Proper settings for levels??

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BrettMckinney

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I'm getting myself very worked up with this! I have a 6 channel mixer and an Audiophile. Using the tape-ins and out to the soundcard..thinking this is right? I plug my headphones into the mixer since i dont have monitors yet. Now, on the AP, i checked the levels..going to control panel->Sound device->Audio-> and the volume..its up full.

If i put my headphones volume to full..(which i guess is right coz otherwise im not hearing the full extent of what sound is coming into it) then i play a mp3, the sound is flat out loud! So my question is..do i turn down the wave volume on the soundcard? This would make it way harder to mix right..as i wouldnt know the correct volume of the project. If i turn the volume on my headphones down to compensate..then sing into my mic..its not loud enough to hear what im doing. Whats the best way! ahhh.
 
instead of using the tape in on the mixer from your soundcard, could you afford to dedicate 2 channels on the mixer for your playback? that would give you much greater control over what your monitoring and you could use one of the aux buses for a monitor mix. and set the levels where you feel comfortable instead of trying to guess. That way the recorded material and the send on your mic channel stays unaffected and only what your are monitoring is reduced to your liking. The downside is that you only have 4 channels to record with, but is that problem?
 
Hey thanks for your reply. I can definately afford the channels..im only using the mic. So tell me if this what you mean...

Go from the audio out of the audiophile to say line 3/4 in the mixer. Then set the gain level to what sounds good. Now, im only using headphones at the moment..so i have them into the headphone jack..is it ok to just have that at full?

Then what outputs are best to go the soundcard? Main mix out or Tape out(what im doing now)?

Also what i'd like to know..if im only using one channel..should i put the channel gain to full the adjust the trim from there, or set the channel gain to 0 then adjust trim?

Just thinking actually,if i use the outputs of the soundcard to channels on the mixer, wont they then end up being recorded on evey track? Say i'm recording my second track and a guitar is playing underneath..it'll end up there again wont it?
 
You had it right originally, use the tape ins and outs to connect to your audiophile otherwise you will get the feedback loop as you described. Use your software mixer (cubase, sonar etc) to adjust the relative volumes of each track in your mix. Leave the audiophile mixer volumes at 0db (100%). Adjust your headphone volume with the external mixer for however loud you want.

Also you may want to set the audiophile mixer to expect -10db inputs if you find the signal from the mixer outs are too low in level.

The reason why CDs / mp3s sounds so loud is because they have had a lot of compression applied to them. You may want to apply some compression to your tracks too.
 
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I get the loop doing that Alfalfa. It records anything it hears. On the Patchbay/router i have wave/out 1/2 selected..should i have monitor mixer? NOt sure. Using cakewalk...in the tracks im using AP 1/2 as the inputs. I thought what you said would work, but i need to have the headphones up full on the mixer to hear the mic clearly..but all windows sounds..not just mp3's are loud as.

I hate mixers :)
 
What mixer are you using? Make sure you are not sending the 2track/tape inputs to the main outs (which should be the same as the tape outs).

Did you adjust the Audiophile settings to expect a -10db signal (instead of +4db) on the inputs?

Can you increase the gain on the mic channel on the mixer to get it louder?

I would recommend turning off all windows system sounds.

I dont own an Audiophile so cant really help you with the Audiophile mixer settings in detail but it sounds like you have selected the right inputs to record. Maybe someone else can help.
 
No..its on Consumer level..not -10. What difference will that make?
 
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