JeffLancaster
New member
OK, so I just got a new SPL meter and I thought I'd use it to check the db level at my mixing position. My understanding is that it's a good idea to monitor at around 85 dba. So, playing a reference track I had loaded in Sonar with the fader set at 0db, I adjusted the trim on my monitors so I would get an "average" of 85 dba with the control room output on my interface set at the 1 o'clock position. I say average, however, because that was my best guess - the actual meter readings were fluctuating from around 80 dba all the way into the 90's.
Is this the way this is normally set? It seems like I had to do a lot of guesstimating as to where an 85 dba average was (I assume the 85 is supposed to be average spl, not peak?) The other thing I was hoping to check is that I was getting a perfectly equal signal level from each side. But with the constant variation in signal level, getting this perfect would be nearly impossible. So, I was wondering, should I be using some sort of a reference tone instead? And if so, what frequency? Finally, since different material plays at different actual volumes, should I be trying to compensate for this? Or should I be aiming for 85 dba from each side when my meters in Sonar are holding steady at some particular level (and what would that level be)?
Thanks in advance, folks. Perhaps I'm just making things more complicated than they need to be, but I have a tendency to sweat little details. Once I get this worked out, I hope to use the meter to try to identify variations in acoustics throughout the room (won't that be fun ).
Is this the way this is normally set? It seems like I had to do a lot of guesstimating as to where an 85 dba average was (I assume the 85 is supposed to be average spl, not peak?) The other thing I was hoping to check is that I was getting a perfectly equal signal level from each side. But with the constant variation in signal level, getting this perfect would be nearly impossible. So, I was wondering, should I be using some sort of a reference tone instead? And if so, what frequency? Finally, since different material plays at different actual volumes, should I be trying to compensate for this? Or should I be aiming for 85 dba from each side when my meters in Sonar are holding steady at some particular level (and what would that level be)?
Thanks in advance, folks. Perhaps I'm just making things more complicated than they need to be, but I have a tendency to sweat little details. Once I get this worked out, I hope to use the meter to try to identify variations in acoustics throughout the room (won't that be fun ).