The auto set for gain is a wonderful feature, but it almost ends up setting the gain too high. The manual specifies that it sets the gain so that it’s around 0dB on the meter; it would be fantastic to be able to specify “set gain at meter to 0dB/-5dB/-10dB” so that when performers (inevitably) play louder than they did at soundcheck, I’m not resetting everyone’s gain manually.
Agreed, also when we combine multi-tracks later it ends up overloaded at +16dB or something when that many full level tracks get combined.
It’d be good to have a target value other than full blast for everyone.
Isn’t this where and why mixing is supposed to take place? You use gain to set up individual channel inputs, then mix these in.
If you’re getting anywhere near plus 16 dB, you’re not actively mixing signals together. This isn’t intended to be totally passive.
Isn’t this where and why mixing is supposed to take place?
Maybe we’re talking about different things.
I meant as audio signals combine in software (or on the console) it can cumulatively get too large where a bunch of tracks at full level ~ 0dB can cumulatively add up to + 10dB or +14dB.
dB Level = 10 × log₁₀(Σ10^(Lᵢ/10))
So, individual channels may need to be lower to not overload the total.
The original post is saying how about having a target option of 0dB/-5dB/-10dB”
(since people tend to play louder later).
My related though is that channels add up:
Channel 1 at 3dB plus Channel 2 at 5dB = 7.1dB (for just 2 channels)
+2dB on 10 channels would add up to + 12dB (too loud)
Yes I suppose that’s what we’re both talking about. Mixing.
If you have input 1-10 combining at the LR master 2 bus, and they’re too hot that probably means they’re needing mixed. The faders per channel allows us to mix a percentage of the input of each channel to build up to what you want as the output of the master.
How hot is each signal going to the channels? What are they hitting on the meter, say with you solo them via PAFL? If all are hitting too hot, your gains are probably high. If only a few are hot, they can be reduced with the fader.
If all are hitting too hot, your gains are probably high.
Indeed, it’s almost as if the gain auto-set function were creating that scenario. Good thing there’s a forum for suggesting features that could improve upon these tools, eh?
I did make a mistake from above. I’d forgotten you were using the auto gain feature. My apology for that.
Now there are 2 sides of this Auto area, Set and Gain, which these will actually be automatically doing the opposite of the other. I’ll post a screenshot of the first section manual regarding this. Hope it helps clarify.
Myself, I’ve not used either as I’ve gone about setting gains manually. I’m sure this Auto feature is useful, I’ve just not run it.
Auto Gain I don’t find particularly helpful as I don’t like things adjusting themselves on me when they’re ultimately still under my control. The Auto Set function would be more helpful if it set the gains lower; I tend to set my gains between -5 to allow for a little more headroom when players are using a boost switch for solos or that kind of thing. And also the inevitable volume-based enthusiasm that comes after soundcheck.
It seems to me that the key term in the manual regarding Auto Set is “optimal”, which is subjective. I’ll readily admit that I tend to set my gains lower than most other engineers I know, but that’s just my workflow; everyone still gets good results (so far, anyway). Unfortunately, the Auto Set as it’s programmed doesn’t allow for any flexibility as to what would be considered “optimal”. I’m hoping that can be introduced in a future firmware update.