shouldn't my signal be louder?

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kesterdevine

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I just got a PreSonus Blue Tube Mic preamp. Tried it out for the first time today, recording vocals using an MXL 990 condensor mic. The sound quality is good, but I am having to crank the preamp almost all the way up to get anywhere near a hot enough recording level, and even then it is not as hot as ultimately desired. I am singing moderately loud rock style vocal. This is not at all the result I anticipated - figured I would easily get a nice hot signal from this preamp. Any ideas or thoughts on this? I apologize for such a "newbie" question, but really would appreciate some opinions, please. Thanks.
 
What are you recording into as far as a signal chain? Did you try the pad? It cuts the signal, so make sure you don't have it on.
 
Maker sure you do not have the pad switch on that would make it alot quieter, but I use to have the same setup and I used the pad. I record quietly just to make sure nothing clips, and just normalize it or compress it later. Also make sure you are using the gain nob and not the drive. I would put the drive all the way down, and use the gain for volume, and without the pad it would get plenty loud.

Good Luck,
Aaron McBaker
 
Thanks for the responses. I already double-checked the pad. It is not on. I am recording into a Yamaha AW16G. I cleared any settings that might attenuate the signal before recording. Did this recording without the drive, gain only. Got similar results with an MXL 603S, so it's not the mic or cables. And got a similar signal level when recording acoustic guitar. The level is hanging between -12 and -8 or so even in the louder passages. Good quality sound, just not quite loud enough. When I hit a drum or make a quick loud sound, I am getting lots of signal (even clipping) but the softer signals are just not very robust. I would really have to play/sing well beyond my usual performance level to get it up in -6 to 0 range. Maybe I don’t need my levels to be that hot? But my understanding is for best quality - loud as possible without clipping is best. I could raise the gain on the preamps on the AW16G to boost signal, but then I get the dreaded preamp noise. Would using an XLR cable instead of a TRS from the pre to the recorder increase the level? Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks again.
 
kesterdevine said:
...I would really have to play/sing well beyond my usual performance level to get it up in -6 to 0 range. Maybe I don’t need my levels to be that hot? But my understanding is for best quality - loud as possible without clipping is best...
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You don't need the level to be that hot. Get a clean take and just increase the level of the recorded file.
 
OK, good. So, this brings up another question. I understand if I were recording into a DAW software program that I could normalize the recorded file to bring up the level. Is that right?But is there a way to do this when working entirely on a stand alone unit like the AW16G? How would I go about increasing the level in this situation? Sorry if this is a really basic question, but if I can learn to do this it will make things much easier. Thanks again for help.
 
Dunno about the aw16g, but with mixing software on a computer you'd be better off not normalizing the file... just raise the level with the mixer's track level control. Beyond that, use a software limiter on it if you want to bring down the peaks a dB or two to be able to raise the level of the file a bit more. That tends to make ac gtr sound a little thicker.
 
Thanks for the help everyone. I'll be starting to mix in Cubase soon, so I'll be able to try some of these other suggestions. For now, it's just go for a good clean signal and take it from there... thanks again.
 
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