0vu = 0du or +4du?

D

Denwa

Well-known member
Pro equipment used to use the standard that 0vu = +4dBu (1.228 volts).

I see the Sound Devices models are adjustable but default to 0vu = 0dBu (0.775 Volts).

Is this the new standard or has SD chosen this setting as default in order to be more friendly to prosumer equipments input levels (ie HMC150 input is 0dBu) and thus less chance of input level clipping in camera?
 
0VU = 0dBu is becoming increasingly popular as a standard with many manufacturers, not just SD. It makes it a bit easier to deal with a mix of equipment with analog averaging and peak reading meters on the one hand with digital equipment using dB below Full Scale meters on the other. Think of "0VU" as representing the normal operating level of the analog gear. VU are relative units and can actually be calibrated for the zero point to be any arbitrary absolute voltage level. Standards such as "0VU=+4dBu" are just so you can mix and match gear without getting totally confused by having to mentally juggle a plethora of different meter scales. The +4dBu reference point actually harks back to the days when "audio" meant "telephone" because radio networks used the long-haul telephone network to distribute programming and was one of two common alignment points (the other being 0VU=+8dBu).
 
Denwa said:
You'd think they would default at +4dBu though.
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It would depend on who is the target market, Professionals, Prosumers or Consumers. Each of wich, has a different standard, but yes, i would think they would have the defualt set to +4du.
 
I adore the fact that all of my sound devices products output at 0vu at 0dBu

Yes you have to turn the volume up slightly at the camera to make up the diff..
but I can say ive never clipped a camera input since I got my first 442 back during their
first run.

Getting away from the technical talk..
it just feels much more like a transparent pass through of sound.

Even on the lower end cameras like the HDX200 ive never had increased
noise issue complaints either.

Been running this way for many years and it works great for me.
 
I've just bought an old Audio Technica AT4462 mixer for cheap and turned down the output from +4 to +2dBu. I would have gone to 0dBu but I could not correct the vu meters to read zero (with tone) if I went any lower.

If I ever get back into locations sound (doing mostly video now not sound) I'll probably pick up a SD. I was a wendt person and I still like those mixers but the SD's do have some techy adjustments that the wendts do not have, plus you can basically set up your meter as a vu/ppm hybrid with the Sound Devices mixers, correct?

In a perfect world all audio would be calibrated the same. Why oh why is there so many "standards" (Consumer, North American, European etc)? PITA.
 
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