Mic is on in the Studio. All is quiet. What is the dB level?

[Psuper]

I'm trying to find out what the average dB level reading is for a quiet studio with the Mic on ready to record.

I know much depends on what you are intending to record, so lets assume it's a singer who sings properly -- about 6 to 8 inches from the mic and controls his dynamics. And he averages the dB recording to just about -6 dB.

In theory you could say that in an amazing studio with top notch equipment and knowhow it would crazy low (-100 db or less (if this is considered crazy low)).
I'm looking for an average.

What is your standing dB level before you record your vocals in a studio environment (no shuffling or walking or scratching noises, etc)? Mind posting it if you know or could find out?

Thanks,

Psuper!

[bigwillz24]

If all is quiet there shouldn't be any noise...

[Psuper]

There's always some noise form something, like the deck or the pre or whatever might have the worst SNR in the chain.

That also assumes that the studio has absolutely no sound from anywhere ever which is not the case for the majority of studios, even pricey ones (from the heaters, air conditioning, plumbing, etc).

[Psuper]

I also am meaning from a level meter on the equipment or software, not a measured SPL.

[Harvey Gerst]

Overall chain, with everything up at normal recording levels, is around -72 dBFS at our studio. it's been as high as -55dBFS for some things, and as low as -78 dBFS for other things.

[bigwillz24]

Well my above answer was a joke.

I don't think you got it.

If you want to add up the SNR on every piece of equipment in the recording chain in your studio be my guest.

I wouldn't worry about it so long as your intended signal is strong enough mask out the unwanted noise.

Turn off the heater, ac, and don't use the toilet while you are recording and you should be okay.

I normally have about -60db give or take.

[Psuper]

True I didn't get yer joke.. but you need to work on your material cause I didn't see a punchline in there.

I needed to clarify what I meant anyways.

Thanks for the replies, if anyone else can post their studio's quiet levels before a recording I'd much appreciate it. I'm doing some dB research on things I have not been able to easily find. I don't have a proper studio, but am continuously improving my upstairs home studio. This information, tho seemingly arbitrary, is going to help me quite a bit, and hopefully others if they think about what I'm asking.


Psuper!

[soundchaser59]

I think I remember reading that average for a home studio was considered good if it was -60 or less. Anything below -70 is pretty good. All my noise gates close at around -45, and that's the cheap gear in the basement with all of its inherent self noise, cheap pre's turned up, etc.....

[thajeremy]

just to satisfy my own curiosity...I just hit record for about 10 to 15 seconds. While recording, the meters were around -72. When I played them back, they were more like -62. Wonder why they would be different???

[Foo-bu]

in most professional studios, they shoot for about -15db to -25db

it's impossible to get a 0 reading... unless you had a LOT!!!! of money to spend on structure design and acoustics

[thajeremy]

Originally Posted by Foo-bu

in most professional studios, they shoot for about -15db to -25db

it's impossible to get a 0 reading... unless you had a LOT!!!! of money to spend on structure design and acoustics

thats quite high....Im curious as to where did you get your info? I've had mixdowns that didnt hit -15db.

[LeeRosario]

I'm going to try to find some documentation I read on this. A standards in practice if you whill on the actual levels expected in a professional recording environment.


When you're top of the line, you got money for vacuum sealed quiet. That's when you can afford to.


But if you do your shit right at home and strive for close to complete quiet, something useful may be as low as -80dBFS in digital. I believe -92 dbfs being the lowest reading detectable on most home systems.


So the sound of a quiet room with the AC on low should be the loudest you can go without introducing noise that will be brought up later with compression and mixing in general.

Even your average PC, ceiling fan, outside noises are too much noise for good recording.

[Nick98338]

The lowest reading on my scale is -64. My noise level never hits that reading.

[Harvey Gerst]

Originally Posted by thajeremy

thats quite high....Im curious as to where did you get your info? I've had mixdowns that didnt hit -15db.

Foo-bu is talking about absolute SPL in a quiet room with nothing on - not the measured noise of the signal chain with no input signal.

[RezN8]

I'm reading -108db on average with the pres turned on but all the way down.

--The pres cranked all the way up: average about -71 to -78 with the "ol skool" oil boiler cranking hard the next room.

--With the heater off and pres set to around -6 db for vocals, I'm getting around -81 to -96 depending on the mic and the pre.

Foo bu is referring to the basic noise floor of pro studios- where 25db is considered nominal. Hope that info helps. Cheers, Rez

[LemonTree]

I was all set up to record some acoustic guitar earlier so I ran this test.

Signal chain> Studio Projects B1 > M-Audio Tampa mic pre, S/PDIF out > M-Audio 1010 S/PDIF in = -84.3db

Same setup but using the balanced analog out of the Tampa and into the analog in of the 1010 = -78.4db

The pre gain was set at 12 o'clock giving me peaks at -6db on loud strumming parts and an average of -10/-12 on normal parts

[David Katauskas]

Similar to LemonTree;
AT4040 -> Tampa -> Echo Mia analog = -77db

[studiomaster]

how do u measure the noise level(dB)?

[Adam P]

I just checked the vocal track from the last recording I did in Cool Edit. With the mic live and the playback cue mix rolling but the vocalist not singing, the level was -84 on Cool Edit's meter before the music began, and around -82 with the music playing back through headphones. Signal chain for recording was Oktava 219 into Allen & Heath board pre, two channels of Behringer compression on the insert point, and bussed to an input on the HD24. A quick check of one of the overheads shows -84 to -86 before the band starts playing, as well. Same signal chain, minus the compression. I'd guess my tracks averaged on the HD24 somewhere between -12dB and -9dB. Not too bad for a totally untreated, amateur setup.

[RezN8]

Originally Posted by studiomaster

how do u measure the noise level(dB)?

For my test, I used Total Mix and Digicheck which came with the RME Fireface 800. Great tools for monitoring signals across the board. I find the Totalyser especially useful for tracking and mixing.
http://www.rme-audio.com/english/digicheck/index.htm

Cheers, Rez

[JeffLancaster]

This thread got me wondering about my own setup so I tested a couple things. With my main audio interface (Seasound Solo) I am getting a level reading hovering around -56db in Sonar. This is with the pres off but the track armed for record. I wondered why this was so high compared to the other readings here, particularly before I introduced a mic to the chain. I then tried switching the input of the track to my auxilary soundcard (m-audio audiophile 24/96). This resulted in a reading which hovered around -85db. Comparing that to the results others have posted here, this seemed much more acceptable. So can anyone tell me why I may be getting such high readings from the Solo? Would it be the converters in this unit? Is this something I should even be concerned with?

[studiomaster]

thanks brother!

[JeffLancaster]

Originally Posted by JeffLancaster

This thread got me wondering about my own setup so I tested a couple things. With my main audio interface (Seasound Solo) I am getting a level reading hovering around -56db in Sonar. This is with the pres off but the track armed for record. I wondered why this was so high compared to the other readings here, particularly before I introduced a mic to the chain. I then tried switching the input of the track to my auxilary soundcard (m-audio audiophile 24/96). This resulted in a reading which hovered around -85db. Comparing that to the results others have posted here, this seemed much more acceptable. So can anyone tell me why I may be getting such high readings from the Solo? Would it be the converters in this unit? Is this something I should even be concerned with?

Bump...Still wondering about this. Anyone have any thoughts?

[rudibass2]

Close mic set up on drums with 2 overhead condensers with all gains at about unity on a Mackie 1604vlz . The two hottest mic's are the room condensers set at -10dbl gain . From Mackie thru a Tascam US -122 into a Dell 3.4 ghtz P4 set to optimum audio processing ( more processor noise ) .Adobe Audition 1.5 .

Carpeted 30 x 15 converter basement family room

-72dbl armed but idling ( left room channel bouncing to -65
when boiler in next room kicks in !! )

-85dbl armed and recording with no signal introduced*

target -12 with a few peeks in the -6 range


* seems strange that there is more noise on the meter when it's not actually recording .

[Chibi Nappa]

I don't really see the value of knowing what the level of the noisefloor in my home recording environment is...
-I'm already making everything as quiet as I can. If I saw I was hitting -45 or something all I could do would be shrug my shoulders and go "oh well".

-The noise floor has to be so frikken' high to be heard in rock/pop that it doesn't matter anyway. I don't think I could get the noise floor high enough to peak out over a rock drum set if I tried using modern digital recording equipment.