adjusting sound level of QU-Drive multi track recordings

[lesouvage]

Today I tested multi track recording with my Qu-16 with the newest firmware, with a recording of 1.45 hour. I used a Sandisk Extreme USB 3.0 64 gB that is capable of storing around 4 hours of multi track recording. I listened to the tracks used during the recording and there are no hick-ups/lost seconds which is good news. Another problem is that the sound level of the recordings is very low. I just read the Qu-drive part of the manual but I haven’t find any pointer to a way to gain up the recording level when doing a multi track recording.

My concrete question is: How do I adjust (increase) the sound level of the recording while using the QU-Drive multi track recording feature? Thanks in advance for helping me out.

/Erik

[mervaka]

You don’t, 0dB on the desk is -18dBFS, there’s no getting around that, it’s part and parcel of a digital system. You should normalise the recordings once you’ve imported them into the DAW.

[Anonymous]

There are enough bits of resolution that headroom is available without adversely affecting snr.

18dB sounds like a lot of headroom, but when you consider that there is a +10dB step on each fader…

[lesouvage]

@mervaka, thanks for the response, although it was not the answer that I expected.

So using the amplify “effect” with Audacity or give the track another 15 dB is the normal way to go? (or with some other program that processes the tracks and replay the tracks)

Just out of curiosity: What is the idea behind recording at such a low sound level (-18dBFS)? I read the info at Wikipedia but I still don’t understand.

What is the best way to go if it comes to normalising the recordings and end up with a nice mix of all the tracks. I’m using Audicity on my MacBook but I guess that is not really the best solution available.

Do one of you have any pointers to f.i. sites, books or articles so I can fill in this obviously lack of background information about digital recording. Again, thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Let me see if I can dig out the articles that helped me most wrt sample rates and bit depth….

https://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html

Couple of videos linked as well

[Anonymous]

It’s not a low level, it’s just that your playback is predicated on premixed and compressed audio.

[cornelius78]

+1 to [XAP]Bob

Normally in a modern live recording there’s quite a bit of dynamic range. The 18dB of headroom is there for big transients, so when they happen you can record them without clipping. Modern mastering techniques dictate that those tracks will be compressed a lot when they’re mixed and mastered later, and have their dynamic range squished. If you were to record your live tracks initially with only 3dB of headroom, (which is about how much dynamic range modern songs have,) when you got those big transients that are > 3dB above normal, you’d get digital clipping, and that would sound bad. However, when you record with all the headroom (especially at a 24-bit depth: you’ve got 144dB to fit all the sound) you can capture everything without clipping, then worry about compressing and normalizing it later in your DAW.

[Andreas]

This headroom recently saved my life, when I used to Qu as an unobserved recording interface. After setting all gains during soundcheck the bass player decided to change the instrument. After about an hour I accidentially saw the peak led of the bass channel more or less constantly lit. Guess what, recording still ok (not clipped with a ~2dB margin left)! That’s why I want to have such a headroom. 😉

[lesouvage]

Thanks all for the explanation 🙂
/erik

[DominickC]

Yes this is a very useful article about how to deal with these recordings. I just did the same and noticed such a low level. But its’ cool that you can adjust it later.

I just received the Qu-16 and it is great. By the way, the USB drive that I used for a multi track recording was the Kingston Data Traveler SE9 G2 USB3.0 Flash Drive 16GB and it seemed to work just fine for a 2 minute recording. I also purchased the Sandisk Extreme in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB variations and will test it when I have an opportunity.

Thank you,
Dominick

[Peesca]

I did my first gig today and recorded without any problem but when I got home and tried to listen to the recordings I was wondering exactly the same thing, why such a low level. Thanks for the explantion, now I do know.
Thanks
Regards
Peesca

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