When it comes to getting a great recording in your studio, so much of the final mix stems from the basics: proper mic placement on a good source in a decent space. But part of that is proper recording levels. Obviously we don’t want our levels to be too quiet so we don’t have enough gain to work with in the mix. Likewise we don’t want to be hitting the “red” every time either. So how hot are ARE we supposed to record? Well, if you are recording digital (i.e. with your computer) then the answer is “probably not as hot as you think.”
Noise Floor
It used to be that engineers tried to get as much signal on a track to mask the inherent noise of things like tape hiss. The goal was set your levels to be as hot as you can get without clipping. This went a long way to keeping the audio as “clean” sounding as possible. In today’s popular digital audio workstations (DAW) we aren’t recording to tape or using a ton of noisy analog gear. We have a much quieter noise floor with a lot less to “mask.” In fact one of people’s biggest complaints with digital recording is just how transparent and accurate it is. It’s quiet…a little TOO quiet!
Digital Clipping Vs Analog Clipping
Another major thing to keep in mind is that part of the “sound” of analog recording is the natural distortion or saturation that occurs when you overload the signal to tape. It smears and softens audio in a way that is actually quite pleasing to the ear. Many engineers purposefully would push their gain pretty hot when recording things like drums to tape, knowing they could get this killer sound if the meters were hanging on the edge of disaster so to speak.
This is not so with digital recording, at all. When you clip in Pro Tools or any other recording software you get nasty, ugly, harsh, brittle, digital distortion. Not pleasing and not useful to your sound. You don’t even want to dance anywhere close to clipping on any of your individual tracks or the master bus, ever.
24 Bit Is A Live Saver
So here’s the great thing about your DAW. These days we all can have access to recording at 24 bit. These extra bits basically give you a ton of headroom. If you record at 24 bit you have upwards of 144db of dynamic range. What does that mean? You can record at lower levels into your system and still have clear, noise free audio ready to rock.
So don’t record so hot. If your meters are jumping up to -6db or -3db consistently then you’re probably rocking to much gain. Dial it back a bit so you’re hitting just half way to two thirds up the meter. This is subjective of course, but the point is you have no need whatsoever to “record as hot as you can without clipping.” That old axiom is just irrelevant to us digital users.
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Good Stuff Graham, Thanks
This is absolutely one of the best Audio Blogs on the web.
Thanks so much guys!
Good post, just wrapped up a recording where I kept all the tracks level @ zero,
end result the master peaks 3/4 up. Previous stuff I would try peaking all tracks to just under clipping, then it played havoc on the master always clipping.
Good info I had no idea I was recording too hot.
Seems that the issue of recording at Unity and Beyond crops up daily in the various blogs. Which basically means, much harder to control the temptation of recording Hot then it appears on the surface. I have always forced myself to record below unity (and I mean forced). However, you indicate that even a -6 to -3 db may be a little hot. My hand may shake but I will draw down some more. I have experienced clipping on the master channel and wondering whether I need to push downward.
I read an interesting rule on another site – Once you get the channel at a level where you “think” it is not to hot – Bring it dow 3dbs more. May be overkill but interest way to force you off the DB addiction.
As always thanks for the great insight…
Marc – I know what you mean. It goes against everything I feel in my bones sometimes. But digital clipping is just so bad, it’s not worth playing close to that line. Thanks for the comment!
[...] Have you ever been sweating over a mix only to find that you push the snare drum up a db, then pull it back down. You add more 'verb to the lead vocal and then wonder if that was the right thing to do? Maybe you are wondering if what you are hearing is even too hot. [...]