poe Posted November 17, 2004 Report Share Posted November 17, 2004 I know that you live recorders out there always recommend that you use manual control for your record levels. So my question is there a real advantage to manual record levels when you dub a cd to minidisc with a digital signal?POE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJ_Palmer Posted November 17, 2004 Report Share Posted November 17, 2004 The levels on a commercial CD should already have been optimised in the studio by the engineers/producers, so in theory you shouldn't need to set manual levels. You should get a 'faithful' recording (within the limits of MD) by recording at 0dB (ie. no manual increase). Certain tracks might need bumping up or down, though, particularly if you're making a compilation from different sources, on soft tracks that have been recorded at low levels. Also, I've found many older CDs (over 10 years old say) with AAD or ADD mastering have lower levels than modern recordings and have needed to be bumped up by as much as 12dB and didn't overpeak... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dex Otaku Posted November 17, 2004 Report Share Posted November 17, 2004 Most older CDs have much lower average levels, because engineers at the time didn't have workstations like we do now and they were accustomed to dealing with analogue tape moreso than digital. The end result is that older recordings tend to have more headroom [possibly without having used the top few dBfs], and usually MUCH larger dynamic ranges than most that are made now. In theory, you shouldn't have to worry about digital recording levels when dubbing directly from CD to MD/HiMD. KJ is correct with what e says about making compilations, however. When mixing sources it's actually preferable to normalise [in the traditional sense, not in the more common sense of bit-pushing until there's no dynamic range left whatsoever] using editing software and then assemble the compilation. This way you can be assured that the average levels between tracks are relatively well-matched, rather than bouncing all over as much as 20dB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeriyn Posted November 17, 2004 Report Share Posted November 17, 2004 When I rip discs to my hard drive, I tend to use a program like MP3Gain to normalize everything (album gain) to 89dB to attempt to get rid of the worst of the clipping. It usually works. :rasp: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poe Posted November 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2004 Thanks guys and lady for your info on this. I was wondering about this and you gave me a great idea about Guns And Roses Appetite For Destruction cd which is recorded really low I think it might benefit from bumping it up alittle, Thanks,POE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJ_Palmer Posted November 19, 2004 Report Share Posted November 19, 2004 You're welcome, Poe. I always make a note of the record level I've used for future reference/recordings and write it on a little Post-It note stuck to the CD booklet. A little bit anal, perhaps, and (probably) unnecessary if you use software... :rasp: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeriyn Posted November 20, 2004 Report Share Posted November 20, 2004 Thanks guys and lady for your info on this. I was wondering about this and you gave me a great idea about Guns And Roses Appetite For Destruction cd which is recorded really low I think it might benefit from bumping it up alittle, Thanks,POEThe reason your Guns N Roses album is recorded at low levels (probably 89dB gain or lower) is that back in those days, they didn't bit-push the hell out of CDs just to make them as loud as possible. Be happy; your quiet album almost certainly sounds loads better than some of the brand new Redbook audio being released here in 2004. When I rip CDs to compressed audio (for other devices besides MD) I had started using MP3Gain to lower the gain from what it usually is (on newer CDs it tends to be very close to 100dB!) to around 89dB. With MD this wasn't as feasable due to the low output power of MD portables' headphone amplifiers. With the iPod, however... :laugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dex Otaku Posted November 20, 2004 Report Share Posted November 20, 2004 I don't know what standard you're using for measuring the gain of tracks, aeriyn, but the only one anyone I know uses for digital audio is dBfs [full scale] where 0dBfs is the maximum amplitude recordable without distortion. I've never heard of anyone measuring things the way you're doing it. [And that's with 14 years working with digital audio in various ways] Where did you find this method? And what is it based on? Considering the dynamic range of 16-bid audio is 96dB, how can something recorded in it have a "gain" of 100dB? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeriyn Posted November 20, 2004 Report Share Posted November 20, 2004 That's what the program told me when I used the calculate gain option. http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/ This program. :sleep: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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