How hot levels do you go for when tracking into PT.

[flymax]

I've always tried to track as hot as possible but it seems that the sound is more pleasing a little lower- curious what others opinions are.
-Pete

[Mike Tholen]

Observe 0dB VU. that's all there is to it.

PT does nasty things whilst summing those hot signals.
This has been gone over pretty through in this forum and elsewhere.

[Mike Tholen]

http://duc.digidesign.com/cgi-bin/ub...c&f=2&t=004986

[PTUser NYC]

Mike is right, observe 0VU.

Not only does the PT mix bus sound better with proper headroom, but it avoids the nasty sound of the culmulative effect of analog gear being pushed to +16 dbVU or so.

This truly is the 'secret' to getting great sound out of PT.

[KamaSutra77]

I keep the signal out of red at all times. It seems that sometimes you can push a clean non-peaking track into red wihtout to much audible distortion. But when mixing larger groups I tend to push everything down, the master bus fills up quickly. The headroom is there, it's just a different curve from anologue gear.

[flymax]

Thanks for the link Mike, very informative. I hear more clarity and separation of the instruments when it's been recorded a little lower. I guess it's the less information for the mix buss factor.
-Pete

[GORILLA]

Hey PTuser NYC, thanks for the tip!!!
We're new to the engineering side of the studio and we'll try that tonite!!!!

[KamaSutra77]

Oh man thats the best tip! My mixes really opened up. Thanks for clearing that up for me PTUSERNYC. I hadn't realized that the scale was different! Like going Metric from English units in a way. Using the setup you've descibed (on the digi001), I can now really crank the mixes on a master mixdown test cd, and they sound great. Thanks!

PS. Im glad my tracks where all recorded clean and well in the mid yellow at peaks.

----------
Here's a question. Now with my mixes sounding really good I notice the slightest hi end hiss. What's the best way to clean it up? Will Dolby work? Eq? <--starting new thread on that one actually.

[ August 05, 2001: Message edited by: KamaSutra77 ]

[PTUser NYC]

Karma,

When we say observe 0dbVU, we don't mean 0dbFS.

What I mean is, that when we say watch zero, we don't mean the 0 on the top of the scale, the "digital zero' which relates to Full Scale, or 0VUdbFS.

We are saying keep your tracks around 0dbVU, which shows up between -14 and -18 (dbFS) on your digital meters. That's where zero to the analog world is (simply). That's where your mic pres should be working right.

By all means, when you have a great sounding mix, master it, raise the level, limit it a little if you must, and make it a recording that will hit just under Full Scale without going over, for CD release, but while tracking and mixing, I try to keep my levels around 0dbVU, which means I'm barely kissing the yellow on my Apogees, 14db (in my case) down from Full Scale.

[krhaarmeyer]

Maybe someone here could help me with my setup and the inputs. I have a MIXPLUS with two 1622 I/O's. I honestly don't really know how the inputs are configured.. I just brought in everything to 0. There are several settings in the 1622 system.. What should I be using. UI should also point out that almost 99% of the stuff coming into are from synths. The only live instrument I have coming into the 1622 is a mic connected to an Avalon 737 (which the I almost always seems to go into the red.

Any help would be appreciated.

Keith