Comments on: Setting Levels for Recording

By: Joe Gilder

Joe Gilder — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 05:38:20 +0000

There are 144 possible “volume measurements” in a 24-bit digital system. That’s where 144 dB comes from.

Noise floor simply means the volume level of your system BEFORE any audio passes through it. NO system is 100% silent, so while your 24-bit system may theoretically have 144 dB of dynamic range, the system itself may be putting out 20 dB of noise, so your noise floor would be 20 dB, leaving you 124 dB of usable dynamic range.

Hope that helps!

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 01:26:03 +0000

What do you mean when you say you have 144db of signal to work with. The science behind digital recording is completely unknown to me even though I’ve been recording with it for years.

Also, what is a noise floor? What does that mean?

By: Michael W

Michael W — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:52:27 +0000

I’m not gonna lie…this makes tons of sense and I don’t know why I didn’t think of it! Great read and just the important info with no filler. You da man Joe.

By: Kato

Kato — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:03:35 +0000

This is a mind opener post.
Thanks Joe!

By: Setting Levels for Recording

Setting Levels for Recording — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:59:43 +0000

[...] VIEW ARTICLE SOURCE [...]

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:33:44 +0000

Hey Joe! Great article

The only thing I want to add/slightly disagree with you on is that your gear is designed to work at 0db VU line level. The maximum recording level when your converters start clipping can be more than 20dB above that!
So recording low vs recording high effects the analog parts of the system differently and you can expect some change in sound.

I think a lot of the confusion about the whole proper levels thing, is that if you look in prosumer gear manuals, they’ll tell you to turn up the preamp until the clip light comes on and then turn it down a touch. That’s WAY above line level. Anywhere between -20dB and -12dB peak on the DAW meters is a good target level, and your equipment should sound best (lowest self noise) around there.

Theres a good chart here: http://www.independentrecording.net/irn/resources/metergain/index.htm
Showing the relative levels on different meters.

By: Joe Gilder

Joe Gilder — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 06:31:22 +0000

Good points, Jeff. I didn’t delve into that too much, but you’re absolutely right. However, I would imagine that any noise floor in a home studio is going to be coming from the analog components in the system. Chances are the noise floor of the digital system itself is a long way below the noise floor of the microphones, preamps, monitors, etc. being used.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:49:33 +0000

Hi Joe,

Nice description of the advantages of 24-bit audio. It’s important to point out that many inexpensive audio interfaces don’t achieve the 144 dB dynamic range that is possible with 24-bits. For example, the Behringer AD8000 only achieves about 100 dB through the converters – but this is still better than 16-bit audio, where you have a 96 dB dynamic range at best.

-Jeff

By: David

David — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:03:24 +0000

Very nice. Thanks Joe! I’m new to all this, and have been struggling to get decent guitar levels. I always thought that if it wasn’t **really** close to peaking, it wouldn’t be very audible. Now, i just scale back the level and multi-track the guitars. Much better.

By: Wayne

Wayne — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:06:46 +0000

Joe
Great tip for new people starting digital recording. I learned early with digital not to push it digital distortion is not quite like analog. My first system was a Tascam 38 and then a Fostex E-8 and then a E-16. What took me hours on analog I can do in minutes. Great post and keep up the good work and the easy to understand videos.

Thanks Wayne