Volume

[TelePaul]

Hey guys. Supposing I put the mixer in SE3 to full; 6 dB or there abouts; what is the impact of making the track louder by takng that blue bar and raising it to expand the waveform? Are these both ways of raising what we would collectively term volume?

[RezN8]

Although I find it's really best to try and record the hottest signal possible before clipping...

The rule of thumb here is: if it sounds good, then use it.

I've used the blue bar on the wav file to raise the level often, and it has always sounded fine to my ears. In other words, I hear no discernable artifacts when using it to raise the gain on a track.