I understand, and I've seen quite a few engineers wrestle a board using the
trim to allow them to set their
fader around zero. The problem is this approach affects the drive to all the sends for that
channel. So, if I adjusting
trim to keep my
fader at a certain location, then I am also affecting the drive to the
monitor/effects/
aux send for that
channel. Not a big problem when I'm running a split to a separate
monitor console, but if I'm driving monitors from
FOH then I'm playing havok with those sends. I'm also changing the drive to my outboard compressors, meaning any time I change the
trim, I have to reach over and change the
threshold on the
comp for that
channel. I like being able to have a pretty good idea I'm sending 0 to the
comp, and that setting the
comp threshold to -6 is, in reality, -6 to the
fader.
Regarding the faders, I use them to my advantage to get a visual of relative loudness on the
stage. If my vocal
fader is pushing +3, and my guitar
fader is at around -30, then I've got a pretty good idea that the
stage is getting hosed down with loud guitar, which then helps me to make decisions about getting those
gate threshold a little higher.
But, bottom
line, if my
trim is not being used to set
gain structure relative to 0, then I really will have no idea what
level I'm sending further down the path, so, then I can forget about managing
headroom or properly
gain staging my outboard racks. Granted, lots of this is a moot
point if I'm driving a digital
console using all onboard dynamics processing and a
stage split and separate
monitor console.
I spend much more time on analog boards, and while the majority of the time I'll have a split to the
monitor beach, I'm still driving loads of outboard, with perhaps 10 or more channels of comps on inserts, and it's a lot easier for me to set my
comp thresholds to 0,
trim my
channel inputs to 0, and the lower my thresholds as needed to squash any glare, then grab the make-up
gain on the
comp while soloing to bring my
level back to 0 before it gets squirted out to the effects sends. That way I'm not fighting to match levels futher down the
line.
I guess maybe it is a preference, but if the goal is to optimize
headroom (both in the board and
thru any outboard hardware), lower the noise floor, and prevent
clipping at the same time, then using
trim just so my
fader will line-up will not get me there.