Hi. I’ve had the QC a couple of weeks and am primarily using headphones. I want to set things up for a nice flat, regular output that a sound person would expect to receive for 3 gigs next week.
These are local small gigs. Acoustic instruments with a mix of passive and active pickups. No amps or cabs in the QC chain, but occasional drive on the active pick up. One gig will be 2 instruments through the QC on separate outs 1 passive while the other has a very hot active pickup.
I will set all global input i/o to 0db. I understand it’s best to then manage the volumes on the output channel (long press on grid)
I see several recommendations to put the master vol to 100. I was at a practice space yesterday (a small music room in a school that I can get very cheap). I plugged it into the battered old cab (fender, probably about 150w) set to about 50%. I had to turn the QC down to less than 25% to stop it blowing up the building!
If it turns out that 100% is actually ok I will be more than happy to set it there and assign the big nob to something else.
A visual representation of the output signal on the main screen would be nice if there’s an option.
I can (and will) plug it into my DAW to try and level the outs but I’d like to know what a good starting point would be if anyone can help please.
So in summary:
Output to 100?
Approximate differences in output volume to level active/passive pickups?
Visual indication of output on QC?
A warm overdrive setting that doesn’t boost the output level if you know of one.
I want meh, I want vanilla.
Turning up with a flash piece of kit you can’t manage and slowing down the sound check is a bad look!
Welcome to Quadland, Rumpy.
Balancing levels can be one of the biggest challenges when setting up any gear as it’s a bit of a moving target. It’s not about actual volume, it’s about perceived volume and that is related to the tone and dynamic response of your preset as well as the other instruments in the mix. Even the acoustics of the venue can affect how you sit in the mix. That said, there are some tricks to get you in the ballpark. I’ve found if helpful to play along with recorded music, something with a pretty dense mix is better. I’ll set my volume to be barely audible against the recording, then switch through the various presets and scenes I want to balance, trying to set each one to be barely audible. If you are setting up solo volumes, remember that it will take more of a volume boost to cut through at stage volume, especially if the room is noisy or more acousticaly reverberent. I made a small control that attaches to an expression port to dial in the amount of solo boost in each of my presets, globally. I also use an expression pedal as a master volume control for fine tuning my volume on the fly.
The QC has level meters for inputs and outputs but, for me, they aren’t that useful for balancing levels. The old saying “mix with your ears, not your eyes” still rings true. Just swipe down from the top of the screen to open the inputs/outputs page and select the inputs or outputs you want to view.
There are those who believe that setting the volume knob on the QC at maximum will give the best signal-to-noise ratio. I haven’t found that to be the case. If it were true, what’s the point in having one? Maybe that issue is true with some units. I generally run mine between noon and 3:00 and have a very acceptable noise floor. Understanding gain structure and applying it to your presets will help keep noise down.
With all of this in mind, I still find myself doing small tweaks over time.
I know there is an entire camp of people who insist on keeping the master volume at 100. To each his/her own. I leave my volume at around 80, which leaves me some wiggle room.
In digital audio, the noise floor is fixed regardless of signal level. So a digital volume control set to 10 has the same amount of noise as when set to 100. But that also means you get a much higher signal-to-noise ratio at 10 vs 100. So the theory goes, set to 100 for the best possible SNR*.
In reality, the QC output can be too hot at 100 for some mixers, audio interfaces, amps, etc. You want the QC master output as high as you can get without it clipping the input of whatever you’re running it into. Mine is set to around 80 as well.
(It used to be 85 until I had a clapped-out rehearsal studio mixer start clipping that high, so more headroom needed.)
*: bear in mind that a lot of the “rules” for digital audio date from early days where most converters were substantially less high quality than those we have now in even regular consumer gear. Noise floors and distortion are vastly improved from those early days. So the theory remains 100% correct, but with a good quality modern converter, the actual perceptible difference is much less.
I tried a DPA 4099 and also an ATPRO clip on condenser instrument mics yesterday and I had to crank the global input gain to 30 just to get it through the gate, even when I turned the gate/noise reduction right down. Does that sound normal?
Downstream it sounded hot. It was picking up a lot of my voice which is a sign it’s cranked too high. It was unusable at the venue (The venue/desk/PA was a farce though)
“In reality, the QC output can be too hot at 100 for some mixers, audio interfaces, amps, etc. You want the QC master output as high as you can get without it clipping the input of whatever you’re running it into. Mine is set to around 80 as well.”
Are you referring to the master volume knob or the output gain control on the I/O page? Thanks for the DAC nuts n bolts primer.
Output gain control is the thing you want to look at first. Either go to the output on the I/O page, or long-press on the output on the grid to see what the QC is sitting. Volume knob is secondary.
I think you meant to say, higher signal-to-noise ratio at 100 vs. 10.
I always keep my master volume @ 100, and my output @ 0.0. I set the input gain on my channel in the board (A&H CQ20B) @ 10db to ‘just kissing the yellow’. To me IME this works best. It’s not as much SNR as I wan t the best / strongest signal going into the board.
My boost levels are slighty higher, but never outside the ‘yellow’ to ever touch the orange / red
That said, the best volume is the one you set, and leave alone ( after sound check ) unless the sound guy says different IMO
Same, sound guys sometimes complain if I send 100 all-out, if I plug in and I’m clipping their system a little bit I bring it down to 88ish that way I have a little wiggle room in case they decide to touch my gain at the beginning of the show and it messes up my ear mix.
Any sound guy who says that is a moron haha. All they have to adjust the the gain of the preamp you’re plugged into. Thats just them being lazy. The QC output isn’t THAT much if it isn’t clipping in the unit itself
That’s the sound person’s job to adjust the gain level on their board, not yours…
It’s a double-edged sword to purposefully turn down your QC’s volume knob to something like 80% in order to “trick” the sound person into setting gain at what they think is the maximum.
On the one hand, you do get that extra wiggle room to manually turn up if there’s a problem. On the other, if you do that, you’re affecting the entire FOH mix–which can set off an unwanted chain of events, including the sound person resetting your gain anyway.
A touch of compression at the end of your signal chain, before going out to FOH, can go a long way. Try the SSL compressor with a light 2:1 ratio. This can help keep your volume levels a little more consistent, so a sound person is less likely to mess with your gain levels in the board.
Dont most mix boards (especially those used by a sound engineer) have input controls?
I just play with friends in rented rehearsal spaces so I set mine at 85 (and volume pedal around the same) and adjust the mix input and gain accordingly. I use 85 so I can increase my volume if needed without going to the mixer.
Yes I checked the phantom power and tried 2 mics and different cables. The phantom power was doing something because the mics were silent when it was off.
It was definitely odd. I haven’t done a firmware update since I bought it last week though
I get what everyone is saying. I am the sound man at my own gigs, so I vary my volume if needed. My QC goes into my mixer directly into the power amps of the P.A. It works well for me.
Master volume knob - I leave the I/O gain alone to keep things simpler. But I think it would be equally right to adjust the I/O gain and leave the master volume knob locked at 100. I just find it simpler on the fly to use the big physical control and leave the hidden-away parameters alone.
(Goes without saying I also make sure no patches clip the output (the output block flashes red) and use gain blocks where needed to help with that.)
I should add that I am not any authority on either the QC or digital audio in general. I’m just sharing what works and sounds good for my setup.
Yes, I know it’s not best practice, but I was being mixed by students and volunteers on a pretty shoddy system where gain staging was being adjusted and messed with between each volunteer… so yes sometimes this is bad… but in my case it could be the difference between in my ears at all or a decent mix… but Diffraction Circuit is right, don’t do that if you have a trustworthy system. It can also be an issue because it does attenuate the master out of the unit, so that can affect your gain staging etc. I make my patches at 100% volume, then might adjust level based on the system down to 85-88.
I generally run mine between noon and 3:00 and have a very acceptable noise floor. Understanding gain structure and applying it to your presets will help keep noise down.