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RME User Forum → FireWire & USB series → How much gain through a mic?
After my mic is plugged in to my UFX, I don't hear much sound unless I turn the gain up to 50 dbs on that Mic Channel. Is that normal or am I doing something wrong? Should I be able to hear the mic pretty loud before turning on the gain?
It all depends on the individual microphone's sensitivity and the source you are recording. If it is a dynamic mic and a moderately loud source, this seems quite normal.
Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME
What are you recording (drums? vocals?) and what mic are you using? 50 seems a bit high, but for some source/mic combinations it is typical.
I'm using an Avantone cv - 12 tube condenser microphone. I'm trying to record acoustic guitar, but I don't get any sound unless I actually turn up the gain, even then it only makes it half way on the level meter.
50 db gain is a lot for a condenser mic on acoustic guitar, unless you have the mic far away. How comfortable are you with Total Mix? You mention a "level meter" but there are at least two different ones you need to pay attention to: the input meter and whatever output meter you are monitoring through. Sounds to me like maybe you have plenty of gain but are not routing the signal at a high enough level to your outputs. Posting a screenshot while you are playing (so we can see the level meters in action) would be helpful.
Different mics different outputs. As I said before with my Sennheiser MK4 condenser - +12dB gain used straight into the analog 1 input.
Thanks for the tip neirbod. I checked again and my input level was low. Now, I'm hitting 0db with 47.0 gain. Does that sound normal for a condenser mic on a acoustic guitar?
You should be shooting for well below 0 dB to allow for peaks without clipping the converter.
Isn't it better to record a signal that reaches 0 db and then bring it down from within the DAW? This is what the waveform at 47.0 gain looks like: http://screencast.com/t/k1vPcX9D
Is the gain too much?
I'd say it is.
There seems to be no margin before clipping the peaks.
Once the signal clips in the analog stage, reducing gain digitally in DAW doesn't remove clipped part, just lowers the overall volume.
Here is an article about headroom of the audio files:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep10/a … 0910-1.htm
Isn't it better to record a signal that reaches 0 db and then bring it down from within the DAW? This is what the waveform at 47.0 gain looks like: http://screencast.com/t/k1vPcX9D
Is the gain too much?
No. You can record well below 0 with no problem at all if you recorded at 24 bit, but if you exceed 0 even slightly you get digital clipping that sounds terrible. Bottom line is I would record at 24 bit and aim for an average level of -18 to -12 or so,with peaks never going above -6. There's a lot more info on this online if you google search.
The waveform you linked to looks ok for a mixed and mastered file where you can used compression, careful fader control etc. to control peaks in post. This is not what you want for tracking.
This still does not address why you said you barely hear anything. I continue to suspect your routing in total mix is not optimal.
Thanks for the help Jayzteroid, I'll give the article a read.
Hi neirbod, I can hear the sound pretty well through interface after I brought the software output up and thanks for the tips.
RME User Forum → FireWire & USB series → How much gain through a mic?
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