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  #1  
Old 12-08-2003, 03:02 PM
new engineer new engineer is offline
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Default Distortion at Unity gain on digi 001 during rec.

Hi, I have been tracking with my levels at unity gain and could hear them distoring. I had to record the tracks quieter to compensate and then my wave forms were wimpy. I experimented with listening to individual tracks and found I could not hear distortion on the individual tracks.
Today, I tried recording but bringing the individual instrument faders down. (I never record with a master fader on the screen) and low and behold, No DISTORTION and a WAY hotter signal without sounding clipped or w/ pops. Sounds like this is the way and that unity gain isn't that accurate.
From another post I heard it was the mix buss doing this. Is there any way of tweaking this to get unity gain accurate for recording. I was only recording 4 tracks to and brought the levels down to - 3.1 db.
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  #2  
Old 12-08-2003, 03:27 PM
mersisblue mersisblue is offline
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Default Re: Distortion at Unity gain on digi 001 during re

have you read my post about line levels? what kind of board do you use and what line level is it?

is yor 001 set to the same level?
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  #3  
Old 12-08-2003, 04:16 PM
pk_hat pk_hat is offline
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Default Re: Distortion at Unity gain on digi 001 during re

Are talking about your faders in PT? Those are only playback faders, not input gain faders for tracking. On a Digi 001, try to keep your sources at max output. For channels 1 and 2, adjust the input using the gain knobs on the interface. For channels 3 through 8, go to your Hardware Setup and adjust the input gain there.
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  #4  
Old 12-08-2003, 05:16 PM
where02190 where02190 is offline
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Default Re: Distortion at Unity gain on digi 001 during re

pk I disagree with keeping all fader at 0. I have foudn that keeping faders at nominal -10 prevernts mix buss overload that, whicle suble, is very noticable once it's A/B'd.

AFA input distortion, correct the fader level play NO role in the level that is recorded. The poster give us no info on their signal chain, so we have really no idea, except the fader comment is a hint that most likey they are sending their +4dbu outs to a -10dbv input for monitoring.
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Old 12-11-2003, 10:08 AM
new engineer new engineer is offline
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Default Re: Distortion at Unity gain on digi 001 during re

I'm using a Cranesong Spider-8 channels lightpipe into the Digi 001. The wave form looks and sounds fine when played individually but when all channels played together I hear clipping if I keep the Digi faders at unity gain. When recording I bring all of the Digi faders down to -3.0 so I don't hear the annoying clipping and it seems to work fine. I get a much hotter waveform recorded. I don't think there is anything I can do since it is a digital signal coming in. My Spider's meters are super accurate and I can monitor out of the Spider's channels pre lightpipe or monitor throught the headphone/monitor speaker of the digi 001. It's definately a problem in the 001. Any suggestions?
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Old 12-11-2003, 12:36 PM
RinnyTin RinnyTin is offline
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Default Re: Distortion at Unity gain on digi 001 during re

You're clipping the mix buss. Even if all your tracks are below clipping, the sum of them bussed to stereo will overload. Either pull down your playback faders or create a master fader and trim that.
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Old 12-11-2003, 01:32 PM
jnash jnash is offline
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Default Re: Distortion at Unity gain on digi 001 during re

Quote:
You're clipping the mix buss. Even if all your tracks are below clipping, the sum of them bussed to stereo will overload. Either pull down your playback faders or create a master fader and trim that.

Exactly. Also, keep in mind that if you're using low-latency mode and have a master fader assigned, the tracks you're recording will NOT appear at the master fader's level meter. Since it's common to monitor the tracks you're recording fairly hot, it's easy to clip the mix buss without getting any visual feedback. Turn off low-latency monitoring and create a master fader, and I bet you'll see clipping at the mix buss.

James
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  #8  
Old 12-11-2003, 03:28 PM
where02190 where02190 is offline
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Default Re: Distortion at Unity gain on digi 001 during re

Quote:
You're clipping the mix buss. Even if all your tracks are below clipping, the sum of them bussed to stereo will overload. Either pull down your playback faders or create a master fader and trim that.
Trimming with a master fader does not prevent overloading the mix buss, ans the master fader is post the mix buss suming.

You need to reduce your fader levels. run them at a nominal -10.
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Old 12-11-2003, 03:50 PM
Bender Bender is offline
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Default Re: Distortion at Unity gain on digi 001 during re

You were most likely used to a board or stand alone multitrack unit that needs the faders at unity gain in the recording stage. Not needed in PT.
The above posts are correct you are just clipping the sum of the tracks not the recording inputs.
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  #10  
Old 12-11-2003, 03:51 PM
valvebrother valvebrother is offline
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Default Re: Distortion at Unity gain on digi 001 during re

Quote:
When recording I bring all of the Digi faders down to -3.0 so I don't hear the annoying clipping and it seems to work fine. I get a much hotter waveform recorded.
This makes no sense. The "hotness" of your recorded waveform has nothing to do with the settings of the digi faders (the ones in the mix or edit windows). What do you mean by hotter waveform???

Damon
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