Gain Staging Really Quiet Vocals

crimsonhawk47

New member
So I have a v-studio 100 cakewalk for a pre amp and I've been recording with a (Edit: Actually have to go check with what mic real quick. But a pretty bright condenser).

I am singing VERY quiet parts for some of the songs I'm working on, and I find I have to turn my built in pre all the way up to get it to the -18db range. I notice that background noise is minimal until it's turned to the highest 5% of the knob.

So what I'm wondering is will a dedicated mic pre alleviate this problem? If instead of having a gain knob on an interface up all the way, I had a pre and the interface gain like halfway. Just wondering.
 
Last edited:
interesting situation: riding the gain knob should not even be on your radar to get this to work set one level just do it - remember that -18dbfs is really somewhere near 0dbRMS (+2dbRMS/-4dbRMS/-6dbRMS depending on what your metering structure is), so you can probably allow your signal to be around -30dbfs and it will still be in the audible range...

if it is meant to be quiet then it should be within an enlarged dynamic range, not arbitrarily manufactured by changing input gain levels as you go: what you are doing here is worse than compressing to add make-up gain.......

even more interesting question

answer should be yes no problems but too many variables to be positive about such a statement

it is interesting that you state the noise floor can't be heard until you open the gain right up: thing is noise floor is always there, it would probably be best explained as that at the top end of the gain knob you are actually amplifying vs attenuating the signal and so everything including the noise gets amplified equally
 
Oh I apologize, I didn't mean to imply I was riding the gain knob at all. I was just testing the recording at different levels. And right at the highest setting there's a huge noticeable noise floor rise. If I could graph it, the graph would raise the noise floor in volume in a linear fashion and then shoot up right at the end.

I also don't mean to say it's quiet in a manufactured way. I am singing in a very quiet tone and it's almost too quiet for the mic.

I'm using a Sennheiser Mk4. I have a Rode NT-1A but I didn't like the sound I was getting. I also have an sm57 but that microphone doesn't play nice with quiet sounds, so I didn't even try it.
 
this assumes using makeup gain on a compressor, something which will automatically colour the sound you are getting even with a 1:1 compression ratio i.e. not necessarily the best solution to the problem

an expander may be useful here and does what the compressor with makeup gain does without the overhead of keeping things below a certain maximum level or the danger of unintentionally bringing up the noise floor level: an expander sets the threshold below which nothing is amplified and then expands (amplifies) the signal above the threshold by a set ratio a more specific tool and a more predictable outcome
 
this assumes using makeup gain on a compressor, something which will automatically colour the sound you are getting even with a 1:1 compression ratio i.e. not necessarily the best solution to the problem

an expander may be useful here and does what the compressor with makeup gain does without the overhead of keeping things below a certain maximum level or the danger of unintentionally bringing up the noise floor level: an expander sets the threshold below which nothing is amplified and then expands (amplifies) the signal above the threshold by a set ratio a more specific tool and a more predictable outcome

I think an expander would do the trick, this doesn't seem to be a gain staging issue IMHO.
 
There's no consequences to that? I can remove room noise without lowering the overall levels or bringing it even further below -18?
 
if you are asking about an expander then yes the consequences are only that you may end up clipping

- everything above the threshold gets boosted,
- everything below the threshold stays at the same level
- choose your threshold carefully and your expansion factor carefully too and no real issues
 
Back
Top