Level in recording ?

[jb07Participant]

At what level should we make a USB audio recording? I made a MainLR recording on the SQ DRive taking care not to exceed 0dB and when I reread the Wav file under audacity the level is very low. it does not exceed -12dB.
Is this normal?
Thanks

[SteffenRParticipant]

the 0db point is at +4dBu

maximum output level is at +22dBu (this is the level for 0dBFS in the analog domain)
that means if the meter is reading 0dB you still have a headroom of 18dB available
it is save to drive the average level of the meters over 0dB, it depends on the signal/instrument

there are already discussions available to this topic

[SteffenRParticipant]

some links

How do I Increase DAW Input Level for Dante Connected MacBook

Recording with qu16, direct out

[jb07Participant]

Thanks I will see that

[volounteerParticipant]

@jb07

That is totally normal and good to prevent clipping in a digital mixer .

Raise the level in your DAW with a normalize that fixes DC offsets
Then adjust levels for any editing to make sure YOU dont cause the clipping

Otherwise you could try to raise the gain in the DAW to make the 0dB points align
but why risk clipping in the DAW ? Record it all then adjust it when you can undo mistakes.

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