Gain staging question.

[jerjabs]

I have a UA 710 twin-finity mic pre >>> Aphex 661 comp >>> Motu Ultra lite.

Is it better to crank up the 710 levels and have the motu's gain low? I'm new and don't have golden ears so I don't want to kill that quality of the nice mic pre with the gain on the ultralite. Maybe it doesnt matter at all.

Please educate me a bit on this if you could!

THANKS!!!!!!!!!

 

[mshilarious]

Yes, you generally want to take as much gain as needed at the first gain stage. After the UA, the signal should be line-level all the way through, into the line inputs on the back of the MOTU. Set the Aphex and MOTU accordingly.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

I'm new and don't have golden ears so I don't want to kill that quality of the nice mic pre with the gain on the ultralite.

I'm not sure what your definition of "golden ears" is, but I hope you can at least hear when any given stage starts distorting at unwanted levels or adding too much hiss.

In general, mshilarious has it right. The only caveat I would put on it is to expand upon the statement "take as much gain as needed at the first stage". The key phrase there is "as needed". When you have a quality preamp, especially one of classic true tube design, it takes at least *some* ears to determine when you're getting the sound you want out of the preamp and not overdoing things.

This is especially true of the 710, I would think, since it's designed with the ability for the user to pick the amount of "blend" between it's tube and solid-state sections. If you don't have the ear, that feature is probably kinda wasted for all but the most extreme settings.

If you don't have those ears, use the VU meter on the thing to try and bounce the needle around 0VU at both the gain and output stages, and you'll probably at least be pretty safe with the sound.

G.