levels from a 57

[ecc83]

In another thread I can't atmo find, Bobbsy, quite rightly slightly admonished me for giving a level into an SM57 as "Mary had......"

Sooo! I have done a much more objective recording of pink noise.

This is reproduced from my Tannoy 5As and the first part reads 90dB C SPL on my £15 Maplin meter.
The second part is at 74-75dB C SPL which is generally reckoned to be in line with the level of the spoken word. WAS! Going to say you can see the waveforms are very different but I have forgotten to do the screenshot!

Oil be bek!

Dave.

 

[ecc83]

Ok,
You can NOW see that whilst 90dB gives a good fat waveform, 75ish is quite small.

Note also noobs that although 90dB SPL is quite loud, 45 seconds of it is quite enough, the meter in Samplitude is only registering about -10dBFS and the mic gain was at max on the Scarlet 8i6 interface.

Hope this helps.

Dave.

 

[rob aylestone]

I think this is a great post and makes the point so clearly that looking at waveforms really confuses people. Any newcomer, looking at those two waveforms would conclude that the second one was far, far too low.

15dB isn't really very much in practical terms, but looks simply a huge jump! Worth bringing people back to this topic when they get all scrupled about maximising levels.

 

[DM60]

Great post Dave