Can there be a univeral safe volume?

AlphaX

I found some patches here are ridiculously too loud. I think we should consider having a sort of univeral volume so we don't blow our ears out when trying a new patch. I primarily use headphones to play and make patches, on occasion I use my Fender Frontman amp. What I have done is set my master headphone volume on the back of the gnx at a reasonable level and compared volumes against the factory presets so that all my patches volumes are uniform. I do purposely make some patches quieter or louder depending on what it is but they shouldn't exceed more than the loudness of the factory presets. anyone agree?

iliace

Actually, I generally plug into either my stereo or monitors (depending on which is setup), usually the 10-year-old Aiwa 15+15 (http://cgi.ebay.ca/AIWA-NSX-2700-Single-CD-Player-with-dual-cassette_W0QQitemZ5835324514QQcategoryZ39820QQssPageNameZWD4VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem). However, I'll use headphones if an FRFR is not available, unless I need to be heard by someone else (and even then I might utilize a headphone splitter).

But overall, I don't have a problem plugging into two small practice amps. I do this when I'm over at my parent's house and jam with my brother - his friend has a small Marshall, and my bro has my old (OLD) 10-watt bass amp by some unknown manufacturer (it was handed down to me, and before then it had been handed down several times). It sounds fine, no real degradation of sound, no need to switch SC on/off or anything like that.

As far as patch levels, I usually set the output volume halfway (on either the XLR or 1/4\"), then tweak the patch level to peak at around -3db (in PTP). Not the best way to do it, but certainly get the levels comparable.

Any time I'm trying out somebody else's patch, I'll turn down the last volume stage all the way unless I'm sure the patch won't kill the speakers/ears. So, if headphones, I'll turn down the XLR level; if stereo, I'll turn down output level on the stereo. Then I slowly turn it up until I'm sure it's not ridiculous in volume settings.

On GNX4 and 3k in general, patch level is an excellent way to get the sound you want without it being too soft or deafeningly loud. For example you might have a clean amp model that there's no way it's going to match your lead patch level, so you can use the overall preset level to balance it out.

- Ilia

guitar3456

Balance your patch volumes by going into PTP and using the meters..set them as close to -3db as you can without clipping the meters. GNX3000 lacks a metering system so either on a DAW, an RTA or PTP peak meters can do the trick.

Blueswaite

How ever I record into the computer I always normalize each track. I think in Cool Edit Pro you can bring each song in on a different track and normalize them together to even out the volumes between songs and save them back as single songs. I usually record direct very seldom mike the amp.

iliace

Normalizing is good, but you have to remember that when you're recording you want to capture the strongest signal at the source - there's usually \"softer\" sonic data that comes out better when it's turned up (USB level will play a role too, since you're probably doing it digitally). Normalizing a softer part can't raise the volume of something that wasn't originally captured.

archon

yeh - i always have the source as loud as possible (which is why the amps on my patches are always really loud). if i listen through headphone or amp etc - id adjust the physical volume output switch on the back of the pedal.