I have a question that may be stupid but is definitley confusing me.
I have a Q10 with Cubase SX. In the Q10 manual, it states that prefade in the Q10 mixer allows you to monitor the sound level coming into the sound card, independent of the fader position, where post-fade is the sound going into your DAW software after the fader.
In this environment thoughI expect to be able to use a fader in the Q10 mixer to adjust the analog sound level going into the digitizer, so I can optimize it. Sounds like prefade doesn't do that, and post-fade is *after* digitization. So do you have to use an external preamp to adjust levels coming into the Q10 in order to ensure you're digitizing the hottest signal you can?
Second question -- since the sound coming out of the sound card is digitized at that point, I'm stuck with teh level I digitized at and when I adjust teh sound level in the Q10 mixer I'm wholly within the fsigital domain so at that point I'm just making sure I avoid digital distortion when I come into Cubase -- is that right?
Any help with the notion of pre- and post-fade in this multi-mixer environment much appreciated! How do you folks handle it?
Thanks -- Richard.
Comments
Manual says.. Thanks Kurt. Jere's what the manual says, so you
Manual says..
Thanks Kurt. Jere's what the manual says, so you can see teh source of my confusion:
Start manual:
These meters (the Q10 control panel mixer) work in two diffeent ways. If you chose Pre-Faader the meters will respond to the exact DB level of the incoming signal. If you chose post-fader, the meters will measure the level of the incoming signal, as well as the gain or attenuation applied with the channel faders. Bacause if this, post-fader does not accurately measure you recording volume.
NOTE: To get the best recording quality, record your incoming signals as loud as you can...
End manual
So how do you follow the note? Sounds like the faders have no affect in pre-faded, and no useful affect in post-fade so I wonder what use the faders are?
The faders are good for setting volume at playback .... and that
The faders are good for setting volume at playback .... and that's all.
Glad you went into a little more detail ... the nominclature is a bit dodgey ..
I would set the faders to pfl when recording to keep track of the levels coming from your pres and the afl for mixing to keep track of levels in playback.
"PFL" means pre fader listen .... a solo mode for you to listen
"PFL" means pre fader listen .... a solo mode for you to listen to one or more tracks at a time .... usually used to "troubleshoot" a mix.
From your discription it sounds to me like what this function is doing with the Q10 is providing a latency free feed that is intended to be sent to a small monitor mixer ... like an AISO send in my older version of Cubase ...