Valve pre-amp

[Skiffle]

Hello, can ayone advise me on how to set 'Input and Output' levels in order to get smooth warm vocals and record acustic instruments, i'm using a Sontronics Saturn mic and Sontronics Chimera pre-amp, all help appreciated!
skiffle

 

[Massive Master]

The "smooth and warm" part is up to the chain (and "tubes" are certainly no guarantee of "warmth" - except for "heat").

But I digress.

Output almost universally at unity (noticed the Chimera doesn't have a unity hash... Very odd. Going to have to run tone to find it or perhaps it's in the manual), input to give you "somewhere around" line level which (depending on your converters) should equate to a digital level floating around -18 to -15dBFS.

More than enough headroom is almost universally better than not enough headroom.



(Geez, why the hell wouldn't you put a unity mark...? WTF?)