Microphone vs Instrument Input/DI Gain Staging

H

hithere1

New member
Hey guys. I always try to keep my levels at between -18 and -15 in my DAW.

I have an Apogee Duet 2 that I use. My microphone inputs allow me to do this, yet my instrument inputs even with a low gain single coil fender strat runs about -13 with 0DB of gain dialed up on my preamp. Because of this I can't get any less gain coming into my DAW.

I know most people say it is best to keep levels around -15 in the Daw, but is there any difference to this general rule of thumb regarding instrument inputs/Di?
 
Probably fine, but you could try padding & adding if you need to. Try both, see if one sounds better than the other.
 
"Oversensitive" instrument inputs (and no pads) seem to be a recent AI affliction!

There is a very simple solution: Turn the fekkin' guitar down!!!..YES! I know! You are all going to scream "tone suck!" (loss of HF for the uninitiated) but not necessarily....

If you use a short guitar lead, 1.5-2mtrs the capacitance will be low enough, especially with a S/C Strat, for HF loss to be minimal.

Use a "proper" pedal (cough!) in bypass mode as a buffer (still need a short lead to pedal unless it has an output control).

OR! Do as proper recording ENGINEERS did yonks ago and BUILD a solution! In this case you just need two jacks, two resistors and a very short, 300mm jack plug to plug lead. Sounds like you need about 10dB of attenuation, that's 3:1.

Dave.
 
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