Master Level Setting for Best Gain Staging

[aarondavid]

Hey All,
This seems like a mundane topic but I cannot find a clear answer to this. I am trying to figure out where best to set the Master Level knob for both recording and live use. I have a Piano 5 and also an Electro 4, usually I set the master knobs at about 3:00 position and run stereo into a Key Largo mixer. However, I have noticed that the signal output on Nord keyboards tends to be a lot lower than other brands for some reason. This is especially apparent when recording into a DAW, I have to boost the signal quite a bit on my interface to get anything usable.

This leads to my question about the master level knob, is there any official recommendation from Nord or elsewhere on where to set it for best gain staging? The goal is to optimize SNR, so it seems that setting it to max on the instrument itself makes sense because it reduces how much you need to amplify the signal downstream. Is there any downside to this? You always read about leaving headroom but not sure if that applies on the instrument itself. Does anyone have any insight or recommendations on this?

[dmamfmgm]

For live use with my NS3s, I have plenty of clean signal output for FOH (and headroom to turn up for solos) by setting the output of the NS3s to 12:00, the input on the Key Largo to 3:00 and the Main Out on the Key Largo to 1:00. Not once have I heard from a sound engineer that he needed more signal from me.

I don't have experience with levels with the USB audio out on the Key Largo.

[M_a_c]

Hi-

For many years, I have run all of my gain knobs at 2:00 to start for recording or live. That gives me an ~ -12db signal which works with my live mixer and my computer interface. Remember that all Nord instrument outputs are -10db unbalanced. Never have any discernable noise at all in my recordings.

-dj

[Berretje]

This leads to my question about the master level knob, is there any official recommendation from Nord or elsewhere on where to set it for best gain staging?

No, there is no recommendation from Nord itself. Just make sure that you gain properly at the endpoint (at the audio interface for example). For gain staging there are recommendations. There are plenty of video's/online tutorials about this. For live mixing I'm gaining at -18dBFS (0dB on the VU meter is equivalent to -18dBFS).