question about advice in book "Location Audio Simplified"

M

matthewd5

Veteran
ok.


so i ordered this new book because it is the first one i have seen that focuses on location sound and the excerpts i saw from it looked really good.

for the most part the book is very good and i do recomment it, but i have one question about his suggested method of getting the mixer calibrated for maximum levels.

i'll post the one key paragraph that covers this. i don't think this violates any copyrights because excerpts are usually ok if they are small and if they are for editorial review etc...

"Roll Out the Critiques

The way I record in the field is hard to the mixers limiter.
Meaning I keep the level of signal either activating the limiter (above the limiters threshold) or just barely below it. Your manual will indicate the threshold of the limiter, and I recommend you operate at and slightly above this number. On some mixers you can set teh threshold level. I recommend +2 for PPM meters, and 0 for VU meters."

i assume he is talking about the limiters on the mixers output as in another place in the book he says "If your mixer has PPM of Peak Program Meters you want to operate between -2 and +8. This is quite hot - I'll explain later."

"If the mixer has VU or Volume Units Meters you want to operate between -4 and +2. Again, a very hot signal.

is this what other people are doing?

i can't recall anyone talking about calibrating their mixer so that the limiters on the output side were either pretty much always on or just short of always being on.

i have a sd 442 and if someone can comment on his method and perhaps if you have experience with the sd 442 you could give me specifics?

right now i have the limiter set for the default.

matthew

the later is the first paragraph i posted which comes later in the book that either of the two quotes on the suggested meter numbers.
 
the advice you read are about mixing to analog device ( nagara) to get more s/n ratio
the ppm scale is not exactly the scale you have on your sd mixer
my SQN had the reference ton on -8

what really matter is how much your recording device could accept in V rms
so you will not distortion/saturate the tape ( analog) or not clip the analog to digital converter if you are recording to digital domain
usially the vu mixers where set to +6-8 dbu on its limiters to get more benefit on analog recorders getting better s/n ratio so the mixers could work quit hot on average recording and not saturate the tape to much on picks .
in digital domain you have more benefit of much lower self noise so you need to calibrate the limiters as close to the maximum .
so for -20 dbfs reference ton ( 0dbu -4 dbu- depends on the device) you can place the limiters above +10 - i put it around 16
in other words - you dont need limiter if you have head room
 
oleg, in the digital realm, are you just bringing up the noise floor (ambient) with the content if you record hot enough as to limit often?

im guessing the answer would be yes...
 
the ambient is not noise
if you will increase or decrease the level the difference between your dialog and the amience would be the same , the noise is the internal noise of the preamp /recorder/camera which stay stable .
to low recording would effect on your ability to rizing the levels in the editing since you will be rising the noise floor as well , more critical in very low ambiance atmosphere - not a problem on a busy street
 
thanks, i meant noise floor as in "base ambience level" not circuit noise. i mention this because at Jwsound there is an interesting signal to noise thread going around regarding how much differentiation is needed for a track to be considered usable in a product...

but what is interesting is that if you push the signal too hot (say, into the limiters), and the limiters bring peaks down by say, 3dB, then you are losing 3dB of dynmaic range over the ambience. which in noisier environments can be a critical differentiation, but in quiet environments might be ok.
 
Based on what the paragraph says, I understood it as he's talking about input limiters, but it's hard to tell for sure. My rule of thumb is, if the limiters sound like crap, don't hit em. If they sound fine, then push em as hard as you can. The hotter the signal the better. I tend to record hotter than most people.

-Dave
 
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