When you run a high-impedance signal into a low-impedance input, there’s going to be a loss of top-end frequency content, which you probably don’t want.įigure 10: A line level signal boosted to speaker level using an amp. Unfortunately, not all audio gear provides high-impedance inputs. The first issue here is that the pick-ups found in these instruments produce a relatively high impedance signal, so you need to run them into an input with an extremely high impedance. Instrument Level SignalsĮlectric guitars and bass guitars produce high-impedance, unbalanced instrument level signals. You’re not going to hear too many people blame a poor recording on their preamps, but an assortment of standalone mic preamps does provide a little more versatility, and may make it slightly easier to find the sound you’re looking for. Even the preamps found in entry-level audio interfaces can produce professional-quality results. Although, most audio interfaces include preamps that sound pretty darn good. When you record with the preamps built into your audio interface, you’re stuck with the one option.
#DEFINING HIGH LEVEL IN LOGIX PRO SERIES#
It’s clear that you often need to boost mic level and instrument level signals to line level somehow, but how do you go about doing this?įigure 4: 500 series mic preamps that include a Shadow Hills Mono Gama, API 512c, Solid State Logic VHD, and Chandler Limited TG2. In general, you want to stick to using gear with +4 dBu line inputs and outputs whenever you can, since it provides more headroom than -10 dBV gear.
#DEFINING HIGH LEVEL IN LOGIX PRO PRO#
Pieces of gear that use these two line level signal variations can be connected to each other, but just make sure that you boost or attenuate the signal within your pro audio gear to accommodate your consumer gear.
In this case, you’ll want to turn down the output of your +4 dBu gear.
Routing signal the other way, from a +4 dBu output to a -10 dBV input, can overload the inputs on consumer gear. However, you’ll usually end up with a cleaner signal if you boost the gain within your pro audio gear, as opposed to overdriving the outputs of your consumer gear. This lets you make use of both consumer and professional-level audio equipment.Ĭonnecting a -10 dBV output to a +4 dBu input will always increase the noise floor. If you’re working solely with pro audio gear, most of it likely calls for a +4 dBu line level signal, but some pro audio gear might have a switch that allows you swap inputs between a -10 dBV and +4 dBu mode. Figure 2: -10 dBV line level consumer gear vs.