Reddits all Over

Relax in southern comfort on the east bank of the Mississippi. You're just around the corner from Beale Street and Sun Records. Watch the ducks, throw back a few and tell us what's on your mind.
Post Reply
Tubetec
Posts: 342
Joined: Sun Sep 08, 2024 7:08 pm

Reddits all Over

Post by Tubetec »

Recently I saw a question on Reddit , the subject of which was the following ,
Is it ok to let your converters hit 0dbfs while recording ?
An overwhelming majority of the poll, 73%, said yes ,
Others went on at lenght about why its a really good idea to use 0db as a brick wall limiter to get a louder sound .
So this social media mind virus that says we should slam the levels into the digital ceiling seems to be prevailing ,

I could only read a few responces before I felt like fucking punching the screen :lol:
Ive just about Hadit with Reddit , its like whirl pool where bullshit rises to the top .

Im not searching out the link again ,
User avatar
mediatechnology
Posts: 5976
Joined: Sat Aug 11, 2007 2:34 pm
Location: Oak Cliff, Texas
Contact:

Re: Reddits all Over

Post by mediatechnology »

Tubetec wrote: Tue May 13, 2025 10:11 pm Recently I saw a question on Reddit , the subject of which was the following ,
Is it ok to let your converters hit 0dbfs while recording ?
An overwhelming majority of the poll, 73%, said yes ,
Others went on at lenght about why its a really good idea to use 0db as a brick wall limiter to get a louder sound .
So this social media mind virus that says we should slam the levels into the digital ceiling seems to be prevailing ,

I could only read a few responces before I felt like fucking punching the screen :lol:
Ive just about Hadit with Reddit , its like whirl pool where bullshit rises to the top .

Im not searching out the link again ,
I've seen that same discussion on GroupDIY and GearSpace as well as the question about which converter clips the "best."
I avoid both those places as well.
These discussions motivated me to make the Waveulator...

About the only time I land on Reddit is when search takes me to a technical solution.

Modern DAWs have caused a generation to make production decisions based on the waveform rather than what they hear.
One of the classics is "why is my waveform lopsided?"
Tubetec
Posts: 342
Joined: Sun Sep 08, 2024 7:08 pm

Re: Reddits all Over

Post by Tubetec »

Its a good example of how the social media echochamber turns into a feedback loop
it flushes conventional wisdom in favour of poor engineering practices , bad ideas or behaviours ,

Every audio interface Ive ever tested has markedy worse THD performance in the last 12-15 db upto 0dbfs , so your as well to only allow ocassional peaks above that, leaving plenty of headroom .
emrr
Posts: 604
Joined: Sun Mar 02, 2008 10:27 pm
Location: NC, USA
Contact:

Re: Reddits all Over

Post by emrr »

It’s frequently better to let the occasional stray clip the converter versus trying to make a peak limiter sound acceptable. Using a soft knee RMS comp with occasional clips has always sounded better than trying to get a brick wall thing to sound good maintaining a perfectly clipless result. Whatever dumbass ignorant “clipping as feature” thing people do is another matter.
Best,

Doug Williams
Electromagnetic Radiation Recorders
User avatar
mediatechnology
Posts: 5976
Joined: Sat Aug 11, 2007 2:34 pm
Location: Oak Cliff, Texas
Contact:

Re: Reddits all Over

Post by mediatechnology »

emrr wrote: Sun May 18, 2025 11:14 pm It’s frequently better to let the occasional stray clip the converter versus trying to make a peak limiter sound acceptable.
I agree.
I don't really hear those clips when they are short-duration.
I'd rather listen to a modest to relatively high DR recording with an occasional short clip than anything brick-walled where the entire file looks like a big square brick from start to finish.
User avatar
AnalogJoe
Posts: 259
Joined: Mon Dec 24, 2018 3:11 pm

Re: Reddits all Over

Post by AnalogJoe »

Or maybe just don't clip your audio

There is really no reason why one should record with hot levels into 24 bit digital these days. In fact, the SNR of many sigma delta (or delta sigma, whatever you want to call them) converters gets worse as you get closer to 0dBFS, with a maximum SNR at around -6 dBFS. I usually avoid hitting anything beyond -10 dBFS. Also, the analog portion doesn't have to work that hot than when hitting near 0 dBFS levels.
SNR.png
Bonum certamen certavi, cursum consumavi, fidem servavi.
Post Reply