Hi Will, just curious because I often record low and boost later to avoid overloading (edirol r-09 as it happens).

You say "Which means that I have to whack the level up with Audacity - which means that the level of ambient noise on the channel is also increased." In my non-technical brain this is a digital recording so I would assume that ambient noise would be at the same comparative level regardless. Using tape would be a different matter with tape noise.

Am I wrong in that assumption (simple science please!)? If so I must start using a higher level.

Thanks, Nick