Recording levels and clipping

Hello.

I've read a few posts about this subject and it looks like I'll just have to settle for recording low (leaving headroom) so that I don't accidentally clip. I don't have much control over the dynamic range (no compressor before input) and the guitar seems to average pretty low and will randomly shoot up in level on the bass-y top strings and peak and just destroy the take. So the questions about this are the following:


1) Will it matter if my takes aren't very loud and don't really "fill up" the audio clip graphic? It will just look very flat and low as opposed to a fuller "fatter" looking audio clip. Is that okay? I always thought that wasn't good. (but I read that it doesn't matter since I'm recording in 24 bit, whatever that means).

2) If I'm leaving headroom so that I don't clip, does that mean that I should be using Boost11 or some compressor on all my audio tracks that I record at this safe low level?
Thanks.

General rule of thumb. Don't let your recorded tracks get any hotter than say -12 to -18. In 24 bit that is plenty hot to keep above the noise floor. Turn up your monitors or headphones if you need to hear things louder.

You can actually change the range on your tracks where they appear larger by the way, its called zoom.

At the end of your mix there is a process called mastering which, among other things, brings your levels up to a commercial level. Before this, you really don't need to worry about volume just peaking above 0db.

Regarding your guitar suddenly jumping up in volume, that is why a little compression while tracking is not a bad thing. It smooths out those transient spikes.

Just keep in mind that if you record a too low of a level, you may find that you really have to crank the input section of an insert plugin (if it has one) in order for the plug-in to have any real discernible effect.

While recording level doesn't matter in the same way it does in say, recording to tape, it still effects your gain staging, so it's something to be mindful of. Your recordings certianly don't nee to full scale loud, but it's not very desirable to have a bunch of flat lines either. You should be able to find a happy medium.

Brandon, is there a list anywhere detailing just how much the bundled plugs that come with Sonar expect to "see" at their input?

This would make gain-staging throughout a project that much easier to set up.