You can’t raise the level from the desk, you need to raise it in software.
The level is digital, remastered. You need to master it, this includes normalising it to listening levels.
You may either use the Normalize or Gain functions within Mp3DC or raise send feeds within the mixer (along with compression) as I described on first page of this thread.
Have you tried a USB drive for stereo recording from QuDrive? Given that you have to do something in the way of gain correction and/or trimming the file anyway it should be easy to “Export to MP3” as much as a “save as” .
Without knowing M3D I can’t say anything about its workflow, but you seemed OK with audacity earlier, and I’ve done a fair amount of that before - so I can point you in the right direction there…
For instance - in Audacity:
Open the stereo track from the QuDrive, then select Effect → Amplify
Choose “New peak amplitude” of -3 dB and click OK
Then zoom into the front of the desired section of the waveform, and select a point just before that.
Edit → Select → Track Start to Cursor
Hit delete or backspace
Do the same at the end of the desired section (Cursor to track end obviously)
The File → Export
And choose your desired format/filename/location
"Hi guys. We just got the Qu-24 installed in the church on Thursday and i tried some recordings yesterday. I downloaded the QU-Driver software onto PC. Connecting the Alt out jack output (set at level 7 on desk) into the existing jack to USB converter (which connects to PC USB) everything works as before using Mp3DirectCut. I then tried connecting from desk USB-B directly into PC USB and again using Mp3DC,and as you said above the recording level is so low i can hardly hear a thing. I now have to figure how to raise the send level from desk. Will try that later."
You can’t raise the level from the desk, you need to raise it in software
Well, I would suggest you carefully examine how you’re setting your channel input gains. This does in fact give you the ability to “raise the level from (at) the desk”. My guess is that the input gains are being set very conservatively and with reference to live rather than recorded sound. Perhaps optimizing the inputs for recording might be in order. It shouldn’t really effect your live sound as you can always feed the house system from the AltOuts and use that trim to balance the recording/live levels.
This is how I do it for live/camera feeds. Board USB for recording, analog live from AltOut.
The issue with raising gain that much in the desk is that you run the risk of transients causing clipping.
For most place speech is not going to be a “loud” section of the PA usage, so the levels will naturally be significantly lower than other elements of the service.
The QU has enough headroom, and enough bit depth, to record with that headroom (providing a safe recording) and then boost the levels later. There is no significant S/N reason to try to push the levels internally in the QU, and the risk of hitting digital clipping in the event of a transient (when the preacher gets impassioned) is not worth the (virtually null) reward.
Since there has to be some post processing (even if it is just topping and tailing the recording) I’d look to do the volume boost (and maybe some final compression) at that stage.
I think I suggested earlier that “do it the same” was a good first step, I still think it can be (because that can be practically zero cognitive load) - but there is nothing stopping you doing QuDrive stereo recording at the same time - and long term I think that is the optimal solution.
The point is to set up your gain structure properly for the recording. If you’re recording stereo from the mains L/R, you need to have separate level control for record and live feeds.
The simplest way to do this is to optimize the mains L/R for recording and feed the house from another bus so you can regulate that level as needed without changing the record feed. As I first described, this is easily done by feeding the house via the AltOut.
…just to repeat myself: Since we’re talking about a Qu24, why not using a Matrix send for recording? Source it from LR (pre or post), use the compressor to add gain as required and adjust ratio to handle transients. This really is easy to setup and provides even more control regarding transients (=clipping) than the previously used external interface.
Yep, that would work too, get the gain and compression off the desk, with levels still sane.
I’m not fortunate enough to have a 24 around ;(
Still need to top and tail, but that’s no different