Peak Ceiling at -6db?

Olli43

New member
Hi there,
I'm a self taught voice over guy who has been through plenty of microphones from the AT2035 to the Sennheiser MKH 416 and even the BPHS1 but I've landed on the SM7B. I've also been through my fair share of audio interfaces and I've recently invested in the RME Baby Face Pro, however I have a question regarding hitting a ceiling (not sure on technical terms) at -6db.

Why is it that on some interfaces, I can peak the microphone all the way up to 0db but on other interfaces the same microphone peaks at -6db?
I'm not really using a lot of that head room but I just find it odd that I can't use it and wondered if there's an obvious explanation.
016bdbf287ddf63dabe19ba26f79e24f.png

Like I mentioned, I'm been doing VO for 3/4 years being self taught but with that, there's obvious gaps (simple as they may be) in my knowledge.
Thanks for reading.

p.s Just to clarify, I use windows, I have updated drivers, and I have spent time trying to understand this. I don't want to come across as a lazy forum question post.
 
It is the microphone sensitivity spec.

The SM7B is well known for having very low sensitivity and many interfaces do not have preamps with sufficient gain to lift that mic’s recording level to that of other mics, so an additional preamp is sometimes used.

However, you shouldn’t ever be targeting 0dB for recording and a peak of -6dB is the highest most of us would want to see, IMO.

(That pic looks like a very shaved off/limited or clipped wave.)
 
Two things that caught my eye in your graphic were the shaved (Limiter inserted or are you clipping?) wave form and the max'd-out mic slider, on Audacity.

What happens when you pull the Audacity Mic input slider back, just a touch? That referenced section (between the timelines), in your pic, shows the signal to be hitting a brick wall. How high do you have the mic gain set on the RME, going in to Audacity?

I probably record hotter than I should. But, I try to average -12dB, with peaks tickling -6dB. I will bring it up to specs, with light compression, afterwards.
Dale
 
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Two things that caught my eye in your graphic were the shaved (Limiter inserted or are you clipping?) wave form and the max'd-out mic slider, on Audacity.

What happens when you pull the Audacity Mic input slider back, just a touch? That referenced section (between the timelines), in your pic, shows the signal to be hitting a brick wall. How high do you have the mic gain set on the RME, going in to Audacity?

I probably record hotter than I should. But, I try to average -12dB, with peaks tickling -6dB. I will bring it up to specs, with light compression, afterwards.
Dale

Thanks, that's exactly my question, strange isn't it? I haven't applied any limiters or anything, I just blew the mic out as much as I could to show that the interface has a brick wall at -6db but with another interface the brick wall is at 0db(which is what I would expect).
I try also to hit between the -12 to -6 but just found this one odd.

Thanks,
 
Is there a software mixer that comes with the interface? That could be turned down, which would cause the clipped signal to only register -6 in the daw.
 
Is there a software mixer that comes with the interface? .

^^^ This. Since you have to manually apply effects in Audacity, I am also inclined to believe there is an OS or RME software-setting, in the background, especially since a different interface doesn't create the same result.
[MENTION=199765]Olli43[/MENTION] - you said you "blew it out" <<-- with compressed air, or metaphorically? (sticking diaphragm)
Dale
 
I am with Dale, there might be a limiter set in the RME pre amps, neg 6 is in any case about as high as you would ever want to track on an exceptional peak!

I have had a good 5 minute wade through the Babyface manual but can find no reference to such a limiter. I would however be interested to see the TotalMix meters under the same conditions?

Dave.
 
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