My gain staging was totally messed up tonight - CLR wedge

G

geoangus

Inspired
I thought I had the volume of my presets fairly level until tonight's rehearsal. They were all over the place, too loud, too soft and some just right. The one thing I did differently tonight was trying to properly set my gain staging before we started, although I only did that with one preset. I dialed in the input volume of the CLR until the clipping light turned on, and then backed off just a bit. And that was probably the best sounding patch I had all night. Prior to tonight, I had originally set the levels using the front output LEDs of my XL, and then just ran into the CLR, probably at a much lower input level than I did tonight.

Would a strategy of adjusting the output of each my presets so that they just tickled the CLR's clipping light about the same amount yield me more consistent results? Thanks!
 
geoangus said:
I thought I had the volume of my presets fairly level until tonight's rehearsal. They were all over the place, too loud, too soft and some just right. The one thing I did differently tonight was trying to properly set my gain staging before we started, although I only did that with one preset. I dialed in the input volume of the CLR until the clipping light turned on, and then backed off just a bit. And that was probably the best sounding patch I had all night. Prior to tonight, I had originally set the levels using the front output LEDs of my XL, and then just ran into the CLR, probably at a much lower input level than I did tonight.

Would a strategy of adjusting the output of each my presets so that they just tickled the CLR's clipping light about the same amount yield me more consistent results? Thanks!
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I create a master preset and use it to set the level, I then use that as a reference to level all my other presets using the VU meters on the AXE FX.

I take it further by using my X32 producer console. Depends on the tools at your disposal but I find using a master preset to reference back to worked the best for me.
 
geoangus said:
I thought I had the volume of my presets fairly level until tonight's rehearsal. They were all over the place, too loud, too soft and some just right. The one thing I did differently tonight was trying to properly set my gain staging before we started, although I only did that with one preset. I dialed in the input volume of the CLR until the clipping light turned on, and then backed off just a bit. And that was probably the best sounding patch I had all night. Prior to tonight, I had originally set the levels using the front output LEDs of my XL, and then just ran into the CLR, probably at a much lower input level than I did tonight.

Would a strategy of adjusting the output of each my presets so that they just tickled the CLR's clipping light about the same amount yield me more consistent results? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Unless I've misunderstood your post, I think you're mixing up two things: gain-staging of the CLRs, and levelling of presets. The former you should only need to do one time, once you've got your presets levelled, not on a preset by preset basis (we're talking about a band situation, yes?)

I do what Severed does, I have a master preset with a solo boost Scene and I refer all presets to this, using the VU meters in the Utility page to get the levelling right in relation to my master preset. (I find that levelling cleans with high gain presets can be a bit tricky, so I normally need to finalise this in a band rehearsal context.) For my CLRs, I use my master preset to set the CLR input gain, with the Axe's Output 1 knob at noon. The CLR masters are set at halfway. Hope this helps.
 
Chris@AxeFxTutorials said:
There are no front output LEDs. Only clip lights.

How exactly did you level things?
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Poor description on my end; I attempted to set my levels by adjusting until the clip lights would illuminate, and then back down.





adew said:
Unless I've misunderstood your post, I think you're mixing up two things: gain-staging of the CLRs, and levelling of presets. The former you should only need to do one time, once you've got your presets levelled, not on a preset by preset basis (we're talking about a band situation, yes?)

I do what Severed does, I have a master preset with a solo boost Scene and I refer all presets to this, using the VU meters in the Utility page to get the levelling right in relation to my master preset. (I find that levelling cleans with high gain presets can be a bit tricky, so I normally need to finalise this in a band rehearsal context.) For my CLRs, I use my master preset to set the CLR input gain, with the Axe's Output 1 knob at noon. The CLR masters are set at halfway. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

My thought was that the gain staging was affected due to the output of my presets being all over the place. The one that I used to set the CLR for the night worked great, the others not so much. I guess I'd been dumbass lucky with my previous settings. I'll investigate the VU meters in the utility pages. I'm curious to see just how mismatched my current presets are. Thanks!
 
set the relative levels of your 'live' presets at gig volume over backing tracks playing through the PA in a rehearsal studio
do it by ear / intuition and then you should be pretty consistent from there on..
 
geoangus said:
Rookie mistake - I'm still learning things I'd been blissfully ignorant of. As I continue to dig in, I have to remember to stop and breathe.
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Are you talking clip lights on the CLR (which is the only input level indicator on the CLRs) or the clip lights on the Axe? I would balance your preset levels at gig volume as best you can with the Axe's horizontal VU meters & then set the CLR input just below where the clip lights come on.
 
note… you could have a quiet preset with a shed load of bass that'd make the clip lights flicker
and you could have a preset with very low bass levels that is hugely louder that'll make the clip lights flicker just the same…

the levels loud, over a backing track by ear..
meters and level indicators have no context..
so… when you're playing a ballad, your clean tone that's been levelled with your riffing tone 'by eye' will be way too loud for the musical setting..
and likewise, you'll go to take a solo with your 'levelled by eye' soloing tone and fail to step up over the band..
context is everything and it'll guide your judgement towards better decisions

Note: when I accidentally call up my live presets in my studio, the thing that surprises me is that my clean tones always seem stupidly quiet with respect to the riffing tone.. and the soloing tones louder than I'd expect..
however.. I know better than to change them.. those settings are sacred..
 
When I level mine, I take into consideration the type of sound & context of the song. (I have been using an individual patch or patches for each song for so long, I never changed that approach) I go for approximately zero on the meters for basic clean rhythm sounds, above zero for leads & less than zero for softer songs. Also, I try to pick with the same intensity on a given patch that the song requires. If I fingerpick the song, naturally, that is how I play when I set the level. It still takes a little on the fly adjusting at rehearsal to get things dialed in but at least I can get really close on my own so I don't kill the momentum of the rehearsal. The hardest one for me to get right is a clean solo.
 
notalemming said:
When I level mine, I take into consideration the type of sound & context of the song. (I have been using an individual patch or patches for each song for so long, I never changed that approach) I go for approximately zero on the meters for basic clean rhythm sounds, above zero for leads & less than zero for softer songs. Also, I try to pick with the same intensity on a given patch that the song requires. If I fingerpick the song, naturally, that is how I play when I set the level. It still takes a little on the fly adjusting at rehearsal to get things dialed in but at least I can get really close on my own so I don't kill the momentum of the rehearsal. The hardest one for me to get right is a clean solo.
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I go for zero with my riffing tone cos it's the one I use most often.. so my solo tone is above that and my cleans below it..
so when sound checking, the band play a song, I riff and noodle with my volume until I'm sitting right.. then I'm done..
nice and quick and easy...
 
clarky said:
I go for zero with my riffing tone cos it's the one I use most often.. so my solo tone is above that and my cleans below it..
so when sound checking, the band play a song, I riff and noodle with my volume until I'm sitting right.. then I'm done..
nice and quick and easy...
Click to expand...

Same basic concept for me but I use my clean rhythm sounds the most, followed by the leads. Also, I play in a trio & am the only chordal instrument so I have a lot of space I can fill.
 
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