Setting your Levels

Hey Reader,

Let’s talk about something I see a lot of talent, especially those starting out, struggle with: setting your recording levels. It's one of those things that can feel super technical, but it's really not. It's just a simple step that makes a world of difference. Basically it's about turning that input gain knob on your interface to just the right spot for your voice, gear, and recording space.

• If it’s too quiet, you’ll have to boost the volume later. When you do that, you're not just bringing up your voice—you're also amplifying any little background noise you have in your recording space, or in your signal chain (cables, preamps, interface, etc...) That's how you get that noticeable "hiss" or "hum."
• If it's too loud, you've probably heard that awful, distorted "crunchy" sound. That's called clipping, (or sometimes "peaking") and it happens when your audio signal hits the top of the meter and gets chopped off. It's basically a permanent mistake, however modern post-production tools do offer some possibilities to salvage clipped recordings, but they don't work in every case.

The goal is to get it right at the source. It’s all about giving yourself enough headroom.

So, how do you do that?

The next time you're about to record, do a quick sound check. Speak at your normal, average volume, and watch the meter in your recording software. You want your peaks to hit between -12dB and -6dB. That sweet spot gives you a strong, clean signal without any danger of clipping, and it leaves you with plenty of room to play with in post.

For an even simpler method - just aim for your loudest levels (when you are shouting, getting really excited, projecting alot, etc...) to hit somewhere in the upper middle range of your meter.

It’s one of those little things that makes a huge difference and instantly tells a client you know what you’re doing, especially if you are going to be sending them raw audio without any processing.

Hope this helps - reach out with any questions!

-Michael

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