Norval Watson wrote: > >>> I have read that it is good practice to aim for a maximum level of -3.0 dB > >> when mixing, mastering, normalizing etc. in the digital domain. >> >> two mono chans at -3 should sum to 0db, afaik >> > OK, and thanks for quick reply Carmen... > > In Ardour specifically, I have a stereo master bus with L and R meters each hitting about -3 dB. > The single numeric display above the meters also reads about -3 dB, rather than 0 dB. > Is this what I should be aiming for? in theory, it's ok to go all the way to full scale (-0dB). in practice, there are a few problems: * cheap D/A converters can start to sound nasty even when not overloading. * it's hard to check for overload at 0dB - you can't ever get louder than full scale in fixed-point notation, so an overload can only be deduced by a number of consecutive samples at full scale * you can have a valid signal with two samples at 0dB, but that implies that there is an inter-sample peak between those two that is larger than that. depending on the rest of the signal chain, this can cause problems (think over-sampling). for pop productions, -3db is on the conservative side - most people seem to go for less than -1. for classical, many tonmeisters will not normalize at all, so that the natural absolute loudnoess is retained (to some extent) - i.e. you set your volume so that you can just about endure that wagner orchestra cd, and then you put that lute music on, and it will peak at -12dB or so... so you don't have to readjust the volume so much. _______________________________________________ Linux-audio-user mailing list Linux-audio-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://lists.linuxaudio.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-audio-user
