Record using line in

Hi. I'm trying to record from my keyboard to PC using line in to Audacity with the least noise level. Does anyone know which is the best combination?

1. Should I keep the keyboard volume high or low?
2. Should I keep the line in record volume high or low?
3. Should I silence the noise before amplifying the track or should I amplify before silencing the noise?

I need to do a piano track with somewhat decent dynamics and piano voice but I'm only looking at recording using line in due to hardware/software limitation and time constraint

Thanks in advance!

keyboard volume as high as possible. make the line in gain as loud as possible (the loudest dynamics should be just (a few dBs) below clipping point (-0.0dB)).
there shouldn't be any noticable noise, when there still is, you're in dire need of a new soundcard.

good luck.

Originally Posted by robertn

you're in dire need of a new soundcard.

Thanks In the very end, I managed to work within the software limitation. I'll check out line in recording again when I get a new soundcard. It's nice to finally feel ready to invest