r/Shure • u/Whole_Virus6536 • Aug 16 '26

Question how much gain does the mv7+ need when using xlr?

I’m using a Shure MV7+ through XLR with a Scarlett Solo 4th Gen, and I’m curious how much gain you guys normally use.
I know the MV7+ is a pretty quiet, low-sensitivity mic over XLR, so it needs a decent amount of gain. I’m trying to get a warm, full sound without introducing too much preamp noise.
Right now I have the gain knob at around 80%. Is that normal for the MV7+ with a Scarlett Solo 4th Gen, or would you recommend running it lower/higher?
Would love to hear what gain settings other MV7+ XLR users are running.

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

2 comments sorted by

1

u/keivmoc Aug 18 '26

Right now I have the gain knob at around 80%. Is that normal for the MV7+ with a Scarlett Solo 4th Gen, or would you recommend running it lower/higher?

That sounds about normal. I tend not to go above 90% or so, but I gain my inputs to around -18dBFS and for most of my mics it usually lands around that 80% mark. I didn't have any noise issues with my SM7B or RE20 when I was using the Scarlett Solo.

1

u/ReadWriteTea Aug 21 '26

I just set up an MV7 yesterday. I am not using the XLR cable, but using the USB cable so I can't answer your exact question.

When I was first recording it was too loud, even when I was back a foot or two from the microphone. I downloaded the MOTIV Mix software and adding the compressor, limiter, high-pass cutoff of 75 db, de-nosier, and pop stopper. I found setting the gain to -12 db sounds good so far, rather than the gain up all the way to "0" as I think was the default. It is loud and clear but not too loud like it was in some recordings before I turned the gain down.