Gain staging synths

[SynthWizard]

0			0

Gain staging synths

Does it make a difference as to whether I set the channel gains on my mixer to 0 and then calibrate my synths’ master volumes/levels to make the average signal 0dB on the VUs, or if I turn the master to an arbitrary setting and then simply calibrate gain for a near-zero average reading on the VUs?

Also, any other general gain staging tips or advice for a synth/pedal/analog mixer setup? I noticed there’s a lot of back and forth between unbalanced and balanced connections, but for the most part short cable runs seems to make this irrelevant. I also have a floating ring connection in a couple of my TRS cables coming out of my synths and going into my balanced mixer, but the mixer manual claims the 1/4” connectors can support balanced or unbalanced, so not sure if that’s the reason I haven’t (yet) experienced noise from this or if I haven’t played it loud enough on my outputs to notice it.

Thanks!

submitted by /u/Real_Mulberry_8585
[link] [comments]