Topic: Unity on the D50?

[Sloan Simpson]

I don't have a real firm grasp on unity gain (or much else  ), but I understand that you don't want to add gain at the a/d stage.  Can anyone advise where to set the D50 so I'll be doing it "by the book"?

edit - I mean running line in, I run KM184>V2>D50

[Sloan Simpson]

Hmm, maybe I should re-phrase.  Anyone suggest how I can go about determining such myself?

[Sloan Simpson]

Is the D50 another one of Sony's attenuating gain adjustments?
Sony portables have infamously been better run at wide open (line-in), and adjusting the outboard preamp gain to get the desired levels.
This is due to its attenuating any signal, rather than giving it positive gain. So you run wide open to avoid the attenuating circuitry.

Well after I posted this I went out taping.  I ran the D50 at 3 (out of 10) and ran the V2 where it was flashing a healthy red but not "sticking" in the red; the numbers are all worn off my V2 faceplate so this is the best description I have    Sounded great, and I didn't get overs or anything.

Based on that I assume that if I were to run the D50 wide open I would have to turn the V2 WAY down . . .  I'm happy with what I've been getting so far, but wanna make sure I'm squeezing all the goodness I can get out of the gear 

BTW, I arrived at the number 3 by cranking the V2 all the way up during house music, and setting the D50 input to where it hit zero, then backed down a bit, landing at 3.  Does this have any bearing on determining unity gain?

[JM Charcot]

Hello,

so the unity gain on the D50 would be at 3 when recording on the "line in"?

What is the best way to determine the unity gain on a device?

Kind regards,

JM.

[Arni99]

I usually connect my radio/cd-player to the recorder (Line-In) and adjust the levels.
This is MY way to determine unity gain.
Radio and Cd player provide line-in-level-signal through my home-stereo-preamp.
Didn't test it with my D50 yet ..... I got it some days ago.

[Belexes]

I agree on "3" as unity. I fed the deck (line-in) a track on which I know where the "peaks" of the recording are and moving the gain dial up from zero on D50 until I got to about 3 when things matched.  Not the most scientific way, but worked for me.  If I wanted to, I could have recorded and then compared the wav forms on my computer from the original track to the recorded one on the D50 to see if they matched up at "3."

[Dede2002]

I usually connect my radio/cd-player to the recorder (Line-In) and adjust the levels.
This is MY way to determine unity gain.
Radio and Cd player provide line-in-level-signal through my home-stereo-preamp.
Didn't test it with my D50 yet ..... I got it some days ago.

Humm, so you got a new toy 
Have fun, my friend 

[hammerhorror]

I have determined unity gain on the Sony PCM-D50 to be at level 4 when running line in.

I did this by sending a 1 kHz sine wave via the tone oscillator on my Sound Devices 442 mixer to the line input of the D50. Position 4 on the D50's record level gave me perfectly matched levels between both devices.

[illconditioned]

I haven't tested it yet.   Does anyone know the gain?  Ie., how many dB per volume unit?

  Richard