An ink-jet recording apparatus comprising: a recording head that includes a plurality of nozzles discharging ink droplets, pressure chambers, each of the pressure chamber communicating with the nozzles, respectively, and a pressure generating unit causing ink in each of the pressure chambers to be discharged out of the nozzles by varying the volumes of the pressure chambers, respectively; and a drive signal generating unit that generates a drive signal applying, in one pixel period, at least one drive waveform for causing the ink droplets to be discharged, wherein the ink-jet recording apparatus is configured to operate the pressure generating unit by applying the drive signal to the pressure generating unit to make the pressure generating unit cause the ink droplets to be discharged out of the nozzles, wherein the drive signal generating unit is configured to be capable of generating a small droplet waveform, the small droplet waveform includes an expansion pulse to expand the volumes of the pressure chambers, a pause period, and a contraction pulse to contract the volumes of the pressure chambers, and the expansion pulse width of the small droplet waveform is 0.8 AL or longer but 1.2 AL or shorter, where AL represents a half of an acoustic resonance period of a pressure wave in the pressure chamber, characterised in that the drive signal generating unit is configured to be capable of generating a large droplet waveform,the large droplet waveform includes an expansion pulse to expand the volumes of the pressure chambers and a contraction pulse to contract the volumes of the pressure chambers, and, the expansion pulse width of the large droplet waveform is 2.8 AL or longer but 3.4 AL or shorter. a recording head that includes a plurality of nozzles discharging ink droplets, pressure chambers, each of the pressure chamber communicating with the nozzles, respectively, and a pressure generating unit causing ink in each of the pressure chambers to be discharged out of the nozzles by varying the volumes of the pressure chambers, respectively; and a drive signal generating unit that generates a drive signal applying, in one pixel period, at least one drive waveform for causing the ink droplets to be discharged, wherein the ink-jet recording apparatus is configured to operate the pressure generating unit by applying the drive signal to the pressure generating unit to make the pressure generating unit cause the ink droplets to be discharged out of the nozzles, wherein the drive signal generating unit is configured to be capable of generating a small droplet waveform, the small droplet waveform includes an expansion pulse to expand the volumes of the pressure chambers, a pause period, and a contraction pulse to contract the volumes of the pressure chambers, and the expansion pulse width of the small droplet waveform is 0.8 AL or longer but 1.2 AL or shorter, where AL represents a half of an acoustic resonance period of a pressure wave in the pressure chamber, characterised in that the drive signal generating unit is configured to be capable of generating a large droplet waveform,the large droplet waveform includes an expansion pulse to expand the volumes of the pressure chambers and a contraction pulse to contract the volumes of the pressure chambers, and, the expansion pulse width of the large droplet waveform is 2.8 AL or longer but 3.4 AL or shorter.