Cash The King said:
So there is no general level that the incoming vocals should be at? Lets say its just the main verse without any double-ups or adlibs. Would it be different then?
In general - and this applies to all tracks, not just vocals - you want to record your incoming signal at anywhere between (approximately) -14dBFS and -6dBFS on the digital scale (if you aren't familiar with the "FS" notation, don't worry about it for now; just think -14dB to -6dB digital on your software peak-reading meters.) The idea as far as this thread is concerned is that you want to have enough headroom in the digital tracks in your multitrack editor so that when you sum them (mix them together) you won't have to work too hard to keep the mixdown from clipping.
Put another way, don't worry too much about recording your different tracks at their final levels. Maybe you might waht the vocals to come in a little hotter just to mke your mixing "easier", but that's not really necessary. You really just want to get your tracks into the computer a levels loud enough to keep your signal-to-noise ratio as high as possible without having to worry too much about them being so hot that you'll wind up bumping into clipping when you mix down.
Typically these levels fall somewhere between -14dB and -6dB (give or take). In general, the greater the number of total tracks you are going to mix together, the lower you want the levels for each individual track. This will take some practice to figure out just what levels are optimal for you, but if you start somewher ein the middle (say, around -9dBFS), that might get you to a good start.
Then when you have all the tracks in at clean individual levels, that's when you can adjust the levels of the individual tracks in the software; maybe bringing bringing up the vocals a few dB, maybe dropping back the background instruments a dB or two, etc. Hence the name "Mixing"; adjusting the relative levels between tracks is a big part of what mixing is all about.
But unfortunately, no, there is no set easy answer like "set the vocals to x decibles and the bass to y decibels, etc. If only it were that easy
, but it's not; it changes from song to song, recording to recording, arrangement to arrangement.
HTH,
G.