Recording Levels

[ecc83]

i record on reel so i go heavily over 0 level

But that is a relatively modern fashion. Back when people were recording "proper" music, classical concerts and opera, "acoustic" jazz, big bands. They watched levels like a hawk (and over here most tape guys used Peak Programme Meters, those colonial things being "Virtually Useless"!)

If "0vu" equals a flux of 32mMaxwells/mm then you are recording at something like 3%THD or something like 1,000times the distortion produced by a Behringer Xeny 802 at +4dBu out! Probably nearer 10,000 times the round trip distortion of the best digital systems. You are also generating the most horrendous intermodulation products and all this is frequency dependent!

No, the recording engineers of old were artist/technicians who could read scores and follow the music and "ride the faders" to keep noise and distortion at tolerable levels. Even when Dolby A came in many "classical" recordists eschewed the full 10dB of noise reduction to keep distortion below about 1%.

Now everything is smashed at the -.01dBFS wall. But there IS hope! New "loudness" regulations. We can but hope.

Dave.

 

[snow lizard]

"those colonial things"?


If I am to understand that correctly, it's such a pompous statement it's hilarious!

 

[ecc83]

"those colonial things"?


If I am to understand that correctly, it's such a pompous statement it's hilarious!

Well! I am always pleased if I can bring a little hilarity to the proceedings! But it wasn't my joke* and is a very old one.

The VU meter has its uses and devotees of course but the BBC quickly found that something better was needed to monitor levels sent to transmitters and it was therefore only logical to fit such meters to tape machines. Tape does of course overload fairly gracefully (but not if pre-distortion techniques are used) but discs do not and cutter heads are expensive!

The PPM is an expensive metering system compared to VU. Not only is the meter movement more costly but there needs to be some quite complex support electronics. The Old Guys must have thought it worth the do!

It is also the case that as soon as the recording fraternity could do so cheaply, they augmented the VU with peak indicating LEDs and in fact moved over in many cases to LED strings and peak reading bar graphs.

*Leave us not start in with "drummer" jokes!
Dave.

 

[snow lizard]

Interesting thoughts.

My understanding of the VU is that there was some effort involved to make the ballistics intentionally slow as to prevent the reading from excessive flutter. Hard to get a solid look at a butterfly's wings in flight, sort of thing. They're absolutely useless for determining peaks of course, but easy on the eyes if you're more concerned with averages. I don't see peak vs. VU as "one is better than the other" given they both have useful function.

If that fails, there's the Stevie Wonder method. Paraphrased:


"There's distortion on that track"

"Nope. The meters don't show distortion anywhere"

"Cover them with masking tape - then you'll have to find it the way I do."



Having said that, every meter that I own is peak reading.


I was just more amused at the "colonial" comment. I'm fine with what anybody likes for meters.


Also somewhat intrigued at the mention I've seen periodically that the Royal Family is of German lineage.


Oh, and there's a t-shirt I saw once that said,


Dumb
Dumber
Drummer







OOPS! Erm, sorry about that

 

[ecc83]

Oh! You can razz the royals off as much as you like! I don't have much time for them ('cept Kate, deff do 'er) .
The colonial thing? Just that UK Radio went PPM and the US stayed with VU. But then the BBC WAS world renowned for technical excellence (not so much these day!) and peak reading for transmitters IS the best way to do it. There were other splits across The Pond. CCIR/NAB, reff' flux, and I always find it odd that a nation that fought so hard for independence retains IMPERIAL measures!

Rock on!

Dave.