Recording the Markbass Studio 1 Plug-in... Setting levels?

[soss]

Hi. I just got the studio 1 plug-in, and I'm trying to record in REAPER (brand new to this). I'm struggling to get the right levels. I have no idea what to look for. Is there a trick to balancing the amp's output level with the track level on the recorder? Also where should I set the master? Basically if I set the level too low I get a faint signal with background noise. If I set to high I get ugly distortion. Should I try recording with a compressor, limiter, or both? Or should I use those when I re-mix?

I have also tried Ampitude and had better results with that. I think I got the I/O levels set correctly within the plugin. It's hard to tell until I actually record and playback, though.

Oh yeah, I'm recording w/o an interface at the moment (ASIO4ALL). Will having a preamp-ed hi-z input reduce "artifacts" - string noise, string slap, distortion, etc?

 

[Disease8]

So let me get this straight: you are recording straight into a PC sound card's line input? Well its gonna sound horrid, you need a specific type of preamplification or High impedance input for guitars. This will certainly make a huge difference. As for your gain structure, keep the master on 0 and every other fader on 0. Then use the gain on the plugin/preamp to get the level up so its rboughly -5 or just a nice central level on the master, you dont want it peaking all the time...

 

[soss]

Well its gonna sound horrid, you need a specific type of preamplification or High impedance input for guitars. This will certainly make a huge difference.

LMAO... I know, I know.

I just thought I'd try that WIN4ALL thing while I figured out exactly what I need, what works for me, etc. I accidentally stumbled on a Youtube video showing how to do that. I'll be ordering a good firewire interface this week. Still researching it all. Glad to know my sound will drastically improve because that's what I'm hoping for, obviously.

As for your gain structure, keep the master on 0 and every other fader on 0. Then use the gain on the plugin/preamp to get the level up so its rboughly -5 or just a nice central level on the master, you dont want it peaking all the time...

Woah... I would have never thought to do that way. I'll certainly give that a shot.

Thanks for posting.