leveling and clipping

If they clipped during recording there's not a lot you can do about it. I do believe there are some audio tools out there which purport to smooth digital clipping, but they're expensive (Sony's Noise Reduction 2.0 is around $280 for instance). And you're not likely to get 100% perfect results. Maybe their demo is usable for a quick fix in this case? 

Absolute best thing you can do is record the take again!

You may find that a click/pop eliminator will do the job, but you would have to experiment with the settings.  Adobe Audition, Izotope Rx etc. have this function and I have managed to salvage some recording that were clipped with some success.

also, sometimes, I will use a volume envelope to notch out a clip  and fill the void with the boosted section from another track.. maybe a vocal Mic that didn't clip.

 I use a Dbx compressor 162SL. it has something called peakstop. I don't know how it works. It is usually very safe. I use some light compression too.

gswitz


clipping continues to be a risk for me. I use a hardware compressorlimiter before my interface. even so, last might during a happy jam, there was a little clipping. I was recording at 24 bit 88.2, and the tracks are still usable. I find with my interface, higher sample rates result in files more usable with a clip or two. that said, I try hard to prevent clipping.

You may want to look into getting a pad for this. Its a way to control the volume of a signal and can be used between your guitar and the audio interface. Its nothing more than a attenuator for volume.   

so, I'm trying, people. smiles. I will record a  group for hours. someone starts using a vocal Mic for a violin or sax. these things happen. I'm not clipping because I'm intentionally pushing head room. sometimes mics get moved. sometimes musicians take you bysurprise. it happens to all of us, I'm sure. and once a new song is begun, I hesitate to redial the level before I know I must. I much prefer to make level  changes between songs.

gswitz


so, I'm trying, people. smiles. I will record a  group for hours. someone starts using a vocal Mic for a violin or sax. these things happen. I'm not clipping because I'm intentionally pushing head room. sometimes mics get moved. sometimes musicians take you bysurprise. it happens to all of us, I'm sure. and once a new song is begun, I hesitate to redial the level before I know I must. I much prefer to make level  changes between songs.

I hear what you are saying. It can be a challenge when recording a group of musicians. When I had my commercial studio, often while setting levels the band kind of held back while playing. Then, when the record button was pushed they played more aggressively. It just takes time to dial all the levels each time you begin a new song, especially if new instruments are introduced, or new mics added. Some groups/bands are easier than others.  


May I ask what you are using as a "front end" (preamps, compressors, limiters) for each mic?

I'm using a RME Quad Mic Pre. Two of those channels go straight to the Fast Track Ultra using 2 ring quarter inch cables. Two go to my DBX 162 SL and from there into the Fast Track Ultra.

The quad mic pre has a green light which lights up when you have a useful line level, but for some instruments it almost never lights when you are recording below clipping (like a banjo which has lots of loud spikes and a relatively low line level otherwise).

The DBX has a 'stop level' setting that uses 'peak stop plus' to limit. This works very well and I set this at 0 DB - the lowest available setting. After the compression steps and before the peak stop, there is a gain nob, which I usually try to leave around 0. I've just looked at the compressor and the thresholds are around -20 and the compression ratio is 1.5:1 (less than 2:1).

Usually people monitor through headphones direct through the Fast Track and I record with all FX bypassed so the computer runs as quietly as possible (almost 0 processing used in the recording).

So, based on the comments here, I'm still recording too hot if I'm safe down to an -80 DB peak. That's really quiet. I just tried to zoom to -80DB on the recordings from the other night, and Sonar doesn't even allow you to zoom to that precision. -57 is the closest I can get (96 zoom factor). At that level of zoom, room silence is above -80 DB.

Most of my levels were below -12 DB. Right now, for some reason, I can't change 3 of the tracks off of showing percentage rather than DB as the scale for the wave form. Not sure why.

And the other night, there was one song, where I joined in. I moved one of the vocal mics in front of me and played and sang into the vocal mic. I was happy and played hard (no one was watching the levels) and there were a couple of clips.

If I record everything quieter, I guess gain staging could come into play... so... like, I would run from the Pre Amp into the compressor with a reasonably strong signal, and then I would roll down the gain on the compressor to -12 or more. Then, I would get a max input around -24 with the loudest and limited moments being at -12. I guess that's what I'm being told is best.

Yes, I'm recording at 24 bit 88.2.

Yes, I've recorded at 24 bit since I stopped using my akai dps12 around 2003 or so.

Yes, I've made a lot of recordings with very low levels, but I have also found that in some cases the levels were too low (even using 24 bit). it is possible if you are me to mess this up. I have found that using the pre amp I can usually get more level safely (especially if I have 2 gain nobs giving me gain staging control so that I can fine tune the level pretty well).

Anyway, thanks to everyone for the guidance. I'll back off the levels some more. I think one of the people who turned me up a little again was the guitarists guide to sonar which pointed out that tracks recorded at 88.2 might come out of the Amp Simulators sounding a little better. I tried and agreed.

Jeff Evans


Here are some steps towards getting great consistent recording levels: 

Good advice. Step one is to meter the levels at the track input!

Thanks!!