Record levels
- Thread starter BTStudio
- Start date
Reaper, is infinitely adjustable I am told so you can probably fix that. Samplitude Pro X6 has several meter variants.I just checked Reaper and my fader meters go straight from green to RED! LOOK OUT !
And just one point? No matter where you make your original recording, peaking to -3dBFS or down at neg 40, when you resolve the track DIGITALLY to the desired level you will not affect the original signal to noise ratio.
Dave.
BTStudio
Active member
GONZO-X
Well-known member
have you actually tried recording at the middle and two extremes of your gain range?
have you listened to the sound of the hot recording, versus the very conservative recording, versus the more industry standard -18LUFS with at least 3-4 db of headroom?
you will decide based on your own experience.
when you use low end convertors and preamps as the ones you describe,
i would err on the side of conservative.
24 bit recording allows for very low level recording to be brought up without bring much noise.
if you have good source tracks, and good convertors.
BTStudio
Active member
That’s good advice. I actually just started trying to do some comparing the other day and will continue that until I get some sort of results I can use. Thank you
Guy
Papanate
Well-known member
Thank You.Yah listened to River, friggin awesome sounding
bidenntrumpp
New member
Well, digital recording along with pretty dead quiet mic pres in even basic interfaces gives you a lot of room to adjust things after the fact, but -18dB doesn’t mean much by itself. Is that peak? RMS? LUFS? Eyeballed nominal? And, then what and/or who are you recording and what will you do with the tracks? An experienced session player can be dialed in tightly while your buddy from high school probably needs a little more room so the stray peaks don’t clip.
bouldersoundguy
Well-known member
You treat -18 dBFS like we used to treat 0 dBVU, as the signal's approximate middle point. It should spend time above and below that mark. For percussive sounds, maybe focus on the peak level and keep some space between that and 0 dBFS.
I don't see how LUFS is of any use during the tracking or mixing stages.
TalismanRich
Well-known member
You can't really measure LUFS at the time of recording. It is calculated from data over the entire recording, which hasn't happened yet. You could say short term LUFS but that's like a 3 second snapshot, and if you set it "wrong" the recording has already passed and ruined it. So you need to be looking at peaks and average levels.
I like to try to set things so that the peaks are in the -5 to -8 range. However, if you don't know what the real maximum values will be, like recording a drum, then you need to be more conservative. It's easier with something like an electric guitar, where you can hit a chord and see how loud it can get. As long as they don't turn up the amp, you're good. Likewise, get right on the mic and do a loud vocal and you can get a good idea of the max.
If you're recording 24 bit, then losing 10 or 12dB from the top won't be much of an issue.
I like to try to set things so that the peaks are in the -5 to -8 range. However, if you don't know what the real maximum values will be, like recording a drum, then you need to be more conservative. It's easier with something like an electric guitar, where you can hit a chord and see how loud it can get. As long as they don't turn up the amp, you're good. Likewise, get right on the mic and do a loud vocal and you can get a good idea of the max.
If you're recording 24 bit, then losing 10 or 12dB from the top won't be much of an issue.