Scarlett Focusrite Sound and Gain Settings

Report · Aug 24, 2020

Hello! I recently switched from Logic to Audition because I was having a lot of issues with Logic. The settings on my Logic were actually perfect with my focusrite I had the gain a little over a 1/4 of the way up, and everything sounded crisp and clear on the recorindg. Once I switched to Audition I left the settings the same, and the podcast was SO blown out and clipping that I had to make the audio streams a -20 to -30 DB to make it even listenable. So the next time I recorded a podcast I put the gain all the way down and it still blows it out when I listen to the recording through headphones. Like it;s going into the red unless I pull the sound down and turn the DB down.

Once I listen to the podcast on Apple podcasts, it's really quiet and I have to turn it up so far so I know it needs to be up higher during editing. BUT I can't make it higher or it is distorted and sounds terrible. So Anyway, I 'm wondering if there is a setting I have to change, or something on the backend to make them align better? If not I think I'm going to jsut go back to Logic because at least it sounded good even if it was hard to work with.

Any help is apprecaited! Thank you

Report · Aug 25, 2020

There's more you need to tell us, I'm afraid. I'm assuming it's a Mac you are doing this on, as Apple cruelly deprived PC owners of Logic some time ago. But what we really need to know is exactly what's plugged into what. Which Focusrite is it, and what mic have you got plugged into it? It does seem rather strange that this should happen; Audition is notorious for recording only what it's sent from a sound device - nothing more, nothing less, and it has no means of altering this at all. So you've either got a very strange monitoring situation going on or something else is happening. So more clues are required...

Report · Aug 25, 2020

Sorry about that! I was previously using my Mac for Logic, but I also have a Lenovo I use for all of my editing because its just more equipt for what I need it to do. It is a scarlett focusright 18i8 with a spot for 4 microphones on the front. I use audio technica at2020 mics. This is what I am using to record my podcast so I am using the first two spots on the interface! On audition I set up the scarlett in audio preferences, and it seems as though the only way for it to play back and export propely I have both tracks set to Master, and Mono1 and Mono2. So that could very well be my problem! I just feel as though some sort of settings are incorrect because of how loud it is, and how much it distorts. I never ran into this on my Logic so i'm stumped.

I hope all of that info helped, any advice is welcome. Thanks!

Report · Aug 26, 2020

If you use the PC, then which driver are you using for the Focusrite? In the Device Class setting in Edit>Preferences>Audio Hardware you should have a choice, and if ASIO is in there, that should be the one you use. At this point you shouldn't need any track or channel in Audition set to anything other than Master in order to get correct results - and all of the levels are set by the 18i8. In order to establish the basic settings, you should also make sure that in Audition's mixer, all the faders are set at 0dB, otherwise all bets are off when it comes to sensible monitoring levels. When you set it like this, Audition is effectively 'transparent' when it comes to playback levels - what is fed in from the interface is fed back to it at the same level, and all you need to do is establish a sensible listening volume. When you look at the mic levels going into Audition (you might need to explore input monitoring options here, to get the metering to display input levels without recording - there are several options) you should adjust the mic gains on the 18i8 so that they peak at about -12dB, which will leave enough headroom for sudden excesses (like shouting, etc).