Ableton Forum

I not sure what I'm missing here. This is what I'm using...

Interface - PreSonus Firebox
Mic - Shure PG48

So I've made sure that Phantom Power is on, and that in the interface options I added 12db (think that was the amount) to the mic input, and it's still coming in pretty low.

It seems like I could get away with recording vocals and then increasing the volume, as it's not that low (A "Test Test" usually gets the input monitor a little over half way up), but I wanted to check and see if I was missing something I should know about here.

Thanks for the help

Isn't the PG48 a dynamic microphone (i.e. you shouldn't use phantom power)?
Not that I think it will make a difference...

Yes, the PG48 is a dynamic mic, so it doesn't need phantom power. It shouldn't hurt it, but it won't help it either.

Just to make sure, you have the main level and mic gain knobs up too?

I know when i had my presonus inspire (similar) it just didn't have a lot of headroom. Meaning that (especially when paired with a "not hot" dynamic mic) it just would not get too loud. There's a reason they sell seperate mic preamps. And why my wallet is now always empty....

Unfortunately it seems that the preamp gain on your interface only goes to 45db, while the mic needs at least 52db of gain to operate at full capacity. Looks like you'll need either a mic preamp with higher gain, a mic that needs less gain, or a different interface with more gain. Or just work with what you've got and boost it after the fact somehow.

Are you connected in the front panel Combo jacks and if so, are you connected in the TRS or XLR inputs?

I believe the XLR inputs are a higher gain input... The TRS inputs are for line level signals so you want to be in on the XLR inputs.

Also, are you talking about the 12+db setting you have already selected in the Hardware Manager? If all thats done then yeah, you may need an external pre-amp. A nice small mixer would do the trick.

Whoops, sorry about the dynamic mixup.

I'm connected with XLR, and using the 12+db setting from the hardware manager.

For what I'm going for, the vocals are going to be heavily distorted and all around messed up, so am I really risking losing anything by just increasing the volume of what I record after the fact? That's my main worry.

You shouldn't lose anything by increasing the volume of the recording, but doing that raises the noise floor which may or may not give you issues. It never hurts to try and let your ears judge the results.