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Hi Sam!
Looking at meters or flashing lights definitely doesn't help making better music. The big point of this system, at least to me, is to look less at the instruments.
>How does the K-system give headroom pray tell?
It sets the headroom. And physical level. It links the headroom parameter of the recording to the SPL level in the room. Bigger headroom equals higher level into the amp, less headroom(read: squashed) gives less level on the level knob. It's what anyone does automatically to a certain degree, but this removes the guesswork, it makes the very process of turning the knob up or down THE guage for the level of the material itself.
The beauty of the K system is to connect the crest ratio of the music and the pre-amp level know with a known SPL in the room. This makes the level of the music itself the most important gauge. Not of how the track relates to the other on the album, but to any track in general.
Say, If I know I mastered an album with the amp attenuator set at -10, all I have to do to get any track at the right level is to set the amp at the same level and adjust it til it sounds right. If the amp level had been unknown, I'd have to reference to something else.
>>>Professional mastering engineers have also been doing this forever without the K-system.
>>nope
>"Nope" what? was my statement incorrect?
The 'nope' was trying to say that this is something that comes in addition to all the usual stuff. It doesn't replace anything or competes against other ideas. As Masterer pointed out, some have been doing this for ages anyway, but I guess most haven't.
>Are you now saying that refrencing one track against another track on the same album is a bad thing?
No! Absolutely not.
Was trying to say that working with a known specific SPL makes it easy to raise or lower gain as needed to make the music have that SPL.
It only takes a short while to adjust to the reference level. Of course, to find the specific level, measurements are needed. That's the only time it is. Once the 'break in period of the ears' are done, this level will be the absolute measurement. The level will vary a tiny bit between rooms and persons, but 83dB is a very good starting point.
The example I was trying to give was that the loudness can be set by referencing the level as the ear experiences them in the room, rather than by going back and forth across an album. If the amp level knob keeps moving around arbitarily, it will always be a guess as to how the SPL relates to level in the recorded tracks.
> What does "refrenced to the loudness in the room" mean?
Don't watch VU's, just listen! =)
Andreas
PS: Bonne, Eltek/Dynabel have the ubiquitous Radioshack SPL meter. At a price, but it was definitely worth it!
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