"Don Pearce" wrote in message


Do bear in mind though that the signal levels involved in mics are
minute - they don't come anywhere near the voltage swings that cause
all the problems later on in the amplification chain.

While that is a good guide, it;s not a general rule. Many condenser mics
will put out a pretty respectable line-level signal if you provide a very
loud acoustical source.

And also applying a subtle distortion to a single instrument doesn't
have anything like the same effect as applying that same distortion to
a multi-instrument mix.

Agreed. The IM effects you get with one instrument may be euphonic, while
the same levels of the same kind of distortion as applied to an orchestra
can be fairly distressing to any ear, even those belonging to tubophiles.