[78-L] Record collecting week 8

[David Lennick]

If you got used to transferring to open reel or cassette, you have to relearn 
maximum levels.."0" in digital is all you get, Charlie, whereas you could load 
audio up to +6 on good quality open reel. I almost never transfer direct to a 
CD but go to DAT which gives me level readouts and immediately lets me know if 
I've topped 0, so I can go back and find that loud spot and adjust for it and 
rerecord.

dl

On 5/27/2012 11:37 AM, Ken Matheson wrote:
> Week 8, Output medium, CDs, MP3s, and levels.
> Â
> Levels,
> Â
> 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.
> Â
> Just remember the more negative the level the lower
> it is. So a –10 is much lower than a 0.
> Â
> 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.
> Â
> 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.
> Â
> 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.
> Â
> 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.
> Â
> 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.
> Â
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