Volume when recording guitar tracks

[80's_Metal]

Re: Volume when recording guitar tracks

Love all the info and insight guys!

I've been watching and learning a ton on YouTube. Today I ran home and into the garage, threw down a quick track and played with a simple EQ trick I learned today.
That plus the mic placement tricks I've recently learned have really opened my eyes.

And..... Made my mix sound SOooo much better.

[GuitarStv]

Re: Volume when recording guitar tracks

So, I haven't had time to watch the videos, but will check them out tonight. It appears that there exist two reasons to record at lower levels:
- Many plugins are calibrated to work at around -18 dB, and might not sound as good at higher levels / might have problems because the plugins will raise the gain of your track.
- If you're using logarithmic faders, they're harder to control at extremes.
- You might clip the signal, thereby ruining the track.

There certainly doesn't appear to be any benefit to recording with high levels with 24 bit audio, which is why -18 to -10 appears to the recommendation. If you're not having an issue with the above three issues, there is no negative to higher level recordings though.

- https://www.soundonsound.com/techniq...r-daw-software
- https://www.musicianonamission.com/gain-staging/
- https://vintageking.com/blog/2018/03/gain-staging/
- https://producelikeapro.com/blog/gai...ern-recording/
- https://neelmodi.com/gain-staging-or...ecord-quietly/



I'm kinda excited to try out recording at lower levels to see if it makes a difference to the plug-ins I use. Had no problems with clipping or adjusting volumes though, so don't anticipate any benefit on that front.

[Demanic]

Re: Volume when recording guitar tracks

As I have said previously, I tend to record mostly live stereo tracks and setting the levels on my recorder so that they don't peak above the -6db indicator seems to work fine for me.
However the next time I do anything in 4 track mode, I'll keep all of the above recommendations in mind.

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[El Dunco]

Re: Volume when recording guitar tracks

So, I haven't had time to watch the videos, but will check them out tonight. It appears that there exist two reasons to record at lower levels:
- Many plugins are calibrated to work at around -18 dB, and might not sound as good at higher levels / might have problems because the plugins will raise the gain of your track.
- If you're using logarithmic faders, they're harder to control at extremes.
- You might clip the signal, thereby ruining the track.

There certainly doesn't appear to be any benefit to recording with high levels with 24 bit audio, which is why -18 to -10 appears to the recommendation. If you're not having an issue with the above three issues, there is no negative to higher level recordings though.

- https://www.soundonsound.com/techniq...r-daw-software
- https://www.musicianonamission.com/gain-staging/
- https://vintageking.com/blog/2018/03/gain-staging/
- https://producelikeapro.com/blog/gai...ern-recording/
- https://neelmodi.com/gain-staging-or...ecord-quietly/



I'm kinda excited to try out recording at lower levels to see if it makes a difference to the plug-ins I use. Had no problems with clipping or adjusting volumes though, so don't anticipate any benefit on that front.

You're on the right track. It's to do with how digital audio sampling works and what levels are optimal for that. It would take a long time to explain exactly how it works and I'd essentially be doing a lecture (which is how I learned in the first place in my AE course).

[Demanic]

Re: Volume when recording guitar tracks

I don't tend to use plugins.

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