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Old 04-27-2011, 02:13 AM   #2
PAPT
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 1,082
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If a recorded wave is making the master track go over 0db then it is clipping and should be redone. This would be with the master fader set to 0db.

If you happen to have a great performance that has portions that have clipped according to the meters, but you don't hear any distortion or general signal degradation, then you might want to use that take for the sake of a great performance. Otherwise, do it right.

The midi tracks are not a problem. You can adjust then in the Vst or with the track fader. I would tend to keep the level under control in the vst if it is going over 0db on the track meter with the track fader at 0db.
The main reason for that is because some effects that you might place after the vst could be sensitive to input levels and could overload if the vst is putting out a too high level.

When you record waves with vocal, guitar, etc then a good level is around -18db RMS. Keep peaks under 0db and preferably under about -6db.

It sounds like that would be too low, but 0db RMS in the digital world is like 0db on a tape deck's meters.
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