Tutorials?

The frist to examples: One is centered, the other one is panned all the way to the right. Not a good basis for comparison.

Also, it seems there is a lot of reverb on the first one. And is a different part. I'd also say that's more (less?) than slightly less gain.

Is it the same guitar and pickup and same volume/tone setting on the guitar?

You haven't connected the POWER AMP out to your interface, have you?

What exactly is connected to your interface?

And also, can you make a screen dump of your saffire mix control settings?

Can I get you to take a bigger screenshot?

I see you're on a mac. You can define the screenshot area by pressing Shift+command+4; that lets you select the area, and the screenshot is placed on your desktop.

Exactly which output from the kemper, and which input on the saffire?

Better, but very reverb-y

What did you learn from focusrite?

Also, is this double tracked, one on each side?

The -12 thing is mostly important when tracking, and here the panning has no effect (that happens after the recording has taken place).

You are recording a mono track; how much of that track goes to each speaker is something that happens in the DAW, so you don't RECORD centered or RECORD panned - you pan it afterwards.

The reason the meter has a higher reading when panned is due to something called "pan law". Different daws have different versions of it, but basically it is to compensate for something; namely how the sound pressure from the speakers relate to the level set on the track fader.
IF you have a track panned center, you have sound coming equally from both speakers.
If you disconnected the right speaker, you basically have the same SOUND as before, but now there is only ONE speaker blowing it out. Thus, the sound is not as LOUD.
Pan laws basically turn down the sound as the panning moves from the far side to the center to compensate for this. It seems like your pan law is set to -6 dB in the center. Other "pan laws" have other magnitudes of this effect (typically +3 or +4.5)

There are three reasons to keep the recorded signal at -12, or possibly -18 or -24 if you're going to have a lot of tracks.

1) Avoid clipping: WHILE RECORDING, as this cannot be fixed later. shooting for -12 on the peaks should make sure that even if you strum harder during the recording, there's still headroom.

2) Mixing: Some plugins are NOT exactly designed to handle material that peaks at 0 (yes, you CAN clip a plugin depending on how it is made - it's just not as obvious when it happens, but it alters the sound, especially if several plugins and tracks do this)). When I mix a song, i play the whole thing through with all faders at zero, and see where each one peaks (with the master fader muted, so no sound), I then put a gain plugin AS THE ABSOLUTE FIRST PLUGIN IN THE CHAIN, and use that to turn down the level to -12 or -18, depending on number of tracks. But this is a concern for mixing, and it doesn't seem like you're at that point yet.

3) Summing. All tracks are "summed" on the master fader, so if you have 20 tracks that peak at -3 dB, then the master will probably clip (depending on the material), So this is another reason for keeping levels low - and lower if you are going to have many tracks.

I *THINK* the pan law is applied AFTER the plugins. So -12 is probably fine.

Otherwise, the thing to do is to shoot for -18 db on the peaks when setting levels, before recording, that way you should reach -12 db when panned far left and right (which you often do with guitars in a mix). That's what I would do, beacuse I'm anal about not getting too high levels. Remember to set the level while looking at the corresponding input strip of the focusrite Mix Control - NOT in the DAW.

-18 IS NOT TOO LOW (if you record in 24 bit depth). You compensate by turning up your monitors

A little story: In the olden days, they often calibrated their meters so that their "zero" were at the levels where the saturation of the analogue gear kicked in, so anything below 0 was a clear and clean signal, and above that was where the saturation kicked in as you turned up the fader or gain.
That 0 would often be around what is shown as -24 on our meters in the daw today. That's why -24 dB is NOT too low a level to record

(again: provided we use 24 bit depth resolution)

Quote from PhilUK84

Okay I understand some of it. The rest I will refer back to when I need to.

Because the speaker isn't sharing the load, it's now taking the load of the whole track.

My concern with having the peak too low, and it might be born out of ignorance, is that if I want it to be loud and proud for the average person when they listen to it, would it not be lower when they play it back? Or will the panned peak make it the same volume? Could I just increase the track volume to compensate or could that cause clipping too?

It's not +6 I think anyway. I think it's around +3.

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Re. speaker load: no, you're kind of thinking about it backwards

A Pan control basically just gradually turns down the signal to the left speaker when you pan it to the right. That's all a Pan control does. Which means as you pan more to the right, there's less volume coming from the left speaker. Thus, there is less volume heard in the room.

What a pan law does is COMPENSATING for this. the pan law comes into effect when you pan, and says "OK, Phil has now turned the pan control on the track all the way to the right, so the guitar is only heard from one speaker, meaning the volume of the guitar that Phil experiences is now half as much. I'd better bump up the signal going to that speaker, so it doesn't sound like the guitar is suddenly much lower in volume". (this of course happens gradually over the pan sweep, not just in the far positions).

Does that make sense?

With regard to loud and proud to the average listener: Yes, you are right, depending on number of instruments, compression and alot of other things. But basically, when you are done mixing, you bump up the master fader before you bounce. This is a huge simplification, but the general idea is that you turn up the volume of the master, not the individual tracks. This is in reality done with compression (during the mixing phase and POSSIBLY mastering) and limiting (only during mastering).

Does that make sense?

Yeah, I use Logic too, and I think ALL the virtual instruments are WAY too hot.

But I don't think you've been listening when I tell you to TURN UP YOUR MONITORS. If what comes out of the speakers isn't loud enough, then turn the SPEAKERS up; NOT the faders!!!

For the logic drummer, turn DOWN the track fader. Keep the master fader at zero. If the master goes into the yellow or especially red, turn down the track faders of all the individual tracks.

And again - if not loud enough, turn UP YOUR SPEAKERS.

Quote from Michael_dk

Yeah, I use Logic too, and I think ALL the virtual instruments are WAY too hot.

But I don't think you've been listening when I tell you to TURN UP YOUR MONITORS. If what comes out of the speakers isn't loud enough, then turn the SPEAKERS up; NOT the faders!!!

For the logic drummer, turn DOWN the track fader. Keep the master fader at zero. If the master goes into the yellow or especially red, turn down the track faders of all the individual tracks.

And again - if not loud enough, turn UP YOUR SPEAKERS.

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Yep this is a common problem i hear about lots make sure your speakers/monitor station is turned up

Hitting yellow shouldn't give clipping, but I still prefer to keep it lower.

When you say you use your headphones to monitor - is that while playing, you mean? Or when listening back also?

Try turning on your speakers to check the output level. I think You'll be surprised.

Which headphones do you use?

I'm assuming you have them plugged into your focusrite interface.

There are many other problems than volume when listening through (small) computer speakers. Things that should be addressed when mixing the tracks on proper monitors (and reference speakers). Well, there are many issues when other people listen PERIOD (that should be addressed during mixing). But that's for another time. I wouldn't be too concerned about all that now. But I think you need to learn the very basics of recording and mixing from the ground up, that will help you more than anything.

Also: Can you post a screenshot (of a proper size) of your mix control window?

Quote from PhilUK84

When playing I use the headphones and also when monitoring I also use the headphones later on at night but otherwise I use my monitors.

Because lots of people use sound cloud and phones etc I like to hear what the volume is like on my laptop, so I'll also have a quick listen via that too on for volume, not for mixing. Is that not representative in any way?

Turning the volume on the monitors up won't make up for a low overall volume, how do you combat that?

I use Audio Technica ATH M50's. Is this better?

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A quick search on the internet gives me the impression that those headphones are generally regarded as good, but has low output volume. Maybe your laptop speakers have low volume as well. And so forth.

Don't judge volume of the mix by such things. You can judge other things, but that's for another time.

If the master shows output peaks of a good level, the material is loud enough. Adjust volume with your monitors/headphones. The latter may be an issue if the headphone out of the interface does not give you the volume you need.
You can also look at the mix control (DAW 1&2 meters) when playing back over laptop speakers. If these are at a decent level, the "overall" volume is fine.

When you say turning up monitors won't make up for low overall volume, you're thinking about it backwards. Low output speakers will affect your volume, but they will do so also for a professional CD.

A professional CD has been mixed and mastered and will have a louder "overall" volume - i,e, average level as opposed to just peaks. Read up on the term "compression" for an explanation. But again, that comes AFTER recording.