Originally Posted By: paulpaul
Hi all.
This is my set up route for live performance.

1 master and channel volume to off.
2 plug instrument/mic into line in or mic in.
3 set gain to just below clipping on loudest parts.
4 set channel volume level to peaking on amber in the master.

IS this correct or should i set channel volume first and then adjust gain?

thanks.

That sounds correct. When I was studying electronics I was taught that you should always apply gain as early as possible, otherwise you'll be amplifying any noise that is added later - this was confirmed when I was taught the same thing in audio school. In addition, I was also taught not to add a bunch of gain if I'm only going to reduce the channel volume later as that again can add noise.

Basically if you're setting up a mix, I was taught to set all the faders to zero (not to maximum) then set up the gain on the kick drum first and set everything else relative to that. As I'm mostly recording directly into a computer these days, I set the gain so that the absolute maximum peaks for the kick are no higher than -6dbfs to avoid any clipping. With analog/live sound I set the kick to peak around 0 depending on the board, as some will distort more readily than others. My DDA board is much more forgiving than my Mackie.

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