I was reading this article here: http://dbzeebee.blogspot....els-rule-of-thumb.html It wrote: Aim to get your recording levels on a track averaging about -18dBFS. It doesn't really matter if this average floats down as low as, for example -21dBFS or up to -15dBFS. Avoid any peaks going higher than -6dBFS. When it says -18dbFS is it the same as the -18db it shows on the track meters shown here?: Thanks

By average they are referring to the rms component part of the signal. And -18 dB FS is a good reference. K system uses -20 dB FS which is close.

It is still better to have a VU meter plugin working though set for say a -20 dB FS ref level and then the meter will show you 0 dB Vu when the signal is averaging -20 dB FS. Much easier to read and control etc...

Which plugin would you recommend as a VU meter? Is there one in the pro channel?

There is a free one here:

http://sleepytimerecords.com/audioplugins

and a very affordable one here:

http://www.klanghelm.com/VUMT.html 

Use these in conjunction with your standard peak metering and you will have it all covered.

It's a qualified Yes.

You shouldn't assume to know what a meter means without checking the details.

There are many examples of meters where "0" is calibrated to some specific dBFS and so the scale will be off in relative way.

In this case I think it's safe to assume that your are looking at a actual dBFS scale. There is another small detail... it may be tracking PEAKS or RMS averages.

But since you are just asking about a rule of thumb... it's practical to watch for peaks hitting -6dBFS and if you do that, for a lot of musical content, you see it average about -18dBFS. If you really need a guideline... that's a useful guideline.

Eventually you just know when you are getting enough signal (and not too much) and you start listening for the details in your gain structure and you adjust for the best overall sound texture for your needs. You'll get to the point where you take guidelines such as this for granted and you will not think about any particular target number while focusing on the tonality.

Try that guideline and see where it takes you.

There are other guidelines too... you can try them and then incorporate them into your personal flow.


best regards,
mike

@Jeff -- Which VU meters do you use? @Mike -- Which guidelines would you recommend reading?

I have got real ones but I also use the VUMT Klanghelm meters. I have found that it is possible to get the ballistics of the Klang meters to match the real ones with some tweaking.

sharpdion23


@Mike -- Which guidelines would you recommend reading?

I don't.. I'm not a fan of any of the guidelines... I think it's a distraction to just doing it. I think we should all be listening to the tone and I think that most folks will quickly learn, through practice, how to not overshoot the 0dBfs limit because the good tone isn't there any ways.


The guidelines are all arbitrary sets of procedures... I don't do a good job of recommending stuff like that.


I will admit though, that guidelines may be helpful as part of the journey... I'm more interested in setting levels to get the results you want.






I will say that Jeff's recommendation of tracking with VU meters on a PPM recording system is a guideline that gets you to light at the end of the tunnel faster than many other guidelines.


It's not easy to use the VU meters because they are sluggish compared to the PPM meters. It sharpens your skills as a listener to work this way... because properly calibrated VU meters will be barely moving and you'll be real close to ruining your recording with a digi over. It will make you alert and sharp thinking. I'm all for it! :-)



best regards,
mike

sharp: in my opinion, you should experiment and see what gives you the best results. Me personally, I've used an input signal of -6 dB peak coming in for many years. It just seems to give me the results I'm looking for. I don't mind that many of my tracks in my project will read -6 or even -8 dB as a fader reading during the course of my project.

That's just been my experience with things and I'm quite happy with my mixes as well as my signals and head-room. So you see that -6 number on your LED meter to the right that's 4 up from where you have your square at -18? That's where I record all my stuff these days. -6 dB is my peak. I try not to go any louder than that. What my average is....I have no clue, but in all my experimenting, I've gotten the best results with a -6 dB input peak and it's worked for me with any style of music I've had to record.

I see no reason to have things louder or lower than that. But try it for yourself. Do a few test projects while using different input signals and see what you gravitate towards. You'll have your answer after a little experimenting. Good luck.

-Danny

it should vary track to track.

for example, a snare may PEAK at -6 on your sonar meter....

but the RMS value of it could be WAY WAY down....


if you were to use a limiter on your snare going in (assuming you are micing a live drum and use an external limiter) it's feasible you could have those same -6db peaks on the snare hits, but have a much higher RMS value.

RMS and PEAK should be treated as two entirely different things, that are linked together all the same.



if you are heavy handed with drum processing, and want to drive the RMS values of your collective kit UP (meaning, you are getting rid of DYNAMICS)........
 YOU SHOULD PROBABLY GO WITH MUCH LOWER PEAK VALUES.


your are doing two things at once....
pushing up, and pushing down.

you have to understand gain staging, and what compression and limiting actually do, to take full advantage of your knowledge about  DBFS