Fader Scale (not to scale)

[boji]

About to send out for some engravings...
Question: do manufacturers go to the trouble of perfecting fader plate scales such that they actually represent what's leaving the channel strips in some ideal scenario?
In keeping with old 536 circuit, this desk's fader boosters ought to hands out about +11dB, but start adding pre/post fade eq, aux outs, inserts and such...
So, should one make a stink of it, or let the marks be mostly arbitrary references?

fudge-it budget scale:

 

[dom]

The point of the scale is to give you a reading without pre fade eq, aux outs, inserts and such in the signal path though, right? I think in that case you would find that the scales on most professional desks are probably accurate to within ±1dB or so near 0 dB. No point in shooting for much better than that since that's probably about how much error will be in the user viewing angle.

I'd say if you have multiple channels (i.e. possibility for stereo pairs), then 1dB accuracy would be pretty nice to have. Just doing single channel, then ±3dB is probably good enough.

If you have some calipers or a good ruler and a sample of the fader you could take a couple of measurements relative to the screw holes to make sure your numbers are at least in the right ballpark.

 

[boji]

Thanks, made me test. Not bad until last few off by 10.
Now i'm in the rabbit hole of averaging across desk >.<

 

[PermO]

To lock two faders for stereo operation you can also get these "Fader Bridges"

https://www.canford.co.uk/CANFORD-FADER-BRIDGES
I need to get some of those myself...

 

[JohnRoberts]

Yes manufacturers attempt to make fader marking agree with reality, but large scale production over time can allow errors to creep in. The taper of typical potentiometers is screened resistive ink. This means the relative signal division should be consistent, BUT bulk resistance of inexpensive potentiometers can be 20%, so loading can cause errors if bulk resistance varies within that tolerance.

If the final production parts are not available when artwork is being generated that can be another source of errors.

JR

 

[ruffrecords]

Unless you are using P&G faders throughout it is probably not worth losing sleep about as long as you cal the gain of the channel at zero on the fader.

Cheers

Ian

 

[PermO]

I would be fine if my faders only had a correct 0 mark... that's what I use when I set my gains.
I like my faders to optically represent what's going on in the mix.

I think I might actually prefer that.

When I'm working faders while mixing I just sit with my eyes closed and listen, who needs fader scales when mixing ?

 

[boji]

Thanks for everyone's suggestions and info, much appreciated.

Modified scale: