What is your recording level DBFS?

  • Thread starter Thread starter jaynm26
  • Start date Start date
The only "safe" meter to look at is the one in the recording software because different interfaces/soundcards have different sensitivities.

My own 2496 cards for instance hit 0dBFS for ~2V in and so when I run my ZED10 at 20dBish below that the (excellent but useless here!) meters on the mixer are barely showing.

No audio interface I am aware of has other than one gain control per channel (maybe a pad) and so there can be no gain staging, just crank for neg 18 or 20 in the DAW and you'll be right.

FYI: The actual converters have an very low overload point of just a volt or two so when you see "pro" interfaces that run -18dBFS at +4dBu this is the result of some very carefully designed, very wide dynamic range electronics.

Dave.
 
With 24 bits, I try to have the peaks no louder than -6 dBfs. Don't care about the RMS - - as long as the peaks aren't clipped, it's all good.

Usually it's not a problem - my audio interface has this deal where it'll auto-set all 8 inputs during a 10 second interval so peaks are no louder than -3 dBfs. (This is a major time saver when micing up a drum kit!) Once I do that, I pull down all the faders on my console by 3 dB, and end up with peaks hitting -6 or so.
 
I make sure none of my peaks go over 12dbfs, don't mind the rms level as it varies so much between instruments..
 
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