JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques Recording Studio and Gear Forum Going into the red

Hey guys, to tack on to this thread,

I'm setting up shop at church to record the Steinway there and my vocals where I have a natural nice reverb room sound. Just getting my studio up and running again and this time using my Sony VAIO laptop, not the Mac with GBand.

I understand about not going into the red - but I'm having some popping (even on lower volumes) that sounds like clipping and I'm not going into the red at the loudest. But distortion is there.

I'm at most in the "dark green" zone before the red.

What do I need to set my gain/level at?

I'm concerned that setting it too low will pull in room "hiss."

What's worse??
(popping, I think)

Any ideas for me?

Thanks!!

Linda