Simple gain staging question

[davecg321]

In the manual for my firestudio project it states to "set the input level near its maximum without clipping"

This would equate anywhere from -6db to -0db going if we are going by the reading on the little led meter the interface.

This makes no sense when it comes to the common practice of gain staging, that being recording a signal somewhere between -10 and -12 dB. If I recorded everything at -6 dB or "as close to clipping" I would risk clipping intersample peaks and generally overcooking things as the mix builds up.

So what's the deal?

 

[gecko zzed]

Generally speaking, a strong signal has been regarded as being better than a weak signal, so long as it doesn't clip. With 24 bit recording, you don't need to worry so much about setting "the input level near its maximum without clipping", though it's not going to do you much harm.

The fact that you might be recording stuff at "close to clipping'" is really immaterial, because you don't need to playback and mix at the level.

So you may have half a dozen tracks that are pretty hot . . . so just turn them all down a bit.

 

[Massive Master]

It still blows my mind that they'd actually put that in the manual... It's not the only one.

Proper Audio Recording Levels | MASSIVE Mastering Blog | The Rants and Ravings of an Audio Mastering Engineer

Anecdote: Working with an orchestra & choir recently -- During the "really loud part" I tweaked the input to around -15dBFS (which, go figure, was tapping 0dBVU on the preamp meter). Somehow during the recording, everything got considerably louder and peaked around -4 or -3dBFS.

And lemme tell ya - That part sounds like crap. I'm sure most people won't ever notice it, but it's "tight" and distorted. No, it's not clipped and wrecked - But it certainly could've been better given an "honest" sound check...

 

[bouldersoundguy]

In the manual for my firestudio project it states to "set the input level near its maximum without clipping"

That was good advice in the 60s. The people writing pro audio manuals have been copying that line and pasting it into pretty much every manual they've written ever since.

 

[Farview]

It is old, outdated advice. I agree with the copy/paste assessment.

There are a ton of reasons why, in the past, this was decent advice. But the only reason it's in the manual now is laziness and/or the person putting the manual together doesn't know anything about proper gain staging.