So I've got one of two solutions for this, upping the waveform to visually look more useful than it currently does on track 1 - pretty much looks like a straight line!
OR, up the input volume on the RME Babyface Pro to make the signal from the Suhr Reactive Load louder. I don't know how to do either.
Issue is, increasing the DI volume on the Suhr seems to introduce some unwanted artefacts, to my ears.
I sold the CAB M which used to up the input level to 0db, which was very useful, but now its gone, I don't know how to do that without it.
I
am using a Suhr Reactive Load to record directly to RME Babyface Pro to
Reaper, but as you can see on track one, it's a very quiet recording. I
am upping the gain on Two Notes Wall of Sound by 12db and a further few
db on VUMT but it still is unusable from a visual perspective. Any
advice would be great. Can I increase the gain before it hits the DAW or
somehow show it better/more usefully visually (it just looks like a
straight line on trace.
Compared to track two which looks way more useful and usable.
Comments
To increase volume, shift click on the waveform, and drag the top edge upwards.
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I edited my post, possibly after you replied. Does the second method do what you want?
It will bring it up to a point before it clips--you choose the setting.
I have my projects set with a vol knob on the clip-you can choose how you like it to be displayed.
It is an essential part of setting a mix up, and is the first part of gain staging.
Is it possible you are presenting a line level signal to something that expects instrument level or vice versa?
Normalising a DI will obviously bring up the noise floor as well, it doesn't look like a healthy waveform for sure.
If it sounds good with your plugins, render it, and you'll probably see a better shape.
View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
The waveform we see, is a visual representation of the sound level above and below a zero centre line, with upper and lower levels of 1, you cannot go over 1, there will be clipping at that point.
It is not like tape or tube, where going over the limit introduces a warm sounding distortion, which we call saturation, digital clipping is a harsh un musical tone to be avoided.
Our final mix, should be below 1, by an amount that will allow for conversion from WAV to MP3, which can cause a signal to clip, so aim for something like minus half a db for your final WAV mix.
When you get familiar with these levels, you will see what looks like a healthy level, say 2 thirds of the waveform, leaving space above and below. If your plugins boost the signal too much, you should bring down the level of the original to get back into a good range, most plugins have output level controls now anyway.
It isn't good to mess with the Visual representation of the waveform, as this could lead to confusion-they should all be set to the same zoom level-to allow comparison.
There are setting inside Reaper which affect how the waveform volume is displayed- I like to have it show as a knob when the track is a certain height, it is easier to see how much the original clip has been boosted or cut.
These are the initial levels before mixing, and any volume changes during a mix can be done post fader, with automation, or by using bus faders.
When you have your interface set up to be recording at a healthy level, make some notes for reference. There can be a lot of variance between guitars, or mics. so it saves time to have something written down.
@andy_k This is really very helpful, thank you so much for taking the time to explain this for me, much appreciated.
View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
Its also not clear to me how you know that the DI-level on the reactive load is set correctly either.
But I would always start with making sure the connections are right and then working through each stage of the chain from guitar to DAW making sure you are gain staged correctly.
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DI LEVEL Adjusts the output level of the balanced and unbalanced DI / Line Out outputs (located on the rear panel). DI Level is used to optimize the amount of signal the Reactive Load delivers to your device.
So I wouldn't be too worried about increasing this to get a decent level in the DAW,
Don't normalize and don't change the clip gain to resolve visualisation issues. This is a recipe for disaster because some clips will be quieter than others, you'll then adjust the gain of them so you can see them, and this will feed a whole variety of different levels to your plugins, making your mix less consistent and more difficult to control.
When you hit the interface aim for between -18dB and -12dB on the meters on your interface (or in Reaper if your interface doesn't have meters)
The reason we aim for -18dB is because meters in DAWs measure in full-scale, and -18dBFS is roughly equivalent to 0dBVU, which is what an analog console meters would be calibrated for. So we're converting between the analog realm and the digital realm. It's to give you headroom and to match dynamic range in the digital realm to the analog realm.
There are VU metering plugins to help with this too.
Try to keep as close to unity gain as possible throughout the chain up until the final faders. This means get your input DI between -18dB and -12dB on the meters in your DAW before adding any plugins or anything like that. Then when you add a plugin, make sure the output of the plugin is roughly set to the same level, so that the input of the next plugin sees the same input level as the one before it. Match up the input and output levels across every plugin in your chain, basically. You can do this with the input trims and output trims inside the plugins, or you can add a volume tool into the chain if there is a plugin that doesn't have that feature.
Don't be worried by adding gain. Just record at 24bit with whatever sample-rate you want.
View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922