Quote:
Originally Posted by Ethan Winer  In the days of analog tape, "nominal operating level" was set where 0VU equals the magnetic flux at some number of nanowebers per meter: From 15 MilliMaxwell to 1,200 NanoWebers
Some people calibrated their machines with 0VU at low levels to get low distortion. Others set 0VU hotter to get less hiss and more "crunch." Hence my comment that it's not absolute. That was analog. With digital the signal is perfectly clean right up to the point of gross distortion, so the whole concept of headroom is more or less irrelevant. As long as you observe reasonable gain-staging through the pres into the converters, noise will not be a factor and you won't get distortion on peaks.
That's the thing. There is no single "optimum" level with digital recording. Some people like to keep the average levels around -15 or even lower, some push as close to Digital Zero as they can get without clipping. Either approach works fine and sounds fine, so it's a matter of personal preference. At least that's how I see it.
--Ethan |
The problem, of course, is once you have it recorded, how does your now headroom less digital signal interface with your outside analog equipment.
I can't count the number of people who have their signals in PT peak pretty high up the meter, then while mixing use hardware inserts and clip the hell out of their outboard gear.
Gain staging has not become easier, but in fact more difficult!