Uzbekistan state university of world languages english language faculty №2 Course paper Theme: General principiles of vowel formation

The Risk Of Recording Too Hot:
There is also a risk that comes with trying to record really loudly in the digital domain. One that didn’t exist in analogue. You see, analogue systems offered you a sort of safety net. You could comfortably allow the signal to reach 0VU. Because even at 0VU, there was still a lot of headroom left to accommodate an unexpected spike in volume at the recording source. With digital recording however, if you reach 0dBFS, there’s no headroom available. So recording just beneath the level of clipping becomes risky. Because now, without headroom to accommodate it, that unexpected spike in volume will cause the signal to clip.
There’s Really No Benefit To Recording So Hot If You Want To Set Proper Audio Recording Levels:
There was another benefit to recording hot signals in the analogue world which really doesn’t carry over to digital. Recording with high gain levels in analogue could sound really good. The tape would saturate and sound great if you got it just right. But with digital, there’s no desirable sound to be achieved by recording with a hot signal. The sound doesn’t change. As such, recording loud won’t make the signal sound any better. So there really is nothing to be gained from recording really loud in the digital world.
How Loud Should You Record To Achieve Proper Audio Recording Levels?
So whats the answer? Well, it’s a great idea to try and reintroduce the headroom that analogue recording used to provide. A great spot to aim for in digital recording is to have your loudest parts peaking no higher than -18dBFS. This will leave you with plenty of headroom to accommodate any unexpected spikes in volume.
This might look low on the metering in your DAW. But remember, that’s because with digital, the entire usable limit is on show on your meter. So you have to allow some of it to act as headroom. The fact of the matter is that you should still achieve an ample signal to noise ratio by aiming for this level. But now you’ll also gain the advantage of the safety net that analogue recording used to provide. Try this approach to setting proper audio recording levels on your next recording session and let me know the results!