User`s guide

Chapter 8: Record Setup 73
chapter 8
Record Setup
Before you start recording, make sure your
your Pro Tools system is connected and
configured properly. For details on con-
necting Pro Tools to your studio, refer to
the Pro Tools Hardware Installation Guide
that came with your system.
While some of the information in this
chapter is relevant to recording MIDI, there
are more specific setup details for MIDI re-
cording in Chapter 10: MIDI Recording.
Input Connections and
Audio Levels
Most Digidesign audio interfaces operate as
line-level devices and offer no pre-amplifi-
cation. You must therefore adjust the level
of an input signal to line level before it
reaches Pro Tools. Low-level sources like
microphones and electric guitars need to
be pre-amplified. You can do this with a
quality mixing board or dedicated preamp.
✽ The Digi 001 is an exception to this rule. Its
I/O Box has two inputs with preamps, to which
you can connect low-level signals, and six ad-
ditional inputs with “input gain.”
Volume and pan controls for tracks in
Pro Tools only affect monitoring levels—
not the recording input gain. The LED in-
dicators on audio interfaces indicate both
full-code (highest level before clipping)
and true clipping of Pro Tools output sig-
nals. The on-screen meters in the Pro Tools
application indicate only true clipping.
Digital Clipping
Clipping occurs when you feed a signal to a
recorder or mixer that is louder or “hotter”
than the device allows. On many analog
tape decks, a little clipping adds a perceived
warmth to the sound due to tape compres-
sion. In digital recording, however, clip-
ping causes digital distortion, which is un-
desirable and should always be avoided.
Set Input Levels High But Don’t Clip
When you feed a signal into any audio re-
cording system, including Pro Tools, you
need to adjust the input level to optimize
the dynamic range. Adjust the input signal
to register as high as possible on your input
meter without triggering the clipping indi-
cator. If the input level is too low, you will
not take full advantage of the dynamic