 @@ gst_debug_log_default (GstDebugCategory * category, GstDebugLevel level,
   FILE *log_file = user_data ? user_data : stderr;
   gchar c;
 
-  if (level > gst_debug_category_get_threshold (category))
-    return;
-
   /* __FILE__ might be a file name or an absolute path or a
    * relative path, irrespective of the exact compiler used,
    * in which case we want to shorten it to the filename for