Change record level on udb sq drive

[TheFollower]

First time poster. New to A&H digital. Ran a GL series many years ago. First observation, the manual is weak.

This should be easy but…the record level sending MainLR to the sq drive is VERY low and we can find no way to raise the audio level.

Thanks
Stephen

[SQuser]

A separate level setting for the sq-drive does not seem possible at the moment and may not even be wanted.
The level to be recorded is identical to your LR level.
If it is very low, is also your LR very low and the level within the entire console.
But you could at least gain up to 10dB if you send your LR through a matrix for recording.
You could also think about using groups or separate aux mixes for recording.
If you do not need such high levels for your outputs (e.g. sound reinforcement), you could also reduce the levels of the connected equipment or power amplifiers.
This would allow you to operate the console in a better “range”, which would then also result in a higher level on the LR.
And finally, it would still be possible via an “external patch”.

[Hugh]

All audio quality and delivery efficiency is controlled by first establishing an appropriate initial gain structure for each input, then the console followed by balancing the FOH speaker stacks. Any shortcuts are fools gold that will come back and bite you in the end!
Hugh

[KeithJ A&H]

@TheFollower

In short, this may be because of the difference between metering in the console and dBFS – used by most computers and apps.
0dB on the meter = +4dBu at the line outputs = approx -18dBFS

In long, please check the following article which explains in more detail and has a section at the end titled ‘Why to the USB output levels seem really low?’ (including ways you can trade headroom for output level)
https://support.allen-heath.com/hc/en-gb/articles/4403616287889-General-Levels-and-Metering-in-A-H-Digital-Consoles

Thanks,
Keith.

[TheFollower]

Thanks for the input.

I will share the article with my partner and we will review the gain stages. We set it up similar to our previous console; however, A&H is a learning curve for us and perhaps we missed something.

We have not tried running MainLR thru a Matrix but it shouldn’t really be necessary.

We took a recording into Audacity and the waveforms are terrible. Our standalone digital recorder gives us a waveform which is many times stronger.

Stephen

[Brian]

“We took a recording into Audacity and the waveforms are terrible. Our standalone digital recorder gives us a waveform which is many times stronger.”

How is the stand along recorder hooked up? Is it on an output that has some sort of additional gain staging applied (perhaps compressor make up gain, etc) that the Audacity audio doesn’t have? If not, then perhaps it’s something in the Audacity software that is reducing the gain structure.

That being said, I agree that the problem will likely be found if you review your entire audio chain looking for places where gain is added or decreased. If you are dramatically adding gain somewhere outside of the preamp gain setting, you are doing it wrong and this could be the reason your USB audio is so low while your PA audio seems to be at normal levels. For example, the make up gain on a compressor is suppose to be used to “make up” the gain lost to compression so the output of the compressor closely matches in input level of the source prior to the compressor. It’s not suppose to be used to gain up the signal past what the source signal was before the compressor although you can certainly turn it up so that the output levels are much higher than the source input level was. If someone then adjusts the preamp gain on that input to “fix” the high volume level, now the preamp gain that is potentially driving the recording level is much too low even though the “overall” volume of that input sounds the same through the PA. That’s just an example of one potential place where your gain structure could be messing with the recording gain structure.

You’ll need to look at the individual inputs as well as any busses/outputs. If you have multiple outputs (PA vs USB, etc), then check each output as well because it is very possible to add gain to a specific output without affecting other outputs.

[Mark]

Consider increasing the trim on “Global Direct out”. I was running +6 db and we started recording individual tracks from our church service. I thought that was a bit hot so I went back to zero and found that too low. I’ll go with +4db next week.

We’ve been recoding direct to a USB thumb drive using the 48K rate but last week we saw about 30 errors after an hour service. The recording seems ok though and the drive has been formatted a bunch of times. Maybe it’s time a for a new drive. We were using an inexpensive USB 2.0 drive.

[tourtelot]

Not to hijack the thread but lots and lots of posts on trouble with recording to a lot of media types on the SQ-Drive, especially USB sticks. I found that using a USB external drive (either spinning or SSD) AND USING AN EXTERNAL POWER SUPPLY seemed to cure all the SQ-Drive recording problems for me. FWIW.

D.

[Andre S]

Many users are happily recording using SSDs instead of USB Sticks. Samsungs T5 or T7 is working pretty reliable. If the volume of your recording is too low but clean, you could normalize the files in your DAW.

[tourtelot]

My Samsung T5 gave me tons of problems on multi-tracks as small as 8. Just my experience. I think we always need to talk about stereo v. multitrack when speaking of reliability.

D.

[Tobi]

I have No Problems with EVO 860

[Andre S]

@tourtelot: Wow, that´s strange. Sorry to hear that. I use my T5 every week to record between 20 and 32 channels (@48kHz)…

[nottooloud]

That’s part of the A&H USB story. Some work, some don’t. I was astonished that they carried the Qu code on to the SQ, instead of building something robust.

[Author]

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