d8b and hdr

[garrett21allen]

Hi everyone

I know this may sound dumb.
but on my d8b/hdr if I record around -15 on the d8b metters and its showing -15 on the hdr
when I look at the gur everything looks small compared to someone on the internet thats showing a recording that thay made. just say I record vocals at -15 when I look at the monitor the level looks small. if you go to anything on recording on youtube when thay talk about recording a vocal and thay show the vocal on the monitor it looks like it is on the edge of distortion. or are thay doing something diffrent.

after all this time I would like to have the recording that came with my hdr
little bit of love and old to masters. are thay anyway I could get this now.
I would be willing to pay just to get it.

joe allen

[Phil.c]

Joe,

I don't know if I quite understand, are you saying that when you record at 15dbs on your HDR it shows 15dbs on playback but on your D8B it shows less?

Phil

[synthjoe]

You can use a compressor and record the signal past that (I would not recommend). You can also use vertical zoom to change the displayed size of your waveform. I believe this latter is involved in most screenshots showing large signals (does not change the actual output signal amplitude).

I would not recommed recording vocals (in particular) anywhere above -15 dBFS as it might easily go into distortion that is an irreversible phenomenon (vocal is a very dynamic source, 15 dB overhead is definitively needed, if not more). You can pass the signal through a compressor after recording, e.g. in your DAW (preserves the original and you can adjust settings if you notice distortion or any other problem). Compressor is a common thing on vocals, but has to be applied very carefully, therefore I'd suggest avoiding it during recording, if you can (in the tape recording era it was practically unavoidable due to lower S/N performance of the signal chain).

[garrett21allen]

thanks for the fast reply phil

what I mean is just say I record vocals and its showing -15 on the d8b and hdr
when I look at the waveform on the hdr it just looks small compard to other vocals that I see when
I look at tutorals on how to record vocals or how to use reverb on vocals or compressor on vocals
when it showes the waveform on the trainning video there vocals just seem to take up most of the space on the waveform and looks big. on the d8b the waveform looks small. or is that just the way the hdr is made. I don't even know if waveform is the right word to say. sorry I just have a hard time trying to explan thing I always been that way. but still love to learn. its never to late to learn anything. thanks agin phil.

joe allen

[Casey_Pittman]

Do as Synthjoe suggested and use the vertical zoom. I'll go out on a limb and say the reason most music sounds the way it does these days(dynamically void) is because most people don't know the difference between dbfs and dbu. This of course is just my opinion.

-Casey

[garrett21allen]

thanks synthjoe

I only compress at mix time. I do compress into the headphone but not going to tape.
maybe I need to stop compressing the headphone mix. anyway thanks for your help.

I don't think I will be able to find the recordings that came with the hdr. little bit of love
and old to masters. I would love to get them if I could. after 12 years there's no chance I know.

joe allen

[garrett21allen]

thanks casey

I will be the first to admit I don't know the diffrence between a lot of things
but I try to learn. I am a slow learner and I have a hard time explainning things I do the best
I can. and if not for this forum I would still be lost with the d8b/hdr after 12 years.

peter anyhorizing steve john dan doug phil mike and a lot of others that have moved own
has helped me with a lot of things that I could have never done by my self. and I will never forget them.
peter H has helped me a lot to. thats why this forum is the best.

joe allen

[Phil.c]

Joe,

I would'nt worry about only having a thin waveform as long as your signal shows 15 on playback and it was recorded at 15, the thickness of the waveform depends on the source that was recorded and the frequency range ie a baratone singer would give you a thicker waveform than a tenor.

If your going to compress vocals at the recording stage, I would only do it if the vocalist is not singing consistantly at the same volume, some do and some are all over the place, in which case use a fast attack and release and set the threshold to catch just the loud notes and set the ratio very low, start at 1.2 or there abouts.

Phil

[garrett21allen]

thanks phil

I will try the way your talking about. and I will try the way synthjoe is talking about
to me any information I can get just helps me to understand things better.
thanks again.

joe allen