Re: [LAD] Half-OT: Fader mapping - was - Ardour MIDI tracer

On Sat, 23 Aug 2014 14:48:55 -0700 (PDT)
Len Ovens <len@email-addr-hidden> wrote:

> On Sat, 23 Aug 2014, Grekim Jennings wrote:
>
> > The best situation is if you have converters with analog trims,
> > which is I think what you were saying, and set them accordingly for
> > each preamp. I leave my preamps plugged into a specific A/D
> > channels that have been calibrated for that preamp.
>
> That would be the best thing so long as you have the channels and
> equipment to do so. A lot of people have two channels with a builtin
> pre.... a pre that the litterature says is modeled on some super
> Britsh Console pre that all the hits used, but is in fact just
> another two pre on a chip deal with a tweak in the freq response to
> colour it. In general the best thing seems to be a line in (+4 with
> lots of head room) and a pre matched to the mic. Possibly with some
> eq. I think a good preamp can make a difference to what needs to be
> done to fix the sound at mixdown. That is why I said money is often
> better spent on mics and preamps.

I guess most amateurs go straight from mic to preamp/converter now
days, but if using some gear in between, proper gain staging is
essential. Set the gain at the input stage and keep the signal hot but
not too hot through your chain (preferably by matching line levels
between input and output).

Another often missed point is that mics can sound different
depending on the impedance of the preamp input. I would agree that now
days the best spent money would go into mics and pres, and possibly
hardware EQs and compressors too B)

I'd also contend that if recording with a decent converter to 24bit,
then recording to -10 or -20 dB FS would not present a problem at all,
rather it would give a good headroom safety margin. And one could
always normalize the track before mixing if so desired.

If the signal picked up by the mic is too hot for the preamp, it would
seem a no brainer to buy or build a few pads to be able to reduce the
signal presented to the preamp.

 --

   Joakim
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Received on Sun Aug 24 12:15:02 2014