monitor and interface volume?

GuitardedMark

New member
I have a volume volume control on my monitors as well as my interface. Should I have my speaker volume maxed and just control with the interface volume, or vice versa?
 
I max out my monitors and control it with the interface. On mine, the volume control is on the back, so they are difficult to get to. But besides that, I've read somewhere that that is the recommended method. Sorry, can't find the reference anymore.

Oh, maybe it was the owner's manual.... can't find that either.... lol.
 
I do the same as Chilli except that I set my monitors on about 80% of max. Probably could just use 100%, but I'm still from the old school and 80% output from an amp was pretty much the max power with minimal distortion.

I also find that at 100%, I get some hiss, but at 80% it has pretty much disappeared!
 
Sometimes the interface will clip or the speakers will buzz or hiss at loud volumes. Find out which one has the best high volume performance and leave it. You also might want to consider which is easier to access.
 
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Play a commercial CD track through with the interface volume at 100%.

Turn the volume of the speakers up until its comfortable (and then you'd get better mixes if you turn them back down a bit... the proposed listening volumes for working over time is somewhere around 85db. Turning up the volume makes you do bad things to your mix.)

Remember that once you blow out your ears, they NEVER come back....
 
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