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Audio Recording Basics / Recording Levels pt. 2




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Subtitles of the Movie (Digidesign Pro Tools LE 6 / Audio Recording Basics / Recording Levels pt. 2)

In this movie, we will perform an analysis of the three test recordings made in the previous movie. Here we have the three bears of test recordings. The first one is too quiet, the second one is too loud but this last one is just right. In order to facilitate accurate comparison of the original signal levels, I have taken the liberty of using a couple of third party plug-ins on the quiet and loud channel strips. Using plug-ins you can extent the capabilities of Pro Tools far beyond its normal running state. In this case, I have added a Waves L2 look ahead peak limiter to the quiet passage to bring it back up by 24 decibels to match the just right recording. I have also added a Metric Halo ChannelStrip to the loud track in order to bring its level down by 24 decibels to match the just right recording. All other things being equal, the use of these two plug-ins in this way will cancel out the preamp level changes so that we can compare apples to apples. I will formerly introduce plug-ins in a later chapter. For now, just remember that there are things called plug-ins and that they extend Pro Tools capabilities. Let's take a quick listen to each of these recordings. I will be using something called automation to audition each channel strip one after the other. Again, we will get to automation in a later chapter. For now, just notice how the apparent loudness of the three recordings are fairly close to each other because of the cancellation effect of the plug-ins. Now that you have heard them, let's take a closer look at the waveforms. To help us out a bit, I will go to the preferences panel and choose this option `draw waveforms rectified'. This will display the waveforms in a way that's sometimes easier to understand. Notice how the quiet recording has disappeared from view. This means the signal level is too low and is now just a thin line sitting on the bottom of the waveform boxes. The recording that was too loud is almost perfectly straight on the top. This indicates severe clipping and loss of all dynamics and excitement in the recording. The last recording is which you want your waveforms to look like. They have good shapes as they get thinner and thicker but without reaching the top of the waveform boxes. As a matter of fact, the waveform of a well-recorded track will rarely go beyond halfway to the top of the waveform box when viewed this way. I will turn the automation off and audition three other recordings I made using the same preamp settings as before. This time of just room silence. This is a good way to compare noise floor levels. I will play this as a 2 second loop using something called loop playback which we will investigate more about later. Pay particular attention to the noise of each recording. I will crank up the faders and the gain on my outboard mixer to make it easier to compare. You can hear the noise floor or the hiss on this recording that was supposed to be just right. Maybe there is a problem here. Let's check out the too loud recording. It's worse than the just right recording. There's hiss but there also seems to be something that sounds like video signal buried in there. Let's try the too quiet recording. Let's turn down the gain a little bit. You can hear immediately why it's important to get adequate signal levels. If your recording is too soft, then you have to raise the signal level up so much after the fact that you raise the noise floor along with it to a point of annoyance. Let's try to avoid this in the future. Let's listen again with the faders and my mixer back where they are typically set and listen again to the noise. The just right recording's noise is very low, pretty much inaudible. The too loud recording's noise is also very low, again pretty much inaudible. However, the too quiet recording's noise is still obtrusive and totally unnecessary, if we had just set the recording level high enough to begin with. I will play through each of the guitar recordings one time. For the too quiet recording, notice how the background hiss or that high noise floor is readily apparent whenever the guitar is not playing. Also you might be able to pick out how the guitar seems to lack some depth or clarity and openness. Now I will play the too loud guitar. Notice how even though it sounds just as loud as the first guitar, it sounds not only distorted to the point of ugliness but it also lacks all dynamics and punch and excitement. It's like the signal is either on or off but nowhere in between, again like a light switch. Finally, we will audition the guitar that was recorded at or near optimum levels. This guitar should sound transparent, open, clear, dynamic and punchy. All the praise given to good quality recording. There are a couple of extremely useful and free plug-ins that are available, which can help you attain your recording levels. Check up the chapter in this tutorial on third party plug-ins, paying particular attention to the movie about the noise meter and the meter bridge.

Tutorial Information

Course: Digidesign Pro Tools LE 6
Author: Nathan Dickson
SKU: 33599
ISBN: 1-932808-46-9
Release Date: 2005-02-25
Duration: 9 hrs / 101 lessons
Work Files: Yes
Captions: No
Compatibility: Vista/XP/2000, OS X, Linux
QuickTime 7, Flash 8

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