Re: recording tech questions...

Elson Trinidad (elson@godzilla.westworld.com)
Fri, 1 Mar 1996 20:37:15 -0800 (PST)


On 1 Mar 1996, Gen M. Kanai wrote:

> I've got a decent 3 head casette deck to do recordings and I wanted to know at
> what decibels should my recordings be played back at for optimum sound/noise
> with a type IV tape.

> Up until now I've been recording CDs to tape with the peaks around +5 dB and
> averaging around +1 to +3dB. Does this make sense or can I go higher or should
> I be lower?

Take the 'dB' readings with a grain of salt. Different decks are
optimized differently. Use your eyes, and most importantly, your ears.
Record as loud as possible, but soft enough that it doesn't mush
out into the red all the time. You need to do this to get the best
signal-to-noise ratio. In other words, it's okay to peak into the
red, as long as it doesn't stay up there all the time. If the song
uses lots of dynamics, try recording the loud part to test.

-30-
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Elson Trinidad, Los Angeles, CA
elson@westworld.com
http://www.westworld.com/~elson
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