DAW Tracking Levels too hot?? Looking for guidance & resources

[MoreSpaceEcho]

a vibraphonist who also played glock with brass mallets.

my ears hurt just reading that.

[alexdingley]

Wow!

This thread is EXACTLY what I needed!! Nick, especially your input. You explained that super well! I totally get it now, and to the point about schooling... yeah, when I was studying all of this, PT mix systems had yet to go 24 bit... I think the 888|24 rolled out a year after I graduated... and I then worked on a Sony PCM DASH machine for a couple of years. So yeah... my original digital tracking experiences involved trying to butt up against the red-lights.

I’m stoked to do some quieter tracking with my band in a couple of weeks. And I’m likely doing a surround project with a chamber orchestra soon. If they come, armed with a trianglist... I’ll be ready.

[trodden]

So... It's always been my practice when tracking, for my input gain to hang out on the pro tools individual track meter level right when it turns bright green. That's been good for me for YEARS.

Now I have this fancy 2023 version of pro tools, and holy fuck! I have metering options! I'll likely keep it at "classic", because I'm used to the way that looks. However, I see now that you can calibrate "0 db = _____ dBFS" !!! I DON'T KNOW WHAT I SHOULD HAVE IN BLANK "____dBFS"!!! Definitely not "0" right? "-18"??? and get this, I can also input what I want db color breaks to be! Green to bright Green to Yellow, and what numbers should those be???

I don't do well with options. I learned this shit on tape and VU meters. With my previous method, I've never sent something to mastering that was too hot. I'm always in 24 bit, so I know I don't have to "PUSH THE METERS AND GET ALL THE BITS"..

Curious what you all have your metering in PT set to? I overthink things, and I'm currently doing "Dry January" so my brain is going to be thinking about this all night while I lie in bed trying to sleep with restless, detoxing leg syndrome.

[Nick Sevilla]

However, I see now that you can calibrate "0 db = _____ dBFS" !!! I DON'T KNOW WHAT I SHOULD HAVE IN BLANK "____dBFS"!!!

Hi Trodden,

Here, I have my consoles "above zero dB" set to match on my converters.

My A&H console has +16 dB metering peak at the mix buss, and the direct outs are a little hotter, with +20 dBu max.

I set my converters to be -16 dBFS (that is, maximum possible level digital clipping) to be at -16dBu, matching my console's Stereo Mix metering. When recording, I don't let the analog signal hit the Yellow LED on the console meters, which gives me around 26 dBu of headroom, for those all important invisible superfast transients I talked about earlier in this post.

In practice, depending on the source, I bring the levels up if needed. Like for electric guitars, which mostly are not super transient-y, I can hit the converters at about -12 to -8 dBFS peak with no issues. Same with keyboard pads and stuff that is not transient heavy.

For percussion instruments, I tend to set levels lower, around -24 to -18 dBFS peak. And I always check the transients with a test recording first, to make sure I am not messing them up anywhere along the signal chain. Because we cannot hear the distortion, but it can be an issue later on in mixing, if you process the instrument heavily etc. And some percussionists can hear when their high transient percussions are being distorted. they just know...

[trodden]

This is the preferences option I'm referring to and how I have it set for now. I'm not sure if PT 9 had this option? If it did, I never noticed.
So, if i'm correct, this means my "0 db" on my pro tools meters are -6 dBFS. I never ever try to get my levels anywhere close to "0 db" when tracking or mixing. While with these settings my dark green turns to lighter green at "-16 db" which is actually -22 dBFS, and bright green to yellow at "-6 db" which is actually -12 dBFS.

Correct?

Screen Shot 2024-01-08 at 9.50.23 AM.png (22.11 KiB) Viewed 3923 times