n00b questions!

[darkecho]

ok, i just bought the BG-01 preamp from mick in the UK and it sounds great but I have realized a very important thing... having great equiptment does'nt magically make your stuff sound better, so im back to learning things and I need to start with some basics...

Ok, first off When recording, I see that you are supposed to record at "line level" which is (-18db?). now my question is, how do you make sure you are recording at that volume? it makes sense to me that if you layer tracks, the overall average volume increases, just like if you turn on one light, then another, the overall light brightness increases.. so is it true that if you add enough tracks of guitar for that wall of guitar sound, that eventually with maybe 7 tracks your overall volume might get high enough to start clipping? if so, does that mean you have to lower the volume for each track a little to compensate?

now, I recorded a little thing last night with my friend, just bass as the lead instrument, and he played it very um... dynamically.. sometimes the note was soft, other times it was louder.. so its difficult to adjust the volume without making some parts inaudible or other parts too loud and clip.

is this what a compressor solves? does the compressor basically even out the volumes of things for a less dynamic sound? and if so, is there any software compressor that I can use in Adobe Audition 2.0 to assist me with getting the sound to jump around less?

ok, now, here is a picture of auditions multitrack view.
http://www.audiomidi.com/assets/4911_ado_audition_multitrackscreen.jpg

that large double bar at the bottome, is that the matering volume? and if so, should I be trying to keep the line level at -18 on there? or is getting into the orange/red ok?

I tend to see a big volume difference between my stuff and professional CDs that I listen to of bands, it seems like I cant get as loud as them without clipping a lot...

ok and one last thing, along the lines of clipping, it seems like my volume bars affect my clipping, for instance, in windows i go to the volume out of my M-audio 44 (which is both the audio interface for recording, and is what my computer uses as its default soundcard, so when i play music, it goes through the Delta44 and into my speakers) when the volume level is set to max, it seems like everything clips, even songs in itunes, so i have to bring the volume bar down to somewhere like at the second notch on the volume scale at the bottom. is that Okay?

Thanks a LOT in advance everyone!!!!!!!

 

[ssscientist]

is this what a compressor solves?

Yes. Used well this is EXACTLY what a compressor solves.

is that Okay?

Yes. That's okay. One of the differences between digital and analog recording is that with digital there is much less of a noise floor.

There is a question of losing resolution if digital signals are printed too low, but you're probably not ready for that yet.

My advice would be to do two dozen recordings quickly, learning as much as you can from each one about your setup and where and when and under what circumstances you are getting distortion or when it's sounding good. That will teach you much more than any online tutorial or BBS site can...