Tracking Synths into Pro Tools

[Beatmeister]

I am a R&B producer and I'm running all of my synth's through my 1622's on a MixPlus system. One thing I am trying to understand is what levels for each of my instruments should I be recording during the initial tracking stage? Should I record "in the red" to get the hottest signal I can or should I push things just to 0?

Any comments appreciated.

DigiMan

[JonasMarlowe]

"in the red" in digital is not good! Just get to below 0. You can process after you record with plug-ins if you want a really hot "stepped on" sound.

[Mike Tholen]

I always track synths-samplers and such by patching into a kickass DI (I have TAB-Funkenwerk DI's, Brent Averill Neve modules 1099's and 1272's w/DI inputs added) followed by the micpre's in such units, and I structure my output gain from the pre's to be averaging around 0dBVU, sometimes peaking up to +2 or +3 over 0 on my analog meters.
Any treatment such as compression or EQ comes afterwards but before the converter...It is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to observe 0dBVU, IMNSHO...
don't track into the red...the accumulative effects of this practice when mixing in or out of the box is...just wrong.
you really need to understand gain structure and why it is imperative to the recording process no matter what the medium is or your mixing tool.

just a tip-my individual tracks are hitting somewhere around the middle of the PT track meter.
my system is calibrated to -14fs=0dBVU
you should really have at least 2 accurate VU meters to check your gain structure through your entire signal flow into your converters.

[Mike Tholen]

man, this place has become DEAD AS HELL!!!
WTF? doesn't anybody have ANY response/comments/questions/suggestions, ANYTHING to add to this thread?
oh well...

[Andre Knecht]

You did good.