#elevatedmuzik

What is a good signal when recording? I figured that i would start my first post with this topic because a good signal when recording is the first step in a good final product. Im not going to go into detail about what mic you should get or what signal chain you should use. These are very general concepts that when applied properly can make a world of a difference.

The first concept that should be understood is the signal to noise ratio. The signal being the source that you are attempting to record and the noise being everything else. The greater the difference between the two the better the recording. For example, if you are not fortunate enough to have a vocal booth and you are recording in an open room there are still ways to optimize your recording. First think about all the potential noise that could be bleeding into your recording. (Noise being transmitted from adjacent rooms, noise being transmitted from outside, etc.) Your objective is to get all the noise to a minimum. Closing windows helps prevent outdoor noise. Turn off all devices that are noisy like ceiling fans, regular fans, A/C units etc. You may even need to go next door to your brother or sisters room and ask them to please be quiet for a little while. (good luck with that)

Ok so now that we got the noise under control its time to focus on the signal. Now the objective is to have the signal as loud as it can be without clipping.

On audio track one you can see that the source was recorded to loud. If you look to the left of the audio region there is a red dot at the top of the meter indicating that the signal was to loud and there is a possibility of distortion. On track 3 there is a very low level that was recorded. Depending on how low your noise floor is, you may be able to get away with it. But with the recording on track 3 you may run into problems when your ready to compress the signal because that actually raises the noise floor. The audio recorded on track 2 would be your optimal choice.

Now there are 2 variables that effect the outcome of the recorded level into your host program. The first is your input gain which is the level knob used to increase or decrease the source signal going into the host program. The second is the actual output level of the source itself. This concept is very important and applies to more than just studio recording.

The first step that you want to do is make sure the source is providing a strong enough output. This can be achieved simply by projecting your voice. The lower the sources output means that there will be more noise in the recording. The stronger the sources signal the less noise that will come through the recording because the source signal will be strong enough to mask or over power the noise from being audible in the recorded signal. 

Now that you are getting a strong signal from your source its time to manipulate your trim POT or input gain knob. While making sure that the source remains consistent with its signal, begin to raise the gain knob until your signal is entering your host program at your desired level. The desired level being a few notches right below clipping. 

One thing to be careful of is vertical zoom. it will make your waveforms appear larger than they really are. The easy way to check is to look at your meters. If your waveform is large and your signal in the meters are low (Providing your fader for that channel is at unity gain) you may have to adjust your vertical zoom down to make the waveforms smaller. 

                   (This control panel is located in the top left hand side of your protools DAW)

Another way to tell is if your waveforms are small but squared off at the top and bottom. this means that your signal is distorting even though the waveforms looks small. By default vertical zoom is left at normal but if u were to ever run into this problem now you know the solution.

         And that concludes this post on getting a good signal when recording. Next weeks topic is going to be Reverberation. Ways to prevent it from getting into your recording and how to use reverb plugins to manipulate your recorded signal.  Please feel free to question and comment on anything that i said in this post. Hope you found this post useful.