Been trying to learn a bit more recently about setting up gain stages and the like, although most of the stuff I've found on the net quickly baffles me with all the 0 db whatever stuff (I'm not the biggest techie!). Does anyone know of any good sites they could recommend on this kind of thing, maybe something that doesn't require a PhD to decipher?

The reason I'm trying to learn it is because I'm stuggling to get my set up tweaked right. I'm using a Mackie 1402 desk, with my 909 and other synths going into it, aswell as a few outputs from the computer. This all then feeds through to a compressor over the mix bus.

If I understand it right, the gain path starts off from the instrument, so I've got my 909 giving out full volume. On the desk, I've got the fader pulled down on the bass drum channel and the grain cranked a little to give some wicked sounding fat distortion. But what I'm finding is that the master leds on the desk are peaking well over 0 - they are still all "green" but I just get the feeling I don't have much headroom left.

I can control this with the compressor to get a fatter recording, but something tells me the leds on the desk should just be hitting under 0 and staying away from the top peaks. Any ideas / advice on what I'm doing wrong and how to improve?

Thanks y'all