decibles -Sound Forge - PC - MAGIX Community Forums Archive

Subject:decibles Posted by: whitepony Date:9/6/2002 11:00:12 PM when you record, the meter has numbers on the side. what are they for? i know you don't want to go above zero, but there must be two different types of decibles.
Subject:RE: decibles Reply by: judsont Date:9/7/2002 10:30:02 PM they represent right and left meters. try to keep your the highest peaks in your audio in the -1.0 range max. to be safe. anything at 0 will start distorting. This is where compression comes into play. It reduces any sounds that try to jump over 0 by how ever many decibals you specify. the average is for every decibal that a sound goes over 0, reduce by 2. this is call a 1:2 ratio. You usually have 1:1, 1:3:1, 1:2, and 1:4 and so on. Try to avoid using compression at all costs. It can really hinder vocals and other instruments. It is most likely used on a bass guitar or kick drum. cool???? Go check out lillyproductions.net
Subject:RE: decibles Reply by: Jessariah Date:9/7/2002 11:32:29 PM By "two differnt types" of decibals, you might mean digital vs. analog. Analog meters go into positive numbers (that "analog saturation" that many miss...).
Subject:RE: decibles Reply by: Rednroll Date:9/8/2002 9:49:39 AM Judsont, You're explanation of compression ratio's is a little incorrect....and actually when you mention a compression ratio of "1:2", that is "Expansion"...the opposite of compression. Here's how compression ratio's really work. First you have a "Threshold level setting". Let's say for an example, we set the threshold level at -10dB. Now you set a compression ratio of 4:1. Now for any audio to be able to go +1dB past the threshold of -10dB, it must exceed the threshold by 4dB. So for the audio to go +2dB higher than -10dB, it must go 8dB past the threshold. So the compression doesn't start working until the level of the audio exceeds the threshold. So in your example, if the threshold is set at 0dB or even -1dB, there is still a very good chance it will distort. You really want something like a limiter, which is a compressor with a compression ratio of 10:1 or greater.
Subject:RE: decibles Reply by: RiRo Date:9/8/2002 1:31:27 PM That is a very good description of compression. RiRo

Subject:decibles

Posted by: whitepony

Date:9/6/2002 11:00:12 PM

when you record, the meter has numbers on the side. what are they for? i know you don't want to go above zero, but there must be two different types of decibles.

Subject:RE: decibles

Reply by: judsont

Date:9/7/2002 10:30:02 PM

they represent right and left meters. try to keep your the highest peaks in your audio in the -1.0 range max. to be safe. anything at 0 will start distorting. This is where compression comes into play. It reduces any sounds that try to jump over 0 by how ever many decibals you specify. the average is for every decibal that a sound goes over 0, reduce by 2. this is call a 1:2 ratio. You usually have 1:1, 1:3:1, 1:2, and 1:4 and so on. Try to avoid using compression at all costs. It can really hinder vocals and other instruments. It is most likely used on a bass guitar or kick drum.
cool????
Go check out lillyproductions.net

Subject:RE: decibles

Reply by: Jessariah

Date:9/7/2002 11:32:29 PM

By "two differnt types" of decibals, you might mean digital vs. analog. Analog meters go into positive numbers (that "analog saturation" that many miss...).

Subject:RE: decibles

Reply by: Rednroll

Date:9/8/2002 9:49:39 AM

Judsont, You're explanation of compression ratio's is a little incorrect....and actually when you mention a compression ratio of "1:2", that is "Expansion"...the opposite of compression.

Here's how compression ratio's really work. First you have a "Threshold level setting". Let's say for an example, we set the threshold level at -10dB. Now you set a compression ratio of 4:1. Now for any audio to be able to go +1dB past the threshold of -10dB, it must exceed the threshold by 4dB. So for the audio to go +2dB higher than -10dB, it must go 8dB past the threshold. So the compression doesn't start working until the level of the audio exceeds the threshold. So in your example, if the threshold is set at 0dB or even -1dB, there is still a very good chance it will distort. You really want something like a limiter, which is a compressor with a compression ratio of 10:1 or greater.

Subject:RE: decibles

Reply by: RiRo

Date:9/8/2002 1:31:27 PM

That is a very good description of compression.

RiRo