Help! My levels are wonky!

[raunchy]

Hi everyone. Here is my setup at the moment, it is a Studio Projects B1 mic into a bleh 'Alto s-8' mixer into an E-MU 1212m sound card. I had an audigy 2 zs card and i just recently upgraded.

My problem is, with the audigy, i could set my levels as high as i needed to for recording. With this new card, when i set the levels on the mixer high, it seems to limit or compress my signal, and it peaks out all over the place. If i turn it down just slightly it doesnt peak and its a low level signal, and it seems like it isnt being limited/clipped or whatever.

I have tried a combination of 'trim gain', channel volume and master mix volume on the mixer, and i can't get a combination that works, *except* when i max the chan volume and master mix volume, and leave the trim gain low, it allows the dynamic range but the signal is very low level. as soon as i turn up the trim it goes way high and limits the signal and peaks it out all the time.

Is there something i'm doing wrong? Do i need a mixer with more powerful preamps? I've on a very tight budget. Thanks for any help.

 

[Massive Master]

Everything - EVERYTHING at unity - Except for the preamp (head amp, pre, whatever you want to call it) gain. EVERYTHING else AT UNITY.

If you can't get a clear, strong signal that way, something is probably wrong with your preamp/board/whatever you're using. Set your levels so you're peaking at around -15 to -12dBFS (lower is fine also and likely better in this case) and go.

Other than that - Make sure Windows isn't attenuating or boosting the input somewhere... If the chain isn't properly calibrated from the start, nothing else is going to fix it later.