Pickup 101

avantronica · 2013-12-23T21:08:31.000Z

anyone care to share their best practice regarding setting levels for pickup machines, so they play at the same level the sound is auditioned and at a good level relative to the other machines/tracks

i’m looking for detail, lots !

even gain levels on recorders etc

i’m not finding a sweet spot and i think i’m missing something

i end up with the AB level at 64 in the second page of Rec Setup, to keep the incoming signal comparable to the recorded - but maybe i’m picking up the wrong feed, some may be tapping internal thru tracks rather than the inputs directly

just wondering if there’s a good starting point for levels, settings and routing that’d give me a better chance for using it reliably

RiDylan · 2013-12-23T23:25:21.000Z

I’m new to using the octatrack and I’m trying to work this out too! I know you’re looking for details but here’s one obvious tip I’ve found. Sometimes instead of just un muting a track I like to turn the volume all the way down, un mute it and bring the volume up manually.

Also, leave some head room on your other gear just in case you need a boost later.

Lazos · 2013-12-24T02:28:42.000Z

What instrument(s) are you looping and what’s your settings on your preamp (if any)?

avantronica · 2013-12-24T08:47:38.000Z

I’m trying to record (amongst other line-level signals) the A4 set at a fairly high level. I’ll swap that for line6 pod etc when I get the levels/workflow sorted

Lazos · 2013-12-25T11:09:18.000Z

Not sure about the A4, but if it’s already line level and you have the signal pretty strong, shouldn’t be too much difference between monitored signal and recorded. I’m recording my acoustic instruments into input A, my preamp is just up high enough for a good strong signal so that when I hit the strings hard, I’m still not distorting. AB is set to 127 and my track LVL is 127 as well. I do try to leave enough headroom to kick in the gain boost on my preamp when I’m playing over some fairly thick layers of loops and percussion.

What would the Line 6 be for, since it sounds like you don’t need it for your A4?

avantronica · 2013-12-25T22:10:17.000Z

the line 6 would be for guitar/bass, keeping it true to the pickup machine, mostly it’ll be any line level source i’d want to capture - i have to say, i’ve done a bit of listening research and i’ve got a few pointers now on how to get comparable levels for differing sources - what’s puzzling me somewhat isd why my initial experimentation was so tricky (wrt recorded level) i created a new set and project and the levels seemed more predictable

if you have no gain on the recording, the AB level needs to be 64
if you have 12db gain on the recording, the AB level needs to be 127
if you have 6db gain on the recording, the AB level needs to be ~96

depending on how the levels are for the pickup / flec / static - i just need to balance the others accordingly, set thru levels and so on

it’ll take a bit of time to find my right workflow and preferred level settings, but at least it seems to be more tameable now ! #gettingthere