This might be a simple one...so I am recording...i have one audio track with the instrumental and the second one is the input (mic)....so the audio track is perfect as it does not clip....when i try to record some vocals over it i feel like i cant hear myself in the headphones and the overall voal recording comes out too quiet and the instrumental is way louder....i know i know adjust gain...but when i adjust the gain to a level where i can finally hear myself well over the instrumental, the audio i record clips. My question is this: if I turn the instrumental track down to a level below 0 and adjust my input gain...will this hurt my final track audio? I am trying to make my vocals not clip but at the same time not be too quiet for the instrumental..im using logic pro 9 a rode nt1a and an apogee one
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clipping question (input clips- but too quiet if i turn it down)
- Thread starter chris1184
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thnx
input gain and monitoring are conceptually separate -- you shouldn't be futzing with input gain in order to affect your monitoring.
in a DAW, that fader is post-record. you move the channel faders to get your relative volume correct, then either the master fader or a monitoring knob on a hardware piece to affect the overall monitoring volume.
use input gain to set the right level for record. fwiw, i find "the right level" to be far lower than what most people do. i shoot for around -18 average, or even lower if the signal is particularly dynamic. if that level ever shoots above 0, you're recording too hot.
in a DAW, that fader is post-record. you move the channel faders to get your relative volume correct, then either the master fader or a monitoring knob on a hardware piece to affect the overall monitoring volume.
use input gain to set the right level for record. fwiw, i find "the right level" to be far lower than what most people do. i shoot for around -18 average, or even lower if the signal is particularly dynamic. if that level ever shoots above 0, you're recording too hot.
hey thanks for that response...yeah i want to record at a level where i don't clip at all during the recording process...i didn't play around with it too much yet...but it could be a number of things...i wasn't using my good headphones i just plugged in a pair of crappy ones to test my new mic etc. It was my first time using an xlr mic and the apogee ONE...i just thought it was weird because i had to turn up the apogee one gain to like 40 db (uhh i think its decibels..the knob on the apogee maestro software shows it at 40 so im guessing this is decibels) to be able to hear my voice through the headphones and the beat still sounded a bit too loud for me to lay vocals over...anywho i did find a level that I was happy at but i need to do more experimenting
Are you using the input gain adjustment to set the level in the headphones? As you have found, that does not work. You don't say what equipment you have but always there is an input level and and output level. The output is what you use for monitoring
i said what equipment i use in the original post...but yeah it just seemed like when i raise the volume level on the ONE it raised all the volume not just my input...meaning now everything was louder but i still couldn't hear myself over the instrumental...ill try to get on later at home and play with it some more..maybe ill post some screenshots...anyway ill play with it some more and if I am still stuck ill post ..thanks for the help