Low Gain on input of AW16G

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mike Church
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Mike Church

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Hello Everyone,

My first post and experience with home recording. Forgive my ignorance.

I just purchased the Yamaha AW16G about a week ago. I think it's a great unit and so far I have recorded 3 tracks, bounced them to a track and burned it to a CD with success. I must add that I bought the MR-8 and found out that it wasn't going to do what I needed it to and traded up.

I am using condenser mics and the 48 volt phantom power in unit. It seems that I have to crank the gain on the input just about all the way up to get the recording levels up to at least 8db. Am I missing something here? I have an M Audio external preamp that I am considering trying but should I really need to?

Thanks for the help.
 
I myself got a AW4416 with 8 extra inputs on slot 1.
These DON'T have adjustable pre amps, you've gotta use a pre amp if the signals are not hot enough :(

for more info about the great yamaha boards I reccomend this forum:

http://aw4416user.info

it's a board for yamaha DAW's.

good luck
 
Hook up your external preamp and see. I could never get a decent signal using the preamp in my Korg D8. Had to use an external pre. The amps in these standalone units are usually pretty weak and sorry. So - you probably SHOULDN'T have to but you most likely WILL have to. Good thing you've already got an amp.
 
Yo Mike:

I use the 2816 and when I plug in to record I have to go to the "view" or "pan" screen and punch in the cursor to connect the track. It seems, for some reason, that when you select a track to record, or perhaps tracks, that the recorder does not get the full signal unless you tap in, [trying to remember] the "s" box.

I have 1-8 boxes, and an "s" box for a selected channel. If you don't make the "s" box "blue" by using the cursor and the enter button, you do not have a clear channel thus you "get a weak signal."

Give it a try. Almost every time I am recording a singer and punch in and connect a track for the artist, I have to go to either pan screen or view screen [can't remember and I'm not in my studio] and connect that mystic "s."

See what happens -- suddenly, your channel will be very clear.

Green Hornet :D :cool: :cool:
 
Hi Mike,

I've had an AW4416 for two years. The simple fact of the matter is that while the AW line's preamps actually SOUND pretty darned decent, they do not have as much gain as most pres. In fact they have 32dB less gain than the O1V and O2R. This is basically something they did to cut costs. So, on quiet sources you will have to crank the pre nearly all the way up, and on some dynamic and ribbon mics even that won't be enough.

So on a very quiet source, if you can't get enough gain you can use an external pre. On the 4416, sometimes people chain 2 pre's together to up the signal, but I'm not sure how you would do this on the G, because I don't think it has inserts on the two XLR inputs, which the 4416 does.

However, do NOT take Green Hornet's advice. Green, I hate to break it to ya but your "tip" is not actually helping you to get a stronger signal to your recorder, and in fact it's giving you a false picture of what's really going on. I believe you're referring to the "ST" button in the pan/route screen? What that does, is it routes the signal to the STereo bus. Each of those buttons (1-8 and ST) represent a routing bus. You can route say, input 1 to recorder track 5 by selecting the '5' button. However, if you also select "ST" that means the signal is routed to the stereo bus IN ADDITION to bus 5.

You don't want to do that, because when you mix down you will no longer hear the additional signal, and it's not getting recorded to the track anyway - only bus 5 is. So all you're doing is monitoring a low level signal twice while actually recording only once - which means you're hearing it twice as loud but it's not being recorded at twice as hot a level. You will see the level on your master stereo meter get hotter, but the record level on the actual track will not change when you select the ST button.

You can add a bit of gain in the digital realm by raising the fader on the input channel. Also, on the monitor channel, you can turn the dynamics for the track and just boost the output gain, even if you're not actually using any compression or other dynamics on the track. Ideally it would be better to hit the converter at a hotter level in the first place, but since the AW's have comparitively weak pre's you just may not be able to do this. FWIW I have no problems using them on most sources with condenser mics, and even with ribbons or dynamics if the source is loud, like drums or electric guitars.

Also, although lots of people will try to tell you differently, it doesn't kill you if you record the level a bit low (not too extreme, but if it averages around -12 to -6 you should be OK). It leaves you a bit of headroom for processing in the mix that way. Tracks recorded at the hottest possible + lots of compression and EQ on every track = track clipping and a crappy sounding mix. If the levels are a little lower than normal that leaves you some "air" which will help you later. Really. :) You can turn a weakness into a strength if you're so inclined.

Also you might want to join the Yahoo AW User's Group. We discuss the AW4416, 2816 and AW16G, there are lots of experienced folks on there and no one can get away with giving out screwy advice. ;)

Good luck!

--Lee

--------------------------------
What The...?
http://www.what-the.com
 
Yo Flier:

Really appreciate the information you put in your reply; but, I don't have a problem getting a loud enough signal -- the problem I was referring to deals with hearing the signal in the cans.

I noticed a while back that when I'd set up to record a vocal after the music was done, that the voice was muffled -- not clear -- so I fooled around until I clicked on the ST box.

Voila, the voice came through the cans nice and clear -- it wasn't that I didn't get a good signal to record; I just could not hear the vocalist clearly, neither could the talent on her cans, until I hit the ST button.

So, if this is wrong, what is the correct way. I never have figured out ALL of the routing scheme in the 2816 but it is very similar to the 4416 except you have all the faders.

Any info will be appreciated. I sent you a post via your PM; you can also reach me at my E-post address.

Appreciate it.

Green Hornet:D :D :cool: :cool:
 
GH,

Basically what the "ST" button is doing for you is making the track twice as loud in the monitors while you're recording.

It would be better to just turn up the vocal in the monitor mix by using the fader on the monitor layer. :)

While recording, make sure the fader on the input layer is at zero (unity gain), bus it to the track you're recording to, make sure you have a good level via the meter, then switch to the Monitor layer and you can adjust all the faders to get a good mix in the cans and monitors. Everything on the Monitor layer is "post tape," so nothing you do on that layer will affect what's being recorded, only what you hear.

You can also apply effects on the monitor channels without their being recorded. For instance you can add compression and boost the gain a little if the vocalist can't hear him/herself, and you can add reverb or delay so the vocalist can have some in the cans but it won't be recorded.

Hope this clears up your problem.

--Lee

---------------------------------
What The...?
http://www.what-the.com
 
Yo Flier:

Got your information and also did a little searching in THE MANUAL.

My "hearing in the can" problem might be that in the "quick record" set-up, I have not been choosing the DIN flag to send an input to the recording track.

I'll have to turn on my box and see. I almost always use the quick record set up but was also reading the regular set up.

I always get reverb turned on for the vocalist but I don't do any tweaking of the voice until I'm mixing.

Appreciate your help and if I keep pushing those buttons and enter key, I should find my way through the miasma of the manual.

Cheers,

Green Hornet :D :D :cool: :cool:
 
I swear, how'd you find anything in that manual. It's the worst I've ever seen.......but it does have a manual......
 
Yeah, the manuals aren't that good are they? Although, they're better than the Roland VS manuals. :p

Green Hornet, if I were you I wouldn't use the Quick Record, it is mainly a way to record a lot of tracks at once without having to set them all up. It would serve you better to learn the AW's signal flow and be able to route your setup on your own.

Maybe if you can describe your recording chain and how you normally go about tracking, I can help talk you through the correct setup so you don't get in any bad habits.

--Lee

---------------------------------
What The...?
http://www.what-the.com
 
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