I've always been curious about this. I got into a habit of dropping my system volume to 85% to stop the laptop speakers distorting.

Does it make any difference to the overall recording and mixing process?

 

This is a good question... i had this same question many years ago ;)are you hitting an external soundcard befor the monitors? mine is set to 100 by default on one of my soundcards so i would say yes... i know back in the old days reducing volume on say windows volume would result in bit depth lose,but if im correct todays modern systems upsample on any volume reduction by say windows... lets see who else chimes in on this one ,but both my systems are set at 100 my friend ;) EDIT >>> i wanted to ad that im hitting another power source befor my monitors so mine sets windows volume to 100 by default

 

Last edited: Jun 21, 2016

50-85%
Never at 100 or lower than 50

Honestly, no idea if it makes a difference, I'm just used to this now

 

10% usually but my daw isn't influenced by it, asio volume is indipendent i think.

 

Always 100%. I use my external amp to change volume if needed. Guess it's just a habit once you set it at a certain level.
I'd like to know if there are any differences having the volume high or low. Static, other noise, distortion?

 

Actually, I used to always have it at 90. But since i got an external sound card, i just haven't bothered changing it from it's default 100. Still I can't hear anything different in terms of quality, distortion etc...

 

I will, in my best voice of authority voice say, "Since the soundcard is the AD and most probaly the DA also, onboard sound is bypassed so it makes no difference". If I am wrong, I will meekly apologise.

 

ASIO and Digital outs 100%, always use ASIO drivers for musicproduction.

Realtek and usual onboard devices for websurfing and skyping etc:
way lower, in my case max 20%, but i have a pimped motherboard with extra audio chips
http://www.gigabyte.de/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4683#ov

dont forget to check the onboard drivers sound "manipulations" in Windows, like equalizers and compressor or pitch or virtualsurround (depending on soundchips/drivers).

 

yeah leaving it at 100% and hitting the greenwaves

 

I use a Presonus interface connected to my monitors and don't even have any sort of speakers connected to the built-in audio, so my computer volume I just always keep on mute.
It has absolutely zero effect with the way I have my system setup, as I use the Presonus interface for all audio.

 

ASIO out (RME TotalMix). Not OS out.
Always 100%, or 0dBFS out, for optimal quality. Then control volume on my amp (Munrosonic EGG 150) and my dedicated headphone amp.

 

No, mostly around 25% because i will turn the volume up at my (hardware) soundcard around 90%.
Better SNR i think? but i could be wrong don't know it for sure.

 

Only 100% could be considered bit-accurate stream, so it's always advisable to run at maximum, especially when running your interface through WASAPI.

 

locked at 100%
i control the volume through my sound card which is connected to amplifier where connects the speakers

 

100% because otherwise it throws off my external metering. Monitor Station handles all the leveling.

If you want your monitoring path to be clean, you need to hit it at a right level - so for example having my computer at 5% and monitor station cranked all the way will introduce colour and noise.

I was gonna mention this, but I wasn't too sure if it was true, thank you.

Basically by turning down your computer level (which is digital) you start chipping away at the bit depth, for example you're sending out a 14-bits worth of signal plus 2 unused bits. The lower part of the signal gets truncated at -144dB or what ever it is for your bit depth.

 

Since the Windows mixer doesn't control ASIO anyway, I don't really care. The drivers of my interface even disable these faders.

 

@MYCbeats
"so for example having my computer at 5% and monitor station cranked all the way will introduce colour and noise."

No man,that is called the "Bill Gates analogue saturation phenomenon" in the pro community.

 

So i have done it always wrong i guess?
Do you guys have any sources which i can read?
I read somewhere in the manual to use around 90% ouput level or somthing like that and lower the computer output for the best (recording) results. Have to look up again to know for sure
Could be wrong :x ...i

 

I use a sound level meter and measure the SPL coming from the speakers to my ears. 85dB to 90dB on the loudness scale is good for mixing.