Volume matching across all presets

serge20261

serge20261

Inspired
Is this something that could be achievable ? I'm a self confessed noob,have no idea about programming,you guys can tell me why this can't be achieved. My thoughts, if it were at all possible to incorporate into the programme a db meter,which in turn would scan thru presets,and even all presets to a pre determined db reading,that would be reflective on the axe actual output

Stupid idea ?
Impossible to achieve ? I don't know,really would like something that could level the volume thru out all the presets
Is there an easier way no way

Love to hear the pro's thoughts
 
Been discussed many times. The problem is a db meter cannot measure PERCEIVED volume. Distorted tones always sound louder than clean. They are more compressed and have a narrower bandwidth. Clean tones will always clip before you get them as "loud" as distorted tones. The trick to leveling your presets is to start with your clean presets. Use the Level parameter in the amp block to dial them up until they clip the output then back off. Then using the same level control, turn your distorted tones DOWN until they match the perceived volume of your clean tones. Best to do this at gig volumes.
 
quonsar said:
Been discussed many times. The problem is a db meter cannot measure PERCEIVED volume. Distorted tones always sound louder than clean. They are more compressed and have a narrower bandwidth. Clean tones will always clip before you get them as "loud" as distorted tones. The trick to leveling your presets is to start with your clean presets. Use the Level parameter in the amp block to dial them up until they clip the output then back off. Then using the same level control, turn your distorted tones DOWN until they match the perceived volume of your clean tones. Best to do this at gig volumes.
Click to expand...

Very useful and practical tip for those of us who have yet to level our presets!

Thank you so much for this practical and "sound" advice! (no pun intended ;) )
 
There are a lot of mobile Apps for measuring SPL. I don't know how accurate they are, but so long as you get them close relative to eachother it's a good starting point. You can atleast try it out without investing in other gear.
 
As quonsar said, it's been discussed many times, and there are reasons why it can't be completely automated.

Here's a reason that's usually not discussed: you don't want all your presets to be at the same level. You want your lead presets to be louder than your rhythm presets. You want your mellower presets to be quieter than your average presets.
 
Clean sound has 100x more dynamics than a heavy distortion, so you need to match it while playing stuff that you use it for. Soft finger picking vs smashing the strings like a madman.
 
Just to mention it... if you use scenes make sure you set the level below clipping on you lead scenes otherwise any boosting may lead to clipping

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Im going through my cubase to check the levels and make them consistent.
What matters to me mainly is that our sound guy doesnt have too much work moving the fader all the time.
Obviously, some sounds you might want quieter than others, and this has to be perfected in a bands situation.
Im still perfecting all that at the moment but im positive this is a good way.
Good luck!
 
I have a hardware Radio Shack meter that I use in the room at my playing position. I try to choose three separate volume levels to test settings, bedroom, loud conversation and gig. I personally like to have the clean levels be slightly less than the distorted rhythm levels for energy and dynamics and then ha leads the loudest, so the way I base my setup is a bit different.
 
If you have the space in your board, I have found that having Vol Incr and Vol Dec buttons are invaluable, even if only for a gig or two. If all of your presets are perfectly level, you may find that, when you play with the band, you want to be louder or software because of the song that preset is used for. Since these buttons save automatically, I use them to make any adjustments and my settings are normally perfect after one gig. If you use the MFC, the Mission TT Pro (Mission TT-Pro dual switch with mini expression controlmissionengineering.com) works great for this purpose. I use the switches for Vol Incr and Vol Dec, and the expression know for output level.
 
If you have a mixer with meters you can sometimes use those to greater effect than an SPL meter.

The meters on your desk are measuring voltage, that takes the room acoustics out of the equation.

Getting the difference between peak and rms voltage in the same ballpark will get you close. That lets you have different peak and rms values per preset but the overall crest factors are similar.
 
Thanks guys as always,lots of tips,nothing worse then playing a gig,hitting a solo patch and scaring the crap out me and the audience,the volume way to high probably the reason you guys suggest,setting at gig volume
 
I think I read on here that some people use the looper as the 1st block in all their presets. They record & play a riff and then change presets while the looper keeps going, so you can tweak your tone & volumes for each preset and keep switching back & forth to compare.

I use my DAW to play the loop into my Axe-Fx II through re-amping w SPDIF, so I can tweak my tones & volumes in reference to a mix w multiple instruments playing at the same time.

If you don't want to use the looper or a DAW, you could just play against other music to see how your presets sound against a mix but make sure you have everything as loud as you plan on playing. I used to play against music & pink noise. I played against the pink noise to help balance my tone.
 
Just went from a 2 guitar band to a single (me) and now it's a lot easier. My leads don't need boosting anymore for the most part, but I needed to re-write many of my presets to fill the gap and then had to redo all my volumes again.

I've used USB into a DAW with a spectral analyzer plugin as well as a mastering plugin (T-racks 3) which shows perceived loudness on a meter and it helped get me very close. The vol inc/dec function has been a god send though and allowed me to completely nail down nearly 200 presets that are very different as I do a preset per song and we cover stuff from the late 60's to present.

anyways, This is my 4th run through having to do this and it gets easier. Things to watch out for is a bass heavy tone will seem exponentially louder as the volume goes up, what I am getting at is if you adjust at your rehearsal through monitors only, but at the gig you have a PA with subs, it's going to be way off for example.
 
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