Cockos Incorporated Forums - View Single Post - Recording levels into preamp, the -18dBFS myth?

Judders · 05-26-2019, 01:56 PM

One more thing about it though -

There's nothing wrong with adhering to the -18 "rule". It's obviously helped a lot of people get a handle on gain staging and, as Karbo says, keeping a mix manageable and organised.

The problem comes when people start talking about DAW or plugin "sweet spots" as if they are analogue hardware. It just doesn't work like that.

Emulation plugins are just code. You don't generally get unacceptable SNR if you hit them too softly, nor do they set on fire if you hit them too hard. Crank them until you get the sonic effect you are after, regardless of what the nicely rendered VU meters say.

05-26-2019, 01:56 PM	#50
Judders Human being with feelings Join Date: Aug 2014 Posts: 11,052	One more thing about it though - There's nothing wrong with adhering to the -18 "rule". It's obviously helped a lot of people get a handle on gain staging and, as Karbo says, keeping a mix manageable and organised. The problem comes when people start talking about DAW or plugin "sweet spots" as if they are analogue hardware. It just doesn't work like that. Emulation plugins are just code. You don't generally get unacceptable SNR if you hit them too softly, nor do they set on fire if you hit them too hard. Crank them until you get the sonic effect you are after, regardless of what the nicely rendered VU meters say.