TBird
Wholenote
Posts: 298
Formerly Known As: greg1948
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Post by TBird on Sept 24, 2020 6:30:00 GMT -5
In ancient times, when music production was all analog, the rule of thumb was to record as hot a signal as possible to make sure you got above the noise floor. Slight forays into the "+ VU" area were good. Now, in the digital realm, I avoid any peaks into the red to avoid that resultant nasty distortion. I've been using my Zoom R16 8 input digital recorder at my band practices. Good unit, the Zoom, but the meters are very small (3-4 bars) and hard to work while playing and recording. I keep the input gains pretty low while recording.
I import the tracks to Logic Pro X for tweaking and I have to raise the gain on most of the tracks 5-15 db. I don't hear any audible "noise" in raising the gain, but I do wonder if there is such a thing in digital recording.
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Post by FlyonNylon on Sept 24, 2020 9:37:37 GMT -5
I try to record around -24 to -18db or so. then mix to peaks around -6 then master to -1db. My meter usually shows around -70db or of ambient noise (from computer, A/C etc) and it's not noticeable (to me at least).
Often use a high-pass filter on the tracks that get amplified the most and if there's still some noise I use a Waves noise reduction plug in. I'm sure it's not professional but ambient noise is definitely not the limiting factor in my music sounding professional! lol.
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Post by ninworks on Sept 24, 2020 10:49:23 GMT -5
-18dBFS on a digital meter is equivalent to 0dBVU on an analog meter. I usually try to keep my digital recording levels topping out about -12 to -15dBFS. That leaves a lot of room for unexpected peaks hitting the DAW. Even with inexpensive digital converters noise is not much of an issue these days so it's not something that needs worrying about. That level will also make your plugins in your DAW perform better since that's the level they were designed for. That's a whole can of worms in itself.
If you have the manual for the Zoom unit it might be a good idea to see what the levels are when each of the bars in the meter are illuminated. That way you can get some kind of idea of the level of the signal being recorded.
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Sept 24, 2020 12:23:51 GMT -5
^^THAT^^ is key to getting the hottest signal before distortion: learning how your equipment responds and controlling gain levels at each input in your signal chain.
In the old days it was D'arsonval meters, and little bounces into the Red Zone were acceptable but not always reliable in their peak detection abilities. Then they added a peak LED on the meter to catch the transients the little needle couldn't 'see'.
That's what I use now...just the peak LED. Before I do a take, I do a scratch take and play a bit harder or sing a bit louder while monitoring the peak lights. I make adjustments on the fly and that's how I set my levels. It's not how the pros do it, but I'm not a pro and it works for me.
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TBird
Wholenote
Posts: 298
Formerly Known As: greg1948
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Post by TBird on Sept 26, 2020 6:37:30 GMT -5
I'm just amazed that even though my input levels were low, I was able to up the gain enough to make a useable signal without boosting noise. If that were an analog signal, adding that much gain would likely add some serious white noise.
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