Is there a rule of thumb with setting levels?
 

forinstance in my own setup I have a bunch of hardware going through a motu i/o 24 with everything sequenced in cubase. so i can set levels at several different points.. i.e. on the hardware units, the motu, or in cubase or wherever else thereafter.

I can sometimes get myself in a guddle say for example like where i've maxed the levels on the motu but some of my hardware volumes are only half way up or just a general mish mash here there and everywhere.

so how is this played, is there a general rule of thumb involved?

I would say at the very least, you would want your analog signals (being converted to digital) to be as hot as possible without any clipping. This is your foundational material that you will be working with in your daw so you want as much clean raw material as possible.


(then you can go to town on that material in the digital domain)

Basically the output should be as loud as possible, and the input should be set accordingly to maintain optimal signal to noise ratio but avoid clipping.

10/4 thanks