VRS8 SUPPORT PAGE

• • • Don’t worry if the meters look lower than you’re used to in your DAW. That’s the dBFS scale. Your DAW is generally calibrated
      to make sure you have headroom. The VRS8 panel shows you just how much.
    • Read about dBFS here
    • Read about line levels here

• • • More about CMRR
    • More about Balanced Line

• • • Connect to the second speaker and turn everything on. No noise? Great! Move on.
    • Connect the interface to the computer and fire everything up. Connect only necessary computer peripherals like keyboard and mouse –
      no powered USB hubs yet! No noise, great!
    • Run some signal to your interface from the computer and check that the signal is clean.
    • Now add any additional equipment one piece at a time and check for noise after each one.
    • When you encounter noise, look for multiple paths to ground. This includes USB cables, audio cables, power cables, etc. Even a
      physical connection to another piece of gear, or rack, can cause a loop.
    • The absolute best way to wire a studio is to use balanced interconnects. Properly used, balanced connections greatly reduce the effect
      of ground loops.

• • • Wikipedia article about ground loops
    • Jensen paper about the fundamental science of ground loops
    • Rane has an amazing resource here

• • • Check that all of your cables are balanced and the shield is intact. A simple cable tester will often suffice.

Amplifier Stages

Preamplifier (“Preamp” or “Pre”) Gain

• This is usually the first amplifier stage and is used to raise the source signal to “nominal level.”
• Raising the source to “Nominal Level” implies taking a signal of low level (like a mic or direct instrument) and bringing it up to the range of what we would call “Line Level.”
• It can also refer to bringing a signal that is above the range of line level, or outside the norms of line level, into the range of “line level

Preamplifier output

• Many preamps have an output trim or fader.
• Best practice is to have this set around “unity” or no change unless an adjustment is required.
• Sometimes this adjustment is necessary if you wish to “drive” the preamp hard but retain “nominal line level” at the output of the preamp. This was often done in original Neve 1073 preamps because the higher gain settings actually switched in another amplifier card and to some people “sounded more Neve-y.” The channel out fader retained the relative nominal level even though the preamp was riding a little higher than would be necessary.

Line input

• This refers to the stage after the preamp where the signal is fed line-level into your interface’s DAC.
• If you are using the VRS8 mic preamp, this happens internally
• If you are using an external line-level source, pathing into the VRS8 Line Input passes you through a variable line-level gain stage that is controlled by the same knob as the preamp.
• This could also be the line input of a console, an analog recorder, or any other line input

Signal processing

• EQs, compressors and other signal processors can add and subtract level. Best practice is to adjust the processor so that the desired effect is achieved but the processor can be bypassed without a significant change in gain. This is so you can make good decisions about what the processor is doing.
• Some signal processors do not feature make-up gain or trim controls. Often times an audio engineer will add another fader or trim control in series with these processors to maintain “unity gain” up until the mix fader.
• Signal processing can be “pre-fader” or “post fader,” just like an auxiliary send. The “fader” in this case is the channel fader referred to below.

Channel Fader

• The final fader to the Mix Bus is most often where adjustments are made to create the desired “mix” or “balance” of signals. If nominal level and unity gain have been well maintained through the recording process, the channel faders will give you a good visual reference of your relative levels hitting the mix bus. This also gives you the best signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio.

Mix Fader

• The Mix fader in general should hover around unity, making small adjustments to achieve your desired mix. Often automation is used here (as well as the channel fader) to make detailed small moves that can greatly impact the mix fader

Mix Insert

• Many engineers like to perform some amount of EQ, compression or other processing at the mix bus. The concept of unity gain still applies here – processors should be able to be put in “bypass” without too much change in gain, so you can best judge the processing. Also, the closer you can maintain unity gain, the better your S/N ratio will be.

• • • Be sure that all your critical connections are balanced at both ends.

• • • Are you running an outboard preamp into the VRS8 preamp input (XLR pins of the combo jack)? Use the TRS input when connecting
      outboard line-level equipment.

• • • Poor gain staging can cause this, as the differential signalling used commonly in balanced audio has limits on it’s efficacy.