The simplest and most useful explanation of levels I’ve ever heard. Really well done.

Ja, ja. Indeed, Joe. You are just great explaining things crystal clear. You've just got what it takes, man. Thanks a lot.

-12 to -24 and you wont have any issues at all. -18 is the sweet spot. You can see in the mixer in S1 if you show the Inputs where you are hitting.

Thank you! Simple, concise and perfect!

I like how I can hear the change in audio when you adjust the gain...thanks for not trimming it, Joe.

This video was a breakthrough for me in understanding recording levels and why everything is red on my set-up for guitar'n at home lol. Thanks a million!

Recording skilled professional studio musicians, I generally start with the peaks at -10, assuming the final loudest peak will be about -6. If the player/singer is less experienced in the studio, I add additional headroom buffer, starting at -15. My second guideline is NOVERS which translates into no "overs" ever. Thanks, Joe!

Joe thank you on how you teach, demonstrate and break down studio one per the subject at hand. You guys have brought me light years lol. Really appreciate it .

Thank you for verifying my way of recording. I host house concerts and record them so the performer "s" can have a record of it. When I do the sound check I have them play the loudest song they will perform so I can get the gain set and I keep the speakers off and they always say " I can't hear anything" so I have to tell them I'll set the house mix once I get the gain adjusted.

Recording at higher levels dates back to analog and early-digital days, when the noise floor was high enough that you needed to record as loud as possible to get a clear recording. These days even the room noise will likely be much louder than the noise floor, so it doesn't matter (as long as you don't have the gain set at a ridiculously low level).

Wow thank you! That was so simple yet explained a major problem!

Super helpful and clear. Exactly what I needed as I'm about to record a guitar track. It will be nothing close to what Jimi Hendrix did at his worst moment ever, but at least it won't clip!!!

Exactly what I needed. Bookmarked. Simple concept, but essential!!

Thank you for this. Sometimes we need a refresher of just the fundamentals.

This was exactly what I was looking for as a musician learning to produce! Thank you!

Great, useful video. I think a lot of recording gain (overly aggressive) issues may be due to misunderstanding that the monitor gain can and should be considered separate from a properly set track recording gain. I like your strategy of starting at -18 DB or so, and just boosting the monitor level as necessary to give your performer what they need for real time response. Just a thought…

I learned a heck of a lot from this tutorial. I've just started recording vocals. Thanks Joe.

Thanks man!! I hadn't heard clipping explained like that. Very helpful!!!!

And don't forget to tell your viewers about the right click trick on the S1 channel meters to display either pre or post fader.

One time I totally underestimated how loud the drummer was going to hit the kick drum during recording. To be fair he was hitting it 2-3 times as loud as during the sound check, but still. I managed to get some dynamic feel back with some creative compression, but still, always remember that people will start playing way, way, waaaaay louder when they're feeling the music. I learned that day.

Some people are still in the illusion that the higher the gain, the less noise is recorded. It used to be that you could tape a record, or any other media with a tape recorder and go to +6db, mostly with chome or metal tape. That's one. But with digital recording they drew the hard line at 0db. When i do my recording in my kitchen i only have a meter that shows me ttwo green volume lights, two orange and one red. Experience now has shown me i'm already messing up when the orange lights are lightning up. When i record it safe in the green zones, the signal to noise ratio remains the same when i record it on a so called "reloop tape" that has a USB stick connected to it and i can always gain it up in studio one

Thank you so much for this, I will be sure to use this key information going forward! Honestly, such a needed video with a very well explained narrative. Thank you!

A goated engineer 🐐

Thank you very much for helping me understand clipping much more. It helped me so much more, so, I know how to combat my vocals getting ruined. You just earned a new subscriber.

Can I just say its so hard to find tutorials on studio one and you cover so much stuff on music production and as a beginner to intermediate your videos ahve been insanely helpful recently. You always have what im looking for and hse studio one so you can show me how to douu it in my DAW

im new to studio one. this was excatly what i needed to watch to correct my imput volume problems i was experiencing. awesome teaching! just subscribed.

Joe Gilder is the best in the biz.

Thanks Joe, some great advice as always. I'm a novice at home recording but I really do enjoy it, and I am learning so much from you. Thank You!

There are declipping pkugins, from what I have seen and they work really well too is love an overview of one

I used to think that Limiter, prevent my signal to clip. I was wrong, boss ? Love your Job !!

Thank you Joe. Your explanation help newbie like me a lot.

Good Tip Joe.

Dude you are a gold mine for knowledge

Great Video. Subscribed

Hi Joe, i would have guessed you have gained more hits for this episode. (shame) You have produced absoloute gold.... I never quite looked at it this way and you have opened my mind for better recordings right across the spectrum.. Thanks so very much dear

hi master, it's not quite so easy to tune a preamp by this way without thinking about dynamic of instrument... i made this experience with my flute recording. nice day

Joe! you are really awesome man. Your videos have been extremely helpful to me. You are a real professional and an intellectual. God bless

Wow....so simply explained......thank you!!!

Love your videos, man - thanks for continuing these fundamentals!

Thanks Joe, always great videos!

It’s been a long time since I’ve talked to you man but I see you’re still putting out good stuff as always.

I respectfully mostly agree… BUT, if you are not recording at a higher bitrate than what is finally required (e.g. recording at 32 bit for a 24 bit final mix), being *that* conservative will kill your dynamics and/or your resolution. Yes, you can always make you pick higher, but there will be visible “steps” on the way up or down, as you would see aliasing on a zoomed image, if you see my analogy. So… better less than more of course, paying attention to the first step before digitalisation will make the best out of your hardware and pipeline. My 2 cents.

I was hoping you would cover how to adjust the RMS settings in studio one.

Great some overview

we love you Mr Joe

Can you talk about noise floor when you record to low a level/gain and 32bit recording to advert clipping?

Brilliant work!

Joe, i did messed up!!!! thanks for your videos. It helping me alot. !! 🇮🇩

So very useful ...wish I'd seen this when I first got my first (and only) DAW; Presonus studio one. Thanks Joe. Take the rest of the day off 🙂

So helpful as always - thanks Joe 🙏🏻

Thanks for all you do

Thanks Joe Gilder

That's a very nice and helpful clip.

Thanks for watching? Thanks for sharing!

If you continue like this, we will move everything to Studio One! :)

Joe, Rick Beato needs your sense of humour. You make me laugh and he makes me cry.

Pls make a video about this ! Setting input gains vs digital gain !does digital gain make up introduce noise or is nust a unnecessary step?

It’s so tempting to move that fader up and up and up during the recording 👹

Hey Joe! Thanks for all the great videos you post. They are so good and instructive and creative, a great inspiration for me. You are the best!!! One thing I have wondered for a long time and which I have now finally come to ask. When you zoom in on the video to pedagogically show different things in S1, I wonder if I can use that zoom when using Studio One? I mean in addition to the zoom features in S1, assume it's a special program you have. What is the Zoom program ??? I have bad eyes, and I'm very grateful if you can tell me about it, your zoom program, or something like that :-) Thanks and keep making your videos, they are so good. Greetings Staffan in Sweden

thank you thank you thank you! you're wicked awesome

very nice

You got a good trap song beginning with your “I’m clipping” line though 😂

Thank you Joe 🎵

What a god. Love you too brothers

Thanks for this bro...you need to do a video on how to take out those hidden pops.

Thank u so much Bro.... This part is very2 important thing

Thanks, Mane, I can't believe that I have been doing this wrong for so long.

Thanks Joe. Always appreciate your videos. LOVE THE KEY AND PEELE REFERENCE! (AyAyRon) LOL

I promise it's right there. Joe we trust you lol 😂

I have version 5. The gain knob is not visible by default. How do I make it visible?

Joe, if you were to record hotter than 0dbFS, are you overloading the pre-amp (which is an analog device) or the A>D converter? Personally, I run my vocal mic into a Wendt X4 mixer and adjust the pre-amp gain by watching the VU meter. (yes, I'm old). Prior to recording, I can turn on the internal tone oscillator, which gives me a 0VU line level output (which equates to -20dbFS) which I plug into my Presonus AudioBox and then set that level to give me a -20 reading on the Studio One channel meter. Never the less, I have always taught my students that setting the pre-amp is THE most important gain stage setting. Basically, get the microvolts out of the mic up to roughly 1.23 volts so every stage of the electronics down steam run optimally. When recording, the fader on the mixer is essentially a switch. Set it at the nominal position (ie. don't touch it when you create the channel) and leave it there. Its designed to aid in mixing, not recording.

What about making a song without unnecessary steps !it might think way in advance like all the processing and bounce once or fewer times ! What you think about this concept ?

Thanks but I thought you were going to show some suggestions for static mix. Maybe you could do this sometime!

Dam stupid manual that came with BR1600 said to turn up untill the red light flashes on off on the loudest bits. Now back to looking for that bat. I'm not touching it tho.

nice video thnx .. am new so thank u

If you have a moment, Help me out understanding this! I have no knowledge in audio but very interested. The gain was around -12db but you said your spoken volume was 54db. So am I right the gain is not volume the sound has a volume but the gain is signal? Sorry to ask such a basic question I just not sure of the relationship and what floor is. Thanks

Hi joe i remember learning stuff from your videos ! Why not minus 15 ? Or minus 18 ? For songs with multiple channels ?

I subscribe because you are nice person

Newb question - what do you set the line level to in your operating system control panel? 100? 50?

So the takeaway here is turn the faders down when recording? many tine si have recorded, and the original signal clips, but I found I can eliminate the clipping using compression or the Limiter, or using volume controls. But am I really getting rid of the clipping this way? This is for solo classical guitar.

Excellent advice on setting levels. I have a question though. Your microphone plugged into a mixer, unlike mine which plugs into a audio interface. Before you even open the DAW, should you maximize input at the hardware level, avoiding clipping of course? And once that is done, then make adjustments at the DAW Software Level?

Activity Meter goes orange. I play the MIDI keyboard very lightly and turned velocity down too but it keeps going orange, is that normal or does it need to be green?

Helpful artifact(s) in recording that matters a lot

What about set up levels for a guitar presets multieffects using a DAW? I've read check out peaks (-6 dBs max) and RMS (¿?)

use the input section to more accurately monitor the signal

6.00 🤩

Newbie question....I had in my mind that the DAW itself could increase the input gain as well as obviously the hardware pre amp gain. So a DAW doesn't effect the input but the output? Sorry for such a daft question !

This video helped a lot , thank you. Is it the same when recording digitally with instruments? I use my guitars and bass directly into my interface and set the gain so it stays green and does not clip when recording tracks. My setting is usually set at between 4 or 5 on the knob , and after I record, I turn the waves down to a better level afterward most times. However, if I lower the gain too much, then I can not hear it with my ears, unfortunately. Figured I'd ask so I could adjust my habits a bit.

Yes you can always turn it up but you definitely don't want to record something to quiet. Like recording a drum kit. You want the mic pres to shine and show their true colors. I try to set my preamp gain knobs as loud as possible while leaving enough head room for plugins/processing Etc. If I record them quietly the drums will sound poor and dull. No plugins will save that issue. Lol.

I never understood why in some meters start at - 20db and go all the way to 3, yours here start at -60 all the way to 0 and here you are setting your gain in a positive >40 db can you please explain ? I always though that < -20 db is what we can't hear , and 0 is like 10 times louder , but here you are adjusting to 40 bd and the meter is rather at -12db ? I am just confused. or maybe I need a course in db topic

U the best bro

Thx!

Hey Joe, good vid. I'm a studio one user and always learn from you, thanks. I have something I could use help with. I think I'm over-using de-essing. The tone is becoming uncomfortable. Any advice?

WHEN I EXPORT A TRACK I CREATED IN STUDIO ONE, THE SOUND IS LOW IN THE DAW

I think this volume level problem has plagued every single person that records. I wrestled with it for a while, but I think I have it under control now. It has to be done in stages. It seems, if you are like me, where you record ALL of the music first, followed by vocals, you end up with no room left for the vocals, regarding loudness. I try to keep the music at a much lower volume, to give myself plenty of headroom when I get to the vocals.

Great vid Joe! The only thing is that when I turn the gain up I can hear my self better on the headphones. I know the recording will be clipped and then I turn the gain down...beautiful recording but I dont hear my voice anymore on the headphones volume that is max out. How do we come around this? Thanks, great channel!

"...it can really jack things up for you..." I'm having trouble understanding the meaning of that in this context. Did you mean "mess things up for you"?

haha great tutorial, you are hilarious!

How did you get the Preamp gain option ? Ik things are different now since this was 2years ago bro .

awesome