How to record ( analog to digital levels)

[cdawson]

Hello;

I have been recording for years. My first discussion is going to be on input levels. In the digital world zero is the max you want your analog level to read on your meter. ANYTHING ABOVE WILL BE DISTORTED. I like to keep my input level at around minus 5 with peaks just barely touching zero. This gives me the clearest signal to my machine. If the instrument you are recording has more of jump than this there are ways to control the level. The most used is compression. You can also live with bringing down your input and allowing for higher peaks in your recording. say jumps of minus 15 db to zero. The most important thing to remember is your ear is always true. make different settings and listen to your recording. Keeping your levels near zero will insure that you are getting the best recording that is possible from the equiptment you are running.

Have a great day

illumination.name

 

[tourettes5139]

ok........................................

 

[Dr. Jeep]

Um.....radical.

Can we start an unsolicited advice thread now?

 

[snow lizard]

What if this kind of signal level clips the preamp or A/D converter?

What about sonic decimation from having to turn the printed signal down to fit it into the mix?

What's headroom all about? Transients? Bit depth? Sample rate?


Thanks,


sl

 

[Cloneboy Studio]

I'm of the opinon that
Doing what you suggest
It's not the best advice
Often times recording isn't
That difficult

 

[snow lizard]

I'm of the opinon that
Doing what you suggest
It's not the best advice
Often times recording isn't
That difficult

That's a terrible haiku.


sl

 

[Massive Master]

Keeping your levels near zero will insure that you are getting the best recording that is possible from the equiptment you are running.

Have a great day

Keeping your levels "near zero" means you're WELL into the available headroom of whatever gear you're using before the converters.

Keeping your levels near where the equipment wants to be (usually between -18 to around -14dBFS with occasional peaks) will insure that you are getting the best (blah, blah, blah)...

We're talking about 24-bit digital audio here - What you're suggesting wasn't even "normal" for 16-bit. In 24-bit, getting "a level" is usually getting a level that's hot enough.

Otherwise, you have a great day too.

 

[peritus]

.....Silently watching this time..

 

[gordone]

How not to die (when crossing the street)

Look both ways before crossing the street

Um.....radical.

Can we start an unsolicited advice thread now?

 

[bigj]

Since we are on the unsolicited subject...Master...i know im a newbie and stuff, but!
You mean i want to get the signal in a high enough level of recoding, but low enough for headroom? -18db...im talking about any recorded signal here...so ie..

I already have an instrumental track, compiled and everything (reggae shit) and im recording the vocals in it...I should keep the level of the mic/input around what you said, right? meaning that in order for me to monitor myself i would have to lower the Instrumental down to that level and then if needed raise the output level to get decent volume in the Headphones?

Im not saying nothing new...im just new at this and well, just was doing things the complete oposite way, more or less like this dude with the thread was talking about. Maybe that's the reason, im never satisfied with the recordings somehow!

 

[Massive Master]

Could well be... Almost every time I post this stuff, I get several e-mails a week or so later from people who were "burning" their input levels about how much better their mixes sound.

There are so many contributing factors though -

Not the least important is what was covered - Digital was never meant to be louder - It was meant to be *more* dynamic than analog. And "nominal levels" have really never changed even from the early days of digital - Back when DAT machines started poppling up (normally the analog studio's first digital piece) the "normal" level to mix to was at around -12dBFS. -12dBFS was essentially equated to 0dBVU. That left you 12dB of headroom for peaks. A decent amount.

In 24 bit, 12dB is so petty, it's ridiculous. Think of it this way - If you record something that *peaks* at -47dBFS, you're *still* getting better resolution than a compact disc. Of course, there's no reason to go that low. You also want to keep the analog gear in the "sweet spot" of around 0dBVU (that's keeping the "meat" of the digital signal somewhere around -14dBFS or so).

Another part is the engineer's concentration - SO many people put SO high a value on high volume at every single step (which is just plain bad when you actually think about it) that they don't even pay attention to the *sound* when they're recording. I've seen it happen I don't know how many times. Someone will spend 10 seconds getting a sound and 10 minutes trying to maximize the level at the input - not even realizing that the sound was crap to start and is only getting worse with the additional gain.

Working at levels where something REALLY has to happen to get close to clipping is freedom - Get the level at a decent level, then don't even pay any attention to it. It'll be fine. Concentrate on the sound. Everything else will fall into place eventually.

Most people are (sadly, IMO) going to use up all their headroom at the mastering phase anyway - But think about it... And I might have a littel experience here...

If you're going to use up all your headroom, do you want to use it up on every single track, every subgroup, every buss, every effect, every compressor, every aux, every main buss (etc.) -

Or do you want to use it up ONCE - After the mix already sounds good...?

Of the clients I have that put a high value on the volume of a finished project, almost without fail, dynamic mixes with conservative levels from start to finish have a MUCH higher *potential* for sheer volume than those that have whored themselves to get every last bit at every possible chance.