Setting Levels

[borntoplease]

so... when you guys are setting your levels... do you leave the fader and adjust the pre, or leave the pre alone and adjust the fader? i kinda do both, but i dont know what the BEST way to set levels, or if there even is a best way. and how hot do you like to "hit the tape" so to speak. im using pro tools, and i find if i record everything in the "upper yellows" when i start stacking up the tracks, i get a little distortion... and nothing is peaking. maybe this is because my levels are too high? is it possible to get crackle with out peaking any tracks? my auxs arent peaking either...

this kinda turned in to a two part question... get either if you want

[Rokket]

I usually adjust the pres first, then hit the faders if need be. I use my Yamaha MG as a pre, so FWIW... I record into a Fostex MR-8, and leave my trim knobs all the way down on the inputs, get my levels set in the mixer, then adjust the trim if I need to. Most of the time I don't.

As far as the distortion you are getting without clipping, I don't know the answer to that because I don't record to my pc.

[giraffe]

usually i think you can get it whare you want it without useing the fader, and if you can avoid useing that stage, why not?

[giraffe]

in pro tools the fader dosn't change what goes to "tape"