keith.rogers
Well-known member
Maybe if you posted a link or two to the specific articles you read it would help.I've read a few articles that say to do this. Although what about when I want to monitor/track something at a lower level? Leaving it at unity forces one to listen at a louder level.
Perhaps the articles are just referring to the mono ins and not the main tracks that are used for mixing post tracking...?
What happens a lot of time is something like that "telephone" thing where someone hears something, and in the telling, it gets changed ever so slightly, but by even the 3rd re-telling, the story has become something else. I.e., we're not sure what you read, and if what you're saying is exactly the same thing.
To me, unity is something I associate with keeping levels the same, as in unity gain. I can't say I've thought about it in tracking, but I have read that keeping your faders near the center (or zero) is a good practice because most have their finest granularity for control in that range. This is particularly important during mixing.
During tracking, if you're forced to push faders one way or the other, that suggests a problem with gain at an earlier level, or perhaps a problem with your monitoring end - not enough or too much gain there. So, recording with an eye on the next step, so the faders are centered while the record levels stay optimal, is a good practice, but controlling the level for monitoring, either during tracking or recording, is something I would not put on the track (or even master) faders.
I use gain control to get levels so it allows the tracks and master to be at the appropriate dB while giving me the most control over those levels. The level of what I hear is simply controlled by the monitor and headphone knobs on my AI.
I hope that makes sense, and I even understood the OP!