recording volume

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stevey j

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i was told i needed a mixer or preamp of some kind to raise my mic level to my soundcard to be able to hear it, so i got a cheap mixer and i have my mixer gain set at +10 db , the reccomended for recording through "line in" and my recording volume and sounds in "control pannel" of my computer are all set at the default medium...yet whenever i record it clips. my question was...should i lower the gain on my mixer or the recording volume on my computer? or doesnt it matter
 
stevey j said:
i was told i needed a mixer or preamp of some kind to raise my mic level to my soundcard to be able to hear it, so i got a cheap mixer and i have my mixer gain set at +10 db , the reccomended for recording through "line in" and my recording volume and sounds in "control pannel" of my computer are all set at the default medium...yet whenever i record it clips. my question was...should i lower the gain on my mixer or the recording volume on my computer? or doesnt it matter
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Why on earth do you have gain all the way up????

It should never go above unity (0dB).
 
i dont have the gain all the way up, i was told i needed a mixer or mic pre amp to raise the signal of the microphone loud enough to be recorded through the line in on my soundcard. i was told i should raise it about 10 dbs..and on my mixer it says

line in 1 gain

line +10 ... so i set it to plus 10 . the max is 60 db, not 10 .
 
The simple answer is turn it down until it doesn't clip. In digital audio at 24-bit you ideally want your peaks -3 to -6 dBFS.
 
all i was wondering was "would it be best to turn down the mixer gain, or the recording volume on my computer, or doesn't it matter" haha can anyone answer this?
 
Ok, there's a couple of concepts you need to grasp here;

Signal chain: this is the chain of circuits that the signal passes through on it's way to being recorded.

Gain stageing: This is how much gain is applied at each stage of the signal chain to work within the linear slope of each circuit.

Your signal chain, depending on how you wired things up, may include the following;

Mic - Mic preamp - EQ - Summing amp - soundcard preamp - soundcard A/D converter.

The best situation is to eliminate all but the mic, pre-amp, and A/D converter.
With a mixer this means going into the mic input on a channel, and then using a direct out from that channel. If the mixer doesn't have direct outs, then you can usually use the first click of a channel insert.
Now on the soundcard, make sure you're not going into a mic input. It must be a line level input.
Gain stageing involves understanding the signal chain, and making each stage do the work it's intended to. Your distortion could be occuring in the preamp, or it could be downstream. If you're going onto the buss, it could be that you're overdriving the summing amp, or perhaps an EQ stage. Or you could be hitting the A/D too hard on the soundcard. You'll need to think this through, understand what your signal chain is, and then find out which stage is either getting hit too hard, or is working too hard.

Good luck,
RD
 
Turn down which ever stage is adding the most noise. My guess will be either your computer or a combination of both. All gain stages add some degree of noise, so the trick is to find out where the gain stages are adding noise and setting them all so that you have the proper recording level AND the best signal-to-noise ratio.

Try this:
- Grab a set of headphones and turn them WAY up. (Make sure NOTHING is plugged in that's going blow your head off!)
- You should be hearing the noise in your system.
- Play around with the gain control on your mixer's input and output stages to see where the "sweet spots" are- the range in which you get the most gain with the least noise. Most pres start to get noisey around 75% and are almost unuseable past 85-90%
- Do the same with your computer's input level control. If the comp has a boost checkbox, play with that too- but becareful, your headphones are turned up loud!

That should give you and idea of where the noise in your system is coming from and where you volume controls need to be set for the best signal.

Then turn the volume on the phone back down and plug in a source (I use a line source like a bass DI'd or a keyboard. Armed with your knowledge of where the noise lives in your system, set the levels for that source while listening for the noise floor. Balance mixer in & out volumes with the computer's record level to get the least noise.

Voila! The best sound your system is capable of getting!

Repeat the process each time you get a new piece of equipment. I doesn't take that long and its about the easiest and best way to start gettting to know your stuff. Good ear training, too.

Enjoy!
Chris
 
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