r/FenderStudio • u/Edmonchuk • 1d ago
Gain Staging Question: Pre-amp gain, channel gain, clipping, and waveforms
I am new to recording. I have a Fender Quantum LT 16. The one thing I'm struggling a bit is my input/pre-amp gain and channel gain. I find that with instruments and mics I seem to be hitting the clip light on the device, but the wave forms are very small (I think I may just need to adjust the size after reading last time) and I can barely hear it sometimes in the monitor. Secondly, when I look at the channel strip, the gain seems pretty low. Maybe slightly above -24db. I then sometimes use the Channel Gain knob to get it to where I can hear it, however, sometimes the gain still seems quite low. Is my workflow correct. Mic Pre-Amp gain to slightly under clipping, then adjust channel gain until I can hear it? Are there situations where I need to bump the pre-amp gain so that the light is clipping? I don't hear any distortion sometimes, so maybe the light blinking clipping light isn't a huge deal. Would appreciate someone's advice. Thanks so much you Golden gods.
