How to record a decent signal without clipping.

[Shorn Hertz]

Using studio one pro to record vocals, i have my focusrite 2i2 knob all the way down, so as to not exceed -12 even when the singer/rapper is shouting. At this level the input is super low, you can even tell by the build of the wave forms.

Should i crank it up? or it is okay to let the singer put in a powerful performance and not peak past -12. help please!

 

[Steenamaroo]

The meters are the important reference point. The visual representation can usually be zoomed in/out.
If your meters are peaking at -12 or whatever safety point you've chosen, don't worry about how the waveform looks.

Arguably, the most important thing is that you don't clip and the second most important thing is that you don't hear hiss/noise.

 

[BroKen_H]

Steen says true, if you're recording at 24bit, you have a lot of headroom. As long as it doesn't hiss when you get it to matched level, you've got a good track. It's not about turning the knob all the way down or half way up, it's about making clean unclipped data.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

Turn your backing track down 16dB or so using whatever is Studio One's equivalent of Clip Gain. Then turn your monitors up 16dB or so.

Aim for average levels of -18dBFS on all tracks (maybe lower on percussive sounds).

 

[miroslav]

Assuming that all of the tracks shown are at the same zoom level.....the track at the top is substantially louder than your vocal.
How did you get that nice, healthy level for that track...and yet such a whipmy vocal level...?

Is the top track a recorded level, or did you pump it up after the fact?

 

[Armistice]

I hope you've told Iggy...

 

[JimmyS1969]

Assuming that all of the tracks shown are at the same zoom level.....the track at the top is substantially louder than your vocal.
How did you get that nice, healthy level for that track...and yet such a whipmy vocal level...?

Is the top track a recorded level, or did you pump it up after the fact?

The top track is likely a mastered (or at least highly limited) backing track that was purchased or downloaded. He already turned the fader down 13dBFS, but that does not affect the waveform representation of the imported track.

See, find it here: LINK

And Iggy knows. It is a free download.


All advice given is good.

 

[Shorn Hertz]

Thanks for all the replies.... but when i turn all the tracks down so low it wont come back up to commercial level not even with a limiter or compressor on the master bus.

any suggestions?

 

[bouldersoundguy]

He already turned the fader down 13dBFS...

Good point. But he still needs to turn it down more and do it with clip gain if possible.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

Thanks for all the replies.... but when i turn all the tracks down so low it wont come back up to commercial level not even with a limiter or compressor on the master bus.

any suggestions?

Don't worry about commercial level until the mix is done, then export a wave file and master it as a separate step.

 

[Farview]

First, you can turn the recording level up about 6db and still be perfectly safe.

Second, turning down the backing track should not keep you from being able to turn tue whole thing up later in the process. Remember, the final volume happens after the mix, in a separate pass, when you are trying to match the levels of all the songs you are doing.

 

[Shorn Hertz]

Don't worry about commercial level until the mix is done, then export a wave file and master it as a separate step.

thanks for this point bouldersound, what i need to do then is put more effort and resources into understanding mastering as a complete different process

 

[Shorn Hertz]

First, you can turn the recording level up about 6db and still be perfectly safe.

Second, turning down the backing track should not keep you from being able to turn tue whole thing up later in the process. Remember, the final volume happens after the mix, in a separate pass, when you are trying to match the levels of all the songs you are doing.

alright. im just worried tht after a song is finished then my song will come on after and be super low at the same volume. i will continue looking into it

 

[Farview]

If all you do is turn it down, there is nothing preventing you from simply turning it back up by the same amount.

However, once you add the vocal and any other instruments to it, it will add level. So you might have to use a limiter or something to make it happen.