Right/Wrong/best way?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Peter B
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Peter B

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Is there a 'right way', or a 'wrong way' or a 'best way' to set up the mic/line/instrument gain controls on the interface and the track sliders on the DAW before starting to record?

For instance, should all the DAW sliders be set to 0dB and the interface gains set to give a good record level for each input, or should the interface gains be set to some sort of optimim level for the input, and then the DAW sliders set for the good record level?

I've never really worked this out, but then I am a newbie. Personally I set the DAW sliders to 0dB and then set the interface gains for an average record level of around -12dB. It kind of works, but I should interested to know what 'best practice' is.
 
Read a bit HERE then google up some other article on gain structure you'll get the idea soon enough.
 
OK thanks for that. An interesting and useful article.

I've also just Googled up an excellent 10 minute You Tube demo by a guy called Dave Rat on gain structure. He sets his faders to the positions he would like to see them for the various instruments in the band/recording. So he might have kick and snare above nominal, guitar down a bit to give him room for solos, vocals up a bit and so on. So he sets his faders to give him a sort of picture of what he wants it to sound like then he sets each preamp gain to cip and backs it off around ¼ turn. That's his basic gain structure starting point and he goes on to explain how he tweaks after that while the band's playing.

Sounds good to me, and I'll have a go at that I think. Thanks for the help.
 
That utube may be good but Dave owns Rat sound company and it may be for a live set up and he is great at that.
 
There isn't really a right or wrong way just so long as your not cranking the hell out of just one specific part of your gain structure. When Jac Holzman recorded the first stooges album he kept trying to tell the guys in the band that he needed to turn the entire mix down because almost all of the tracks were red lining, but it was that distorted crunch that the band wanted.
 
Set your recording level with the analog controls before the signal hits the converter. There's no good reason to adjust the level after the converter and before the signal gets written to the hard drive. Leave any digital gain controls at unity.

Average levels around -12dBFS is a bit high. I prefer my peaks to be around -12dBFS and my average levels to be around -18dBFS.
 
RAMI said:
Unless you're talking about all analog gear, that's just plain wrong.
Click to expand...

Dave Rat prefers analog mixers at his regular gig mixing Red Hot Chili Peppers concerts.
 
It will vary with the gear and it's design and the complete signal chain you are using...and also what you are trying to achieve with the signal.
I usually start from the position of having my source at the "proper" level...and then go from there.
You generally don't want to always be trying to make up the output level from one box by increasing the gain on the receiving/input box,...
...and if you set you mic/preamp levels properly, the A/D interface and DAW gain should not need to be adjusted, the levels should fall right where they need to be.
Sometimes though, like when feeding a comp...you might want to push the comp's input harder than normal...sometimes not.
 
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