Think you could do a video on all the level meter types? The meters on the SSL X Desk is so different than what an interface or daw reads. Seems like there is such a variance from gear to gear.
well, you're comparing Analog versus Digital meters. They're just two different animals completely. analog meters are simply showing you a translation of voltage and 0VU is really somewhat arbitrary. Different pieces of gear will have different headroom. Digital meters specifically measure in DBFS (full scale). There is a hard limit of 0DBFS, and there is nothing above that. Digital clipping is just non-harmonic noise. So you're always measuring in negative numbers. This is pretty basic audio, and I'm sure there are (many) people who can teach it better than me :). The take away is the meters in your DAW and your converter have nothing to do with any of the meters on your Analog equipment. This is why you ideally want to calibrate your analog equipment. There used to be an industry standard of -18 DBFS = 0DBU. I think people are generally operating with hotter levels these days, but basically play a sine wave out of your DAW at 1khz. Set the output to -18 DBFS and then try to calibrate whatever equipment you're using to zero DBU. That's a very conservative level and you can be sure that you won't clip your analog equipment as long as you're not clipping your digital equipment.
@@hopetownsound great. Thank you. I was trying some similar calibration out of the daw with a sine wave but I know I’m not doing total correct. Thx for the tips
getting things calibrated is essential, but that's only where the fun begins. Then it becomes how each piece of equipment's inputs and outputs react to different levels. Whether they have transformer balanced i/o or their own input amplifiers etc. With analog equipment you really have to carefully judge the sweet spot of each particular piece of gear, both coming and going. If you haven't already, I would advise checking out my video on gain staging. 👍
nice one, thanks for sharing
Ty!
Another great practical video. Thx
🙏 Ty!
Think you could do a video on all the level meter types? The meters on the SSL X Desk is so different than what an interface or daw reads. Seems like there is such a variance from gear to gear.
well, you're comparing Analog versus Digital meters. They're just two different animals completely. analog meters are simply showing you a translation of voltage and 0VU is really somewhat arbitrary. Different pieces of gear will have different headroom.
Digital meters specifically measure in DBFS (full scale). There is a hard limit of 0DBFS, and there is nothing above that. Digital clipping is just non-harmonic noise. So you're always measuring in negative numbers.
This is pretty basic audio, and I'm sure there are (many) people who can teach it better than me :).
The take away is the meters in your DAW and your converter have nothing to do with any of the meters on your Analog equipment. This is why you ideally want to calibrate your analog equipment. There used to be an industry standard of -18 DBFS = 0DBU. I think people are generally operating with hotter levels these days, but basically play a sine wave out of your DAW at 1khz. Set the output to -18 DBFS and then try to calibrate whatever equipment you're using to zero DBU. That's a very conservative level and you can be sure that you won't clip your analog equipment as long as you're not clipping your digital equipment.
@@hopetownsound great. Thank you. I was trying some similar calibration out of the daw with a sine wave but I know I’m not doing total correct. Thx for the tips
getting things calibrated is essential, but that's only where the fun begins. Then it becomes how each piece of equipment's inputs and outputs react to different levels. Whether they have transformer balanced i/o or their own input amplifiers etc. With analog equipment you really have to carefully judge the sweet spot of each particular piece of gear, both coming and going. If you haven't already, I would advise checking out my video on gain staging. 👍
Thank your for sharing knowledge.
Ty!
🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻
🤘🤘🍓