[78-L] Record collecting week 8

[Ken Matheson]

Week 8, Output medium, CDs, MP3s, and levels.
 
Levels,
 
Here is a scary subject for many out there. I
have worked with audio levels for many years,
So I know some about them. Here is a little
secret, many pro sound technicians don’t know
squat about levels. Records seen to be better
than CDs as far as levels. I have some CDs
with bad clipping. I have also seen varying
levels on records and CDs. I have bought some
CDs that the sound tech had the ratio for the band
to singer so screwed up it was not worth listening
to. In that case you can not do anything to correct
It. I always rework the levels before transferring
them to CDs, or MP3s. 
 
Just remember the more negative the level the lower
it is. So a –10 is much lower than a 0.
 
The Recording level while recording from a record
is more difficult than working off a commercial CD.
I have factory reps tell me a –14DB or lower is best.
I try for a –12 or –13DB on the software recording
level meter. It comes out at –10DB on the finished
digitized file. If you get too low, you run into the noise
threshold.
 
The .AIF, or .WAV, I then process in software, noise
reduction and levels. I try for a between –2.5 to –3.5
DB level on the finished product, CD or MP3, or
.WMA. 
 
I save the processed file in .WAV format. From there I
will make a CD, or a .WMA or .MP3 file for my MP3
player. I try not to go from .WMA to .MP3 to .WAV due
to the compression that occurs in the .WMA and .MP3.
If you download from the internet you get an MP3 file
a lot of the time so you will have to work with that.
 
Output medium is always changing. 78s to vinyl, to
Real to real, to 8 track, to cassette, to CDs, to MP3s.
I have found Verbatim CDs, and DVDs to be the best.
 
I feel sorry for people that have never heard the music
that was put on 78s, and vinyl. There was some
awesome music produced in the 1920s and 30s. The
only way to listen to it is to convert it to MP3s and
play it through a MP3 player in your car, or Ipod, or
other portable device. Ebay has some MP3 players
that broadcast through your car FM radio that plug
into your cigarette lighter socket for under $10. With
a microSD card from Amazon for about 4 to 6 dollars.
You can drive coast to coast without hearing the same
song twice.