Tracking Levels

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digmudvayne4lif

digmudvayne4lif

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Hey, I was wondering what are the best levels (in db)to track at for each instrument(guitar,drums,bass,vocals) or should they all be tracked at the same level?

Also if one is just recording a song with just acoustic guitar and vocal, what would the levels be set to? or would they be the same as a regular song?

Thanks
 
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do some experimenting, your ears will tell you.


There are two thing to consider that i am aware of, one is what you are recording to, digital or analog. Anolog (tape) responds musxh better to being pushed on signal strength. The way digital works, whe it distorts the signal when clipping, it sounds extra bad so you basically want to track quiter because any clipping is going o stand out as suck.

the otehr factor is that you need to leave headroom for mixing. Especially with 24 bit or more digital recording, you have the capability to record a pretty hot signal. When you start to sum these signals together across tracks, it can pusht he total mix into the hated digital clipping zone as the tracks together are louder than they are seperately. So finally, many people reccomend you track at about -12db to leave headroom for these tracks to come together. That said, you could probably record at -6 db easily without clip at peaks, but this might mean you can;t really combine it with other tracks as well.

Last, do not expect your mixes to be as loud as a pro studio, that is achieved with equipment that costs more than most home recordists can afford, and through mastering techniques after the final mix is made.

Daav
 
thanks. im particuarly interested in the acoustic guitar db tracking level though. Is there any suggestions for that. Oh, im doing this digitally
 
Unless it's a digital guitar, the signal is analog until it hits the converters.

SO - You're looking to run the preamp at around 0dBVU.

If your preamp has no VU meters, look for a digital signal around -18dBFS with all else at unity.
 
no im just micing the acoustic so i guess is anolog till the computer, should it really be that low though? i was doing it at about -9dbs. Why would it be best to trak it so low? Anyone else have another volume that they like to record acoustic guitars at? Also, what about vocals? thanks
 
-9dBFS isn't "low" by any means - It's around 9dB *hotter* than nominal (again, depending on the calibration of the converters).

You're thinking "digital" - You have to think about how the front end is designed to run. I don't even pay attention to digital meters when I'm tracking (except to make sure they're "on" to some extent).

But using normal levels (somewhere around 0dBVU on your input chain) you're going to have to have quite a spike to clip - That's somewhat the point of the headroom - to allow the input chain to run properly and unimpeded. It's not there to use it all up before the signal even hits the converters - It's there so you don't have to.

That "rule of thumb" (recording around 0dBVU) pretty much goes for just about anything - Except certain extreme percussives (cowbell, tambourine, glockenspiel, etc.), overheads and what not - You'd probably want to be considerably lower on those.
 
Very informative thread for a newbie like me :)

So, the db that is shown in cubase isn't translating directly to the db on the mixer?
Or am I misunderstanding something?
 
Lomas said:
Very informative thread for a newbie like me :)

So, the db that is shown in cubase isn't translating directly to the db on the mixer?
Or am I misunderstanding something?
Click to expand...
That is correct. The mixer is dbVU where 0 is where you want to be, kind of the middle of the scale. Cubase is dbFS where 0 is the top of the scale, so you need to build in headroom for the transients.
 
Lomas said:
Very informative thread for a newbie like me :)

So, the db that is shown in cubase isn't translating directly to the db on the mixer?
Or am I misunderstanding something?
Click to expand...

I think most folks would say you want to track at around -18db or -16db or so in the reopcrding software, this will give you the headroom as you add tracks for the total mix to get louder without clipping or preventing you from boosting certain things to get them to cut through better or the like.

It is really common to think everything needs to be super loud when recorded or it isn;t good. THe opposite is normally true-- the loudest stuff tends to lack clarity because the digital forum doesn't like to be pushed.

Monitoring is a big part of gain staging- if you have decent monitors and power to push them cleanly, you will be less likely to push the levels too much when tracking and mixing. i ahve very bargian monitors (Warfedale 8.1As) but these were a huge improvement because between them, the interface, and my mixer (My monitoring chain is comp-> interface-> mixer -> active monitors) the signal can get pretty loud wihtout stressing, so I can listent to the actual signal, not all the amplification between it and my ears.

Daav
Daav
 
Aaah! I will remember this :) Yeah I've been pretty much pushing the levels as loud as I can go without clipping thinking it was the best thing to do. No wonder it sounds like shit! Or wait...maybe that's thanks to my guitar skills ;)
 
-- the loudest stuff tends to lack clarity because the digital forum doesn't like to be pushed.
Click to expand...
No, it's the *analog* gear that doesn't like to be overdriven. Digital doesn't care - As long as you don't clip, you can run it right up to the rim.

But to run a signal up to the digital rim, you're going WAAAAAAAYYYY over the analog rim in most cases - Not to the point of clipping the analog gear, but it seems as if a lot of people think that analog clips like digital - "Perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect, CLIP.

It's not like that - Analog is "Perfect, a bit saturated, a bit more saturated, squishy, pinched, distorted, horrible, CLIP.

In either case, "CLIP" is "failure." In digital's case, it's sudden failure. With analog gear, the distortion and crappiness adds up - *then* failure.

So its not the digital signal that's lacking clarity when it's being pushed - It's the accurate digital picture of the analog chain on its way toward failure.
 
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