Proper gain levels for drum tracking?

  • Thread starter Thread starter sixer2007
  • Start date Start date
YOu have to consider the source.
That was kind of what I was getting at. The OP's question can't be definitively answered. The variety of answers here demonstrates that. It's true, I shed no light on the subject. There was already too much refraction for that ! :eatpopcorn:
 
Regardless of what instrument is being recorded the
Levels should be the same. -18 to -12 db average.
Peaks -12 to -6 range. There is no signal quality loss
If a little lower than that when recording 24 bit
Always better to be a little lower.

Fader level should be left at zero. Record level adjusted
With pre amp. In Logic the faders have no effect on
Record levels. Only monitoring level.
 
In Cubase (not LE versions) there are input level faders so that you can push a preamp hard and still record at correct level. I have no experience with other DAW's.
 
Down here at sea level that could only happen if the software was controlling part of the analog kit to attenuate ahead of the a/d.
 
In Cubase (not LE versions) there are input level faders so that you can push a preamp hard and still record at correct level. I have no experience with other DAW's.
No you can't. If you push the preamp into clipping, you are clipping the converters. The input level in Cubase turns down the digital signal AFTER the converters. You are just turning down a clipped signal. It doesn't do anything useful.

The signal level in the DAW really doesn't matter (as long as it isn't clipped), the signal level at the converters and on the analog side is where the level really matters.
 
And why would you want to push a preamp harder...? I've never (ever) heard a preamp that sounded more linear being pushed - and typically, the subtle (but stackable - hardly notice it on a single track, but when you have 20 or 30, you wonder what the hell happened) distortion and noise is hardly "friendly" by any stretch.

Sure - There's a preamp here and there that stand above such things --- Crane Song's "Flamingo" would be one. One that has absolutely obscene amounts of headroom in the first place, the ability to push the heck out of the front end of the preamp while being able to buffer the outputs (so you're not subjecting any further circuitry to your distortive creativity). But preamps like that are few and far between...
 
You would do that with color-type preamps. But you would still have to find a way to turn the singal down in the analog domain before it hit the converters, or you would be screwed.
 
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