Recording 101 ?

[cton58]

Please bear with me momentarily.
Okay I’m tracking. I get my guitar dialed in. Next into the interface. Bring up the gain on the interface until it lights up da little clip lights slightly.
But now my input is above -18.
Do you back off
1. The track fader
2. The amp
3. The guitar ? All of which 3 reduces the gain setting right? Volume seems simple enough, until I start overthinking. Thanks.

DAW Presonus studio one.
MacBook Pro.

[ConcertinaChap]

TBH I'd say don't panic about it. If you're recording in 24 bit you've got lots of headroom, so you don't need to go over -18, but if you do go over -18 the bottom's not going to fall out of your world. How does it sound when you play back the recording?

CC

[Aled Hughes]

You back off the gain on the interface if it's too high, and especially if the clipping warning light is coming on.

However, if your guitar is coming in around -18dBFS on the DAW input meters, that's fine and you shouldn't have problems. It's also fine if you're slightly above, as long as you don't start approaching 0. If you do have problems, back off the interface gain as mentioned above.

If it is coming in around -18dBFS, then what you refer to as the 'clip light' probably is not a cliiping indicator. It might well be a 'signal present' light that comes on at -18dBFS or thereabouts (maybe -12 if you say it "lights slightly" and that the DAW meters are "above-18"?), in which case it all makes sense! Maybe back off the gain a bit from there if you need more headroom, but you shouldn't run into any major problems.

Aled

[Wonks]

You haven’t said quite how you are recording your guitar. Miked amp, digital amp with USB out, amp sim pedal, guitar into high-Z interface input and software amp sim etc?

All valid methods but a clip (or signal present) light has different meanings dependent on the method.

We could do with a bit more detail here, otherwise it’s easy to give you bad information.

[James Perrett]

Bring up the gain on the interface until it lights up da little clip lights slightly.

That's not the way to do it. Your clip lights on the interface should never be anywhere near lighting up. Use the input level meter on your DAW and set the level to average somewhere around -18dBFS on peaks which will give you plenty of headroom (because there's a good chance you'll play louder as soon as you start recording).

[yeroc]

As Wonks said, some extra context would be helpful. But in agreement, don’t clip your interface input

[cton58]

As Wonks said, some extra context would be helpful. But in agreement, don’t clip your interface input

Mustang GTX 50 LR Line out into the interface. Presonus Audiobox Itwo.

[cton58]

Thanks all. Appreciate your input.

[cton58]

TBH I'd say don't panic about it. If you're recording in 24 bit you've got lots of headroom, so you don't need to go over -18, but if you do go over -18 the bottom's not going to fall out of your world. How does it sound when you play back the recording?

CC

Sounds okay. There’s just a lot of volume controlling to think about.
Input, output, main volume.

[Sam Spoons]

The biggest factor is when the waveform looks tiny in the DAW (or even flat line and you worry that nothing has recorded). Better to go low than high if you are recording at 24 bit as you've plenty of headroom and it's easy to increase levels in the digital domain later.

[cton58]

Thank you.

[Wonks]

OK. If the clip LED comes on (red, rather than green for signal present), then the signal is too hot and you want to back off.

Also, despite it being a guitar signal, don't activate the instrument input switches on the interface (if you are tempted to). You'll get a better sound feeding the line outs (on XLR to TRS cables) to the standard line inputs. Don't use XLR to XLR cables as you'll be feeding line level signals into the mic preamp and probably easily overloading it) You only need the instrument input selection if feeding straight into the interface from your guitar.

[cton58]

Bring up the gain on the interface until it lights up da little clip lights slightly.

That's not the way to do it. Your clip lights on the interface should never be anywhere near lighting up. Use the input level meter on your DAW and set the level to average somewhere around -18dBFS on peaks which will give you plenty of headroom (because there's a good chance you'll play louder as soon as you start recording).

I apologize. What I should have said was, not the red clipping light, but the green signal present light.

[cton58]

OK. If the clip LED comes on (red, rather than green for signal present), then the signal is too hot and you want to back off.

Also, despite it being a guitar signal, don't activate the instrument input switches on the interface (if you are tempted to). You'll get a better sound feeding the line outs (on XLR to TRS cables) to the standard line inputs. Don't use XLR to XLR cables as you'll be feeding line level signals into the mic preamp and probably easily overloading it) You only need the instrument input selection if feeding straight into the interface from your guitar.

Yes sir. I actually meant in my original post, the green signal is present light. Not the red light.

[Wonks]

You can see how important it is to give as many details as possible when asking questions like this! Even the type of cables used can make a difference in the way someone answers the question to give an appropriate comprehensive answer.

We just want you to get a good result, but that often means making sure you are using the right cables (or miking up correctly), and then concentrating on signal levels.

[cton58]

Thank you! Everyone has been very helpful.

[ef37a]

Woah! Complex amplifier that cton. I have scanned through the 66 pages of the user manual but did not find a signal flow block diagram. It would be useful to know where in the signal path the XLR* line output is taken.Pre or post the very comprehensive effects?

If FX do go out with the XLR that means they are 'baked into' your recordings and cannot be changed post tracking. You might like to investigate the technique of "re-amping" I am sure the magazine has covered it more than once and someone will have a link?

*Just a personal gripe but I don't like XLR line outs on guitar amps unless they are transformer isolated and at microphone level!

Dave.

[Wonks]

I couldn’t find a block diagram either but I’m pretty sure the line outs will be after the effects and the amp models but before the amp’s master volume control so you can turn it down to record silently into an interface using headphones. It will also be after the hardware stereo FX loop

So, the line output level is determined by the amp model volume settings and any post-amp effects models that have level controls. Plus on a clean amp setting, any drive or boost pedals before the amp.

As the line outs are stereo (true stereo if stereo FX are programmed in, otherwise dual mono), and the amp is mono, the stereo effects must get summed into mono before passing to the non-programmable master volume pot.

[ef37a]

I couldn’t find a block diagram either but I’m pretty sure the line outs will be after the effects and the amp models but before the amp’s master volume control so you can turn it down to record silently into an interface using headphones. It will also be after the hardware stereo FX loop

So, the line output level is determined by the amp model volume settings and any post-amp effects models that have level controls. Plus on a clean amp setting, any drive or boost pedals before the amp.

As the line outs are stereo (true stereo if stereo FX are programmed in, otherwise dual mono), and the amp is mono, the stereo effects must get summed into mono before passing to the non-programmable master volume pot.

Ah, "you know it makes sense".

Dave.

[Wonks]

My Presonus interface (Quantum 2626) has the same single LED level monitoring on it, but I rely on the channel input meters on Studio One to set levels.

These are certainly far more accurate and informative than a single two-colour LED, but not always the easiest of things to use when working alone e.g. setting levels for things like vocals where the mic is away from the monitor and the interface. I need to remember to enlarge the channel height so I can see the input meter easily.

You can also bring up the separate interface software control panel which can show all the input levels on bar-style meters.

My previous interface had digitally controlled preamp gains, so you could adjust them from the screen. The much more expensive Quantum (2632) interface has this feature, plus multi-segment LED metering on the front of the interface, but was over twice the price and now seems to be discontinued.