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Post by RickW on Dec 21, 2014 12:13:23 GMT -5
I have recorded a simple acoustic guitar track, a finger style version of Scarborough Fair. This is to be used as a backing track for my next exam, to improvise over top of. It sits between -10 and 0 DB when I monitor it. I have compressed it slightly, added a warmer plugin, and some reverb.
With or without the effects, it's too quiet. The iPad is not the loudest sound system in the world, but I play over top of stuff on it all the time. In this case, as soon as I start to iprov, I can't hear the iPad. I have tried using normalize on the track, and using an overall gain boost. But when I do that, I drive the meters into the red with almost any additions, and get distortion, with little appreciable gain in volume. Removed the effects, including compression, and did it again, and still no love.
Seems weird. I thought 0 DB as where things were supposed to be. There is no noise or additional instruments, so I should be able to boost the volume of the track quite considerably, should I not?
I apparently have a complete lack of understanding here.
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Post by RickW on Dec 21, 2014 13:13:39 GMT -5
It's better. Bit of monkeying with a combo of normalization and gain. Still not as loud as i think it should be, but it'll do.
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Post by aquaduct on Dec 22, 2014 8:38:19 GMT -5
I have recorded a simple acoustic guitar track, a finger style version of Scarborough Fair. This is to be used as a backing track for my next exam, to improvise over top of. It sits between -10 and 0 DB when I monitor it. I have compressed it slightly, added a warmer plugin, and some reverb. With or without the effects, it's too quiet. The iPad is not the loudest sound system in the world, but I play over top of stuff on it all the time. In this case, as soon as I start to iprov, I can't hear the iPad. I have tried using normalize on the track, and using an overall gain boost. But when I do that, I drive the meters into the red with almost any additions, and get distortion, with little appreciable gain in volume. Removed the effects, including compression, and did it again, and still no love. Seems weird. I thought 0 DB as where things were supposed to be. There is no noise or additional instruments, so I should be able to boost the volume of the track quite considerably, should I not? I apparently have a complete lack of understanding here. Depending which 0 dB you're talking about you're generally right to a certain extent. 0dB on the fader when recording a track is a holdover from analog when 0dB represented the most direct signal through the fader with no impact from the resistors in the fader and the frequency filtration that's an inevitable part of a passive volume circuit. It's the same thing one sees with a standard passive electric guitar circuit- if you want full tone from the guitar you run the volume control wide open and control overall system volume elsewhere. That takes the resistor that's the volume pot out of the circuit entirely and doesn't roll any frequencies off. When recording a track you generally run the fader at 0dB and adjust input volume with the channel gain. It's not as crucial these days in the digital age but it's still a decent habit to be in to properly set up the gain staging. 0dB on the meters is the maximum allowed signal going to the recording medium (tape or digital). Tape has a nice natural compression when overloaded so 0dB isn't as brittle a limit in analog. And since a signal that's too low in analog will not separate itself from the inherent noise floor of the machinery (in other words the track will be too noisy if not recorded hot enough) you could cheat hot with tape. Not so with digital where exceeding 0dB produces an incredibly nasty distortion that will ruin your track. Digital signals recorded in 16-bit still suffer from degradation if recorded too softly (different mechanism- not noise but lack of bit depth robs fidelity if you're not using the full spectrum). However, in digital you can't cheat high. A classic problem is doing a run-through to set levels with a musician who's only half paying attention (it is after all a practice run) and only blowing at 70% intensity. Then when the red light goes on and they're focused and rocking, you've destroyed the perfect take. 24-bit recording eliminates the bit depth shortcoming and makes the maximum signal level irrelevant so you can err on the side of caution. Note that that is the only advantage of 24-bit. All that being said, the real solution to your problem is that you need either a better headphone amplifier or more efficient (louder) headphones. If you can't hear you need to turn up the phones and not mess with the tracks. |
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Post by Marshall on Dec 22, 2014 8:52:59 GMT -5
Nice, Peter.
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Post by RickW on Dec 22, 2014 11:40:50 GMT -5
Thanks, Peter. I appreciate the time, and the information. It makes sense.
That's one thing with the iPad, the output is not strong. You can get external digital/analog converter/amps, which also gets around some other issues with the quality of sound coming from standard headphone jacks.
Going to get, (I hope,) a studio quality set of headphones for Christmas. Looking forward to them.
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