How do you guys typically record with amp sims? Gain or no gain on your interface?

[Soilent]

I recently bought a Universal Audio Volt 176 interface and I was watching a review on it by Ola Englund. In the video he states that when recording guitars DI like this with an amp sim he just puts it into instrument mode and leaves the interface gain all the way down. For whatever reason it had never occurred to me to do it like this. I've always adjusted the gain on the interface itself and left the input gain on the amp sim at zero. Have I been doing it wrong this whole time? Should I leave the interface at zero and turn up the input on the amp sim instead? Or maybe even not at all? Does it matter either way? lol

Anyway, just curious how you guys typically do it. If you go in with zero gain and then adjust on the amp sim, how much do you turn it up? I'm using Neural DSP Fortin NTS and the way it's setup can be hard to tell if I'm clipping the input or not. Let me know what y'all think.

 

[tedtan]

It only matters if one approach is noisier than the other, in which case go with the quieter one.

As for level, most plugins are looking for an Average level of -18dBFS, with peaks between -6 and -12dBFS. Adjust either your interface gain or amp sim input level so you‘re there and you’re good.

 

[cindarkness]

0 gain on interface, most modern pickups are hot enough anyway. I don't turn anything up in the NDSP plugin, it's pretty much perfect as it is peaking at -6 occasionally.

 

[Emperoff]

I watched that Ola video and tried that for a while. The recorded signals weren't hot enough for me. Same deal with real preamps. I had to run my TriAxis with the volume at noon to get good levels. No one in their right mind would do that connected to a poweramp

So I went back to the good old "just get a decent signal going that doesn't clip" and forgot about it. Audient interfaces have a JFET in the instrument input so it sounds good anyway.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

I just set it to whatever doesn't cause clipping.

Since I mess with both real amps and amp sims I'm constantly fiddling with the input levels.

 

[Soilent]

0 gain on interface, most modern pickups are hot enough anyway. I don't turn anything up in the NDSP plugin, it's pretty much perfect as it is peaking at -6 occasionally.

Yeah, I'm running a Seymour Duncan Nazgul and was very surprised how good it sounded with zero gain on the interface and the plugin. I always thought the signal would be too low, but it sounds pretty nice. I may just record like this from now on. I feel like my older tones were perhaps TOO hot because they sound a bit muddy in comparison.

 

[cindarkness]

Yeah, I'm running a Seymour Duncan Nazgul and was very surprised how good it sounded with zero gain on the interface and the plugin. I always thought the signal would be too low, but it sounds pretty nice. I may just record like this from now on. I feel like my older tones were perhaps TOO hot because they sound a bit muddy in comparison.

If you're overloading the input even with 0 input gain, try lowering the pickups. Worked for me and my tone improved by a lot.

I was on the verge of getting a separate DI for my Audient ID, but someone mentioned this and it's all good now.