Re: [LAU] Questions on New Recording Gear

From: Ectropic Harmony <ectropic.harmony@email-addr-hidden>
Date: Tue Jan 26 2010 - 20:33:22 EET

Regarding mics' distance -

I would like to be able to record a chorus/choir and large ensemble
settings with the mics at a greater distance. (I'll also record
guitars/bass/drums/etc. but I'm assuming that'll require lower "gain"
levels. At the moment I'm testing a nylon-string acoustic with the
mics a few feet away.)

Regarding just the mixer -

I've tested the levels on the mixer alone (took the delta 1010 and
computer out of the equation), and at the moment - when using either
"solo" for testing levels or "L/R" w/ all faders set to "U" - I have
to adjust the "gain" levels to a little over half (the knobs read a
range of 0-60, they're set at around "35" to "40" approximately).

And the "Level Set" never reachs "0" (the meter lights that have
"0dB=0dBu"). At best, the lights that go up/down based on how loud it
is only go up 1 or 2 of those lights (reading 30 or maybe 20). The
weird thing is, I temporarily had another mixer before this and it
easily reached "0"/Level Set. This is actually a more expensive mixer
and it barely lights up on those light-meter things. (Sorry I don't
know the lingo/terminology.)

> There's nothing wrong with turning them up as high as necessary.

This is good to hear. I have only hesitated to turn the "gains" up any
higher because of fear of "overpowering" their levels.

> As a starting point set all DAC/ADC levels
> to 127 (that's max for the DACs but not for the ADCs).
> Above 127 the ADCs have extra gain which you don't need
> since your mixer will provide more than enough output level.
> In the envy24 monitor mixer mute everything.
> In the envy24 patchbay set all analog outputs to 'PCM'.

I'm not sure where to find "127". Is that in the Envy24?

The levels on my Envy24 application have a minimum of "96" and a maximum of "0".

I see the meters in envy24, the green to orange to red, that the audio
I create only produces about 6 or 7 of those thin green lines (very
close to the bottom).

By mute everything in "envy24 monitor mixer" do you mean in "Monitor
Inputs" and "Monitor PCMs" or just one of them?

I'd think that I should leave the ones I'm using un-muted so the signals send.

I changed the "Patchbay/Router" settings all to PCM Outs now. I did
have 1 & 2 set to "Digital Mix" (L&R) while my Delta 1010's Out 1 and
Out 2 are physically connected to a strip on my mixer set to Main Mix.
However, before I get my monitor speakers I'd like to use my computer
for the headphone monitoring if possible. Maybe the PCM Outs will make
that work.

In Ardour, with the current default general level settings, when I
record audio I only receive a very small "wavelength" graph in the
actual recorded tracks. I'd figure it'd be much larger.

> 1. The input gains on the mixer (for mics and other
> sources). Getting this right has nothing to do with
> the Delta 1010 or the PC. Do this first, using the
> mixer's meters and headphone monitoring. The mixer
> has more than enough gain and control range to get
> this right.

I'm currently only testing levels for mics. I do have other sources
connected to the mixer, Line Ins from guitar amps Line Outs for
example, but I'll work with those after I get the microphones leveled
out.

Maybe I should crank my mixer "gains" even higher (currently ~35 or
~40 out of 60 on gain levels). :-\ The level meter thing is only
showing 30 or 20 (not going up to "0"/"Level Set").

> 2. The gains between your mixer and the digital world.
> These are set with the envy24 DAC and ADC gains, see
> higher. Once set never touch them again (since you can
> do everything on the mixer), and only use Ardour's
> level meters.

Good to know about not messing with the envy24 gains once they're set.

Do I have to load the envy24 program every time I record (kind of like
JACK), even if I don't make adjustments to envy24's settings?

As a side note, regarding Ardour, every time it loads I get a warning
"your system has a limit for maximum amount of locked memory". Should
I change something there?

Hmm, I just tested playback with a quick recording sample I made and
it won't play back via the computer, I have to go back to the Main Mix
on the Mixer. That's okay though. Not a big deal. Ultimately (when I
get monitor speakers) I'd like to use the mixer's main mix for
playback audio anyway.

Okay this is weird... levels are sounding pretty good but maybe
because I have things set really high? The envy24 channels are set to
about 20 (96=min, 0=max). During playback, the envy24 "Monitor PCMs"
only read 1 or 2 green bars.
_______________________________________________
Linux-audio-user mailing list
Linux-audio-user@email-addr-hidden
http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/linux-audio-user
Received on Wed Jan 27 00:15:01 2010

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Wed Jan 27 2010 - 00:15:02 EET