Changing volume in the DAW or in MIR?

[PaoloT]

Hi,

I'm trying to keep the individual instrument's volume next to the Natural Volume setting, in MIR. It works fine, and the balance is the most realistic one for a concert orchestra. Apart for fine-tuning, I don't want to move the faders too far.

But I find the need, sometimes, to adjust at a coarser value entire sections, or the occasional offending instrument. So, either I move the faders in the MIR mixer, or I do it in the DAW's mixer.

Is there any difference? I think the two controls are perfectly equivalent (the level going out of the DAW's channel, and the level entering the MIR channel). Or is there some other factor and difference I'm not considering?

Paolo

[Dietz]

Technically the effect is the same as long there is no dynamic processing used. 

As an example: If you use MIR Pro in Vienna Ensemble Pro, it might happen that you're using some gentle compression in a pot-MIR insert slot to "glue" things together. If you raise the volume be means of the MIR Icon the compressor will kick in earlier. If you raise the volume of VE Pro's output in the DAW the compressor's behaviour wil not change.

HTH,

[PaoloT]

Dietz, thank you. Yes, I would be careful of everything coming after MIR. In general, I use compression in the master output, unless it is a creative effect in a channel. So, changing the volume either in the DAW's mix channel or the MIR icon should be considered when looking at the compressor input.

Paolo

[Dietz]

To avoid misunderstandings: I was mainly talking about differences in the routings. :-)

Scenario 1: It doesn't matter where you change the volume when the routing is something like Instrument > Dynamics (or any kind of non-linear effect) > MIR Pro > DAW Channel.

Scenario 2: It _does_ matter where you change the volume when the routing is similar to Instrument > MIR > Dynamics > DAW Channel.

HTH,

[Dietz]

PS: All of the above is only valid as long there's no other bottleneck down the line, e.g. an analog insert, where you could easily overload the D/A or the A/D converter when changing volumes on the wrong end. 8-)

[PaoloT]

(Deleted)

[Dietz]

Oh - I was about to answer your question, but now I see you have deleted it. What went wrong?

[PaoloT]

@Dietz said:

Oh - I was about to answer your question, but now I see you have deleted it. What went wrong?

Hi Dietz, very sorry to have alerted you. Basically, I thought I could already have had an answer to my question by re-reading your previous answers, and doing some more tests and comparative listening. The resulting impression was that chaging the level in the Instrument panel of MIR PRO does the same thing as moving the faders in the DAW. One is sending the processed signal, the other receives it.

Since I still have the draft of my question, if you want I can repost it to give a sense to this exchange! 😊

Paolo

[Dietz]

@PaoloT said:

[...] The resulting impression was that chaging the level in the Instrument panel of MIR PRO does the same thing as moving the faders in the DAW. One is sending the processed signal, the other receives it. [...]

Yes, that's true. As long as there are no dynmaoc fader moves the effect will be identical. Just keep in mind that fader movements _after_ MIR will also affect the reverb tail (if any), while a fader movement _before_ MIR will only feed the room signal.

I tend to use pre-MIR fader moves for performance tasks (think "expression"), while I see the post-MIR-fader as actual mixing tool.

HTH,