analogue distortion

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davecg321

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At what point 'vu' does it occur? I am driving my art pro mpa well over into the red (past 0vu) I am making sure not to clip on my interface or within cubase. Aiming for usually around -12dbv.... I can still hear distortion or clipping of some kind. basically I am cranking the gain right up on the preamp to achieve a more coloured sound. I back off on the output but still get some unpleasantness when the sound source is at its loudest.

Is it possible to clip with analogue gear prior to the digital realm

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated
 
The Art pre amp is capable of a serious output of +27dBu, far above the input clipping level of any "domestic" AI I am aware of so you will need to keep the output well down.
But what is the AI anyway? Then you mention "-12dBv" , On what ? Do you mean a recording level in Cubase peaking to -12dBFS? If so you should be clear of any digital clipping. Maybe the Art is a bit "dirtier" than you expected? Maybe the vlave is borked? NOT the most reliable of things you know!

Dave.
 
davecg321 said:
Is it possible to clip with analogue gear prior to the digital realm
Click to expand...

Yes, absolutely.

I am driving my art pro mpa well over into the red
Click to expand...

Don't do that.

Analog gear is more tolerant of being driven hard. You can consistently go past 0dB and not be concerned and it might even add some nice dirt to the signal. But if you go too far, it will sound bad.

You said you are backing off on the output of the MPA, but is it enough? What are the meters or LEDs doing on your interface?
 
Sorry ecc83 I meant dbfs within cubase, so no clipping there.

I have the gain turned to 0 (bypasses the AI preamps)on my AI, no clipping here either.

Btw, the art has a gain led meter, is it ok to hit red on that? It doesn't state anywhere in the manual that this would be the case

Thanks again guys
 
davecg321 said:
Sorry ecc83 I meant dbfs within cubase, so no clipping there.

I have the gain turned to 0 (bypasses the AI preamps)on my AI, no clipping here either.

Btw, the art has a gain led meter, is it ok to hit red on that? It doesn't state anywhere in the manual that this would be the case

Thanks again guys
Click to expand...

Ok, so your PEAK level in Cubase is +12dBFS? Not the average level? STILL don't know what the AI is?!!

"I have the gain turned to 0 on AI (bypasses AI pre amps)". Not likely. If the AI uses combi XLRs then the line section is just padded down by about 20dB and still feeds the mic pre amps, not that this usually causes any problems but, "gain at zero" does not mean "no" gain at all as a rule.

Try the mic straight into the AI. If that is acceptably clean you either don't like what the Art is doing or, as I said before, it is in some way faulty and distorting more than it should.

Dave.
 
it is peaking at -12dbfs in cubase. My interface is a presonus firestudio project (combi inputs) at no point am i clipping the leds on the AI. I've read that it is common practice to aim for 0vu (or thereabouts) on analogue gear. My faders in cubase are set at unity gain when tracking

cheers
 
Well the Firestudio line inputs can handle +22dBu at min gain so that would not seem to be the problem.

Dave.
 
I think I know where you might be going here. 'Analog color, 'soft clipping, 'saturation etc, vs hard clipping.

Gads I mentioned these in another thread.. Chameleon 7602 (one of them 'Neve for us bottom feeders' pres.) Solid state + transformers. Pushed a little too hard on a vocal for example, sounds like ass.
Tubes (from what I understand and I don't have any tube pres here..) pushed too hard, clip harshly as well.
A short side trip.. There's a thing by Hartley Peavey I ran across (can find if there's any interest) that said tubes clip rather very hard similar to transistors. That a lot of that 'soft fun warmth in the distorted end of the range we associate as 'tube saturation'.. is the mix of 'under sized' transformers softening the tube's clipping.

I.e. / perhaps / disclaimer I'm beyond my pay grade here.. :)
There is intended differences in a guitar amp for example, vs something like a high end tube pre or high fidelity amp design.

I guess a good question here might be do some of these typical low end tube pres even have a transformer outputs?
Bottom line here I presume is you might be talking about pushing way past the subtle color' range difference of this stuff.
 
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