Setting Levels From Board to Pro Tools?

[BJohnston]

Hey Guys,
I Bought a board and I've never set up levels to and from protools. I've heard that with analogue boards you want signal to be pretty hot coming in to make the board work a little harder. I've got an Osc on the board. How do I set the levels to and from Pro Tools?


Thanks,
BJohnston

[nlc201]

That's a can of worms right there. What kind of console are you using? CERTAIN consoles have a distinct sound when run hot (certain Neves, SSLs, etc.). However, if you're on a lower model board, the sweet saturation from running hot can quickly turn into nasty clipping as the console runs out of headroom quick. My advice would be to listen to the board running at different levels and see if you can find the "sweet spot". Keeping in mind that this spot can change depending on the type of music you're working on. In any case, check out the board's power supply. Many consoles with a less than stellar stock power supply can really benefit from an upgrade or at least a refurb in this dpeartment.


As far as levels into ProTools go, I would calibrate your interfaces to the lowest number possible (-15dB=0 dBVU on HD rigs, -14 dBVU on MIX rigs). UNLESS you're doing post production work (probavly unlikely on an analog console these days) in which case you should calibrate to -20 dBVU as standard. When routing audio to Pro Tools, a good rule of thumb is to observe 0 VU. I've never found a situation with any Digi converters where running hotter sounds better in any way. As one gearslut likes to put, "Don't be afraid of small waveforms!". Leave yourself plenty of headroom and your work will sound better. If you like the sound of the console running hotter when mixing, trim it up on the channel input. DON'T trim it up in PT! Keep your converters running at closer to nominal levels. Your audio will thank you and you can still overdrive the signal in the analog world if that's your bit..... good luck

[zimv20]

are you using the board when tracking because
a) you're using its pre's
b) you like the sound
c) it's how you monitor the signal

[BJohnston]

Thanks for the reply Gents.
It's a Amek BC II which is a Broadcast console based off of the Angela. I am using it for tracking and mixing. I have 4 v672 Telefunken Pre's and 2 old Siemens Pre's that I'll be use while tracking as well. I've taken a few of the ch. strips out to see some guts. It looks like the pre amp sections are chips. So I don't If there would be any benefit running console hotter? Is it possible to get any sort of saturation come from a computer chip? I'm pretty unknowledgable about that sort of thing. Thanks again for the reply.

BJohnston

[Bob Olhsson]

Pro Tools Mix systems have no headroom to speak of so they benefit a LOT from very moderate analog levels in and out. I haven't had enough experience with HD systems to know if this applies to them too but it wouldn't surprise me. By moderate, I mean no analog peaks above +10 dBu and average levels of around -8dBu or -12 on a VU meter. Beware that the "-10" switches in an 888 add an output pad so any adjustment needs to be made in +4 mode using the individual trim pots.