The gain chain...

[Ray Minich]

Ok, so I have a small mixer board, and I wish to mix down from several sources. The mixer output is gonna be the "sum" of the inputs. I use the word "sum" loosely as the individual channel gains, plus the master output gain determine the final signal out of the mixer.

Where is a good place to start when setting the individual channel gain and then the master output. Set them both to 50% to 70%? Low gain on the individual channel and high gain on the main output yields the same resultant gain as high gain on the individual channel and low gain on the main/master.

Is there a rule of thumb that the gurus use? Is there "headroom" built into the channel gains?

I'm planning on testing the gain influence on signal quality using a square wave generator at 1000 hz, and looking for roll-off at different settings of channel and master gains.

Anyone else ever been down this road and/or have a recommendation of what to look for?

Thanks and regards.

[Ken Metcalf]

I try to set mine a high as possible with out distortion. My mixers have a separate gain and volume.
A little light turns yellow, green and red.
You should be able to hear distortion when it occurs and back it off.
I set gain with vol. down on mine.