A Theremin is pretty close (if you hold your hands really still).

What changes?

All amplifiers (no matter how "clean" they might be) will sound different when operating within different ranges of their dynamic capability.

Your ISA is no exception.

Yeah but then I lose the preamps on the Clarett. Also, is if I go in through the front I am going through two preamps... isnt that bad engineering practice?

Ok but can you define 'different' for me in this case? For example, with no pads lets say I need 35db of gain from the ISA to get my levels right in my DAW. With 20 db pads, I will need 55db of gain. What difference might there be in the 2 recordings?

Why not listen to them and find out?

I will but you can tell me yourself too right. You seem to have a lot of experience on GS. Or have all these years been spent chattering away

Okay, I think I have taken this about as far as I can.

Anybody with eyes to see and ears to hear, and wanting to understand why those meters don't match (or even if they should) has plenty of info from this thread to educate themselves.

Good luck to all.

You'll be back.. they ALL come back mwahaha

Everything is NOW PERFECT!

I got -20db pads and with those inline going into the back of the Clarett 4, the meter on the ISA matches perfectly with my DAW now. I even tried playing guitar and recording using my ISA 2 meter as a reference instead of looking in my DAW just to see how spot on it is and it is perfect. I like recording guitar with the highest peaks hitting no higher than -6dbfs and I was looking at the lights on the meter to make sure it wasn't going any higher. Sure enough, in my DAW the absolute highest peak was -6 dbfs. with the -20db pads. Yipee! I do have to track using the 30-60 button on my ISA however which I never used before except when tracking with a dynamic mic at a bit of a distance

So there it is.... after 13 pages... I made it and I can now rely completely by looking at my ISA 2 meter when tracking (that is if I want to)

...which is pretty much isa max. out minus -20dB = clarett max. rear in and as such is nothing but basic level matching (and in principle was suggested in some of the earliest posts if i remember right)... - anyway, congrats and have fun!

Absolutely. I totally acknowledge your advice and give credit where it is due so thank you

It is a bit annoying that even Focusrite told me it was not possible to match the meters due to the nature of the meter. Bollocks. And even more annoying that they tell you to use a sine tone when that does not work.

Are you happy with the tone you're getting with the ISA cranked? Also - how was Spain?

Would using 60db of gain be "cranking"? The ISA2 has 80 db of gain so I thought that that might be normal.

Spain is great. I actually live on the south coast of spain now but I went to several cities and places I had not previously been all across the country and it was very nice.

I thought part of the idea was to get some crankage going on the ISA. (other than matching the meters that is)

What is considered "cranking"?

How's your tone after all this- happy? Would you do it again just to line up the meters. Was there any benefit other than the meters is my question, lets not get bogged down in terminology here.

Yeah it sounds great... I have not done A B tests but it is sounding great. The Focusrite is known for a clean sound so I dont know how much the tone will change anyway.

To answer your question. Yes I would do it again. Learned a lot in this thread.

there is: proper level matching - audio basics 101!

As you have said numerous times sir. Thank you. What has not been said, or what I have not understood is what this actually does for my audio recording? How does matching levels help me in my quest to getting better recordings?

in terms of sound quality, it lets you use your gear within the optimum range and you don't risk overdriving/clipping gear as easily as with large level offsets.

of less importance in your environment (since you're not using much equipment) but crucial when using tons of gear: it lets you patch from and to any gear without getting distraced by technical considerations (said level offsets and potential implications) which in the end helps to speed up the workflow (patching) and lets you focus on artistic decisions (and not on the nitty gritty).

And is this supposed to sound better?

some people refer to the sweet spot, other folks focus more on functionality...

what you hear is not just "volts on the fader": it's the interaction between the source and the preamp and depends on level and impedance settings, maybe some voodoo but these are the two we can 'control'. i'm not tech-savy enough to comment on (non)linearity of the entire process.

ime the isa pres are quite smooth over a large range (i own the isa828) but you may try whether you can hear a difference using your current settings vs 20db less of gain but without the pads. or use an impedance mis-match on purpose and an even lower gain setting but bring up levels digitally...

I will do the test one of these days for sure. Right now however, I am recording my next hit