Topic: setting levels on UA5/DAP1

[stvgray]

Okay, I don't get it.

I taped my first show with my new rig last night -- DAP1, UA-5, Oktava MK012s.

What I can't understand is, where should I be setting the levels?

The DAP manual says you don't set levels on it when you use digital input. Okay, so I don't mess with that.

On the UA-5, I would think I would be trying to set the levels as high as possible without lighting the overload light. Right?

And that should give me a recording that will dub off on my audio CD-R machine with peaks close to 0 db, right?

Well, the signal sounded a little strained to me when I got almost to the tops of the sensitivity controls on the UA-5, so I back 'em off a little. And the resulting recording, while it sounds great, needs to be jacked a little bit to get to a full playback level.

Advice?

Thanks!

[BCostigan]

Adjust the levels using the ua-5 but watch what they do on the dap1.  They should ideally be hitting 0 without going over.  I try and stay around -4 hitting 0 a few times a show.  The "peak" light on the ua-5 comes on at -3 so it should flicker regularly but not stay on constantly....that make sense??

[sexymexi]

yea what he said..  that is a good, i try to keep it about the same from shwo to show, so you have an idea, but keep your dappi's light on, and adjust the potentiometers so they are as even as possible, and if and when they get louder, always go in and check, i try to adjust it as little as possible throughtout the show, but if they start to overload take it down a bit.  hope you get it going, good luck.

matt

[blu666z]

I have found that you can run the UA-5 pretty high w/o many problems.  Obviously you don't want the light lit up constantly but to have it flashing regularly seems to turn out pretty good.  2cents.

-Kevin

[stvgray]

So you don't notice the sound getting dirty when you raise the UA-5 pre's near the max? I thought I was hearing that last night.

[BCostigan]

Are you just arbitrarily raising the levels or are you looking at the meters on the dap1?  If the levels are over on the p1 it will definatly sound like shit.

[plucks]

I have found that when looking at the dB scale, if you setup so that preshow is around -20dB  to -24dB you should be in pretty good shape with only minor adjustments.  I generally have the real loud spots hit -2 or -3 and then it will be able to handle the occastional spikes that bump it to 0, and normal levels would be between -12dB to -6dB.  In 16bit, it's ok to run as close to 0 as possible to get the most amount of data recorded.  
Obviously, this is a rough estimate and different situations will warrant different settings.  If it's a small venue with loud music, you will want it slightly lower down the scale and opposite for quieter environments.

As for the Digital over's, you should be OK with the UA5 and P1.  If you were using only the P1, there'd be a good chance that the gain stage would overload too easily which would warrant the need of the pad.  
Digi-in with the UA5 shouldn't be anything to worry about unless you are overloading.  

Phil

[stvgray]

This show was the Jazz Mandolin Project, and the levels were not nearly as high as a funk jazz or rock show. I went to the top of the UA-5's range and the overload indicator still didn't light, but I thought I was hearing it go mushy, so I backed off to about 3/4.

Still, the margin indicator on the DAP1 got up to 1 or 2 below. However, the overall level was not that high. When I dubbed it to CD on my Phillips audio CDR, the resulting discs were pretty low in level.

Maybe I was wrong when I thought the UA5 got dirty at the top end of the range. Next time I'll push it farther.

[plucks]

is your UA5 mod'd or is it right out of the box?

[teamakg]

i've got a wmod UA5.  i just taped a high school band this last weekend.  they were pretty quiet.  running UA5->JB3.  so my only source of metering is the UA5 peak light.  i ran it at about 95% full.  basically i had to crank the levels all the way clockwise till they could turn anymore.  then back them down just a touch.  i don't notice any noise from running the UA5 that hot at all.  basically what i'm saying is run the UA5 as hot as you can.  a few flickers of the peak light and you're good to go.

[cpclark]

i run mic/sbd matrix's through a stock ua-5, running the levels as hot as possible before clipping and i have never heard any muddiness or distortion of peaks even when getting a digi clip.  i would try it again at a different show, it could have been the mix at the venue that was muddy and not the ua-5, just keep testing and playing around with it and you will find your sweet spot

[Bubb Rubb]

I have noticed that when Doug adds the w mod or the p mod you have to significantly jack up the levels on the ua5. Anyone else notice? Also, not as responsive or sensitive, but definitely sounds much much better!!!

-Hampton

[stvgray]

My UA-5 is a home digimod.

All your comments are helpful. Pretty obvious that next time I'll try pushing the UA-5 as high as a I can without blasting the DAP1