Advice on levels

Martinukai · 2015-04-24T20:50:13.000Z

Hi there.

Since incorporating mixer into my setup I’m getting really messy with levels. When I’m tweaking various tracks in my set, I find that I’m changing levels on the mixer too, while at the same time I’m changing levels (both LEV and VOL) on MM, MD and OT.

I know this is really foolish and I want to nip it in the bud as when I’m transitioning between tracks there can be huge dips/boosts in volume due to some tweak I’ve made on a knob on mixer or elektron box.

I’m just wondering if it’s good practice to just set the LEV of every track on all machine to fully MAX. I think that might sort out some of my chaotic gain structuring.

I think I read that Tarekith was working this way.

Any tips would be appreciated.

Many thanks:)

pixelife · 2015-04-24T21:06:30.000Z

Yeah, LEVEL at Max or near-about, and usually track VOL at 12 o’clock. You’ll need to bring this down if you’re adding distortion or aggressive filtering. But it’s right next to DIST, so it makes it easy. Subtle sounds will need a boost on VOL, here. but it usually give a good starting point.

Martinukai · 2015-04-25T10:31:00.000Z

""pixelife"":

Yeah, LEVEL at Max or near-about, and usually track VOL at 12 o’clock. You’ll need to bring this down if you’re adding distortion or aggressive filtering. But it’s right next to DIST, so it makes it easy. Subtle sounds will need a boost on VOL, here. but it usually give a good starting point.

Cheers for your input, pixelife! Some of my tracks, especially on MM are cranked and I can hear some none too pretty digital distortion when I start fooling with even slight amounts of distortion/filtering.
Appreciate it;)

FreeFall · 2015-04-25T17:03:22.000Z

I had the same problem when I first incorporated a mixer into my small setup.

The first thing to realize is that the MNM has a pretty quiet internal amp. It is way less loud than the out out of say the Machinedrum for example. Youlol have to crank the main volume of the MNM up more, to match the output level of some machines.

Personally, I set the volume sliders on my mixer to be all the same level. This helps insure that your signals will all be loud enough to record. I set the internal synth machines of the MNM and MD to about 3/4 level, which leaves room for more volume within each track, if the need arises. If you start with all of your tracks being at max volume, then you have nowhere to go when it come to refining your mix levels. The trick here is to turn sounds down, to make room for the sounds that you want to be loudest (subtractive approach). from here you have balance the overall volume of each piece of hardware by fine tuning their main volume settings, and then usually more fine tuning of levels for each track.

This sounds complicated at first, but once you have your base levels figured out for each piece of hardware, you can leave your mixer levels alone, and pretty much just use the volume levels of the internal synth machines to find balance, rather than having all of your levels in flux all of the time. You need to set a foundation signal level based on the amp power/levels of your hardware, and don’t mess with it. Also, I find this approach gives me the most reliable distortion-free signal, and allows me head room for volume increases if I need.

As for the VOL parameter, I usually leave it alone unless I really need that extra boost or cut. To me, it sounds like the VOL parameter is doing something more than just increasing or decreasing the signal level.

Rady_Valkov · 2015-04-30T10:29:08.000Z

FreeFall,

Very informative and helpful response!

Martinukai · 2015-04-30T11:56:06.000Z

""FreeFall"":

I had the same problem when I first incorporated a mixer into my small setup.

The first thing to realize is that the MNM has a pretty quiet internal amp. It is way less loud than the out out of say the Machinedrum for example. Youlol have to crank the main volume of the MNM up more, to match the output level of some machines.

Personally, I set the volume sliders on my mixer to be all the same level. This helps insure that your signals will all be loud enough to record. I set the internal synth machines of the MNM and MD to about 3/4 level, which leaves room for more volume within each track, if the need arises. If you start with all of your tracks being at max volume, then you have nowhere to go when it come to refining your mix levels. The trick here is to turn sounds down, to make room for the sounds that you want to be loudest (subtractive approach). from here you have balance the overall volume of each piece of hardware by fine tuning their main volume settings, and then usually more fine tuning of levels for each track.

This sounds complicated at first, but once you have your base levels figured out for each piece of hardware, you can leave your mixer levels alone, and pretty much just use the volume levels of the internal synth machines to find balance, rather than having all of your levels in flux all of the time. You need to set a foundation signal level based on the amp power/levels of your hardware, and don’t mess with it. Also, I find this approach gives me the most reliable distortion-free signal, and allows me head room for volume increases if I need.

As for the VOL parameter, I usually leave it alone unless I really need that extra boost or cut. To me, it sounds like the VOL parameter is doing something more than just increasing or decreasing the signal level.

Agreed. Hugely helpful response. I somehow missed this. Many thanks Freefall!