levels

[cabbage]

hey there,

i have the mics and everything i need,

what are the levels that i am trying to achieve when recording??
someone said something about 0dbs?? can someone please explain
thanks,
C.

[Moonrider]

You'll probably find the articles on these pages interesting reading....
http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/articles8.htm

[apl]

Hey, cabbage.

The soundcard converts an electrical signal to a series of numbers using analog to digital converters. There is a maximum voltage it can convert and this is called 0dB. The smallest voltage increment depends on the bit depth, usually 16 or 24 bit. You want to use as many of the bits as you can. Since 24 bits is such a huge dynamic range, it's not as critical to try to squeeze every last bit of dynamic range out of the converters. If you overload your inputs, you will get very nasty digital distortion.

Hope this helps.