Just verifying my understanding about Audio volume levels

[sjs94704]

I am a singer. Instead of having a live band where I am recording my own background music, I am simply downloading the background music off the net (with the proper rights to do so!), so the volume is the way it is off the net.

I guess where I am getting just a bit confused is that first, I learn best by watching videos. I am well aware that there are TONS of videos on using Reaper. I have found LOTS of them on proper recording levels. I understand very clearly what they are saying when it comes to actually recording the music itself.

In this case, it is simply a little difficult for me to find (and I might just not be keying the right thing in the search criteria) videos that will show how once my background music gets loaded, what volume levels on the meter should the music be at while I am recording my vocals?

It may very well be that I am just a bit confused about this part of mixing and knowing all the proper terminology yet to how to key in the right words in the YouTube search to find what I am looking for!

If anyone would be willing to offer the links to some specific videos on YouTube that talks about this I would be grateful!

-Steven -Berkeley, CA

[foxAsteria]

Recording volume is mostly about getting a strong signal with the least noise, without clipping or distortion. But the backing tracks you download are likely to be compressed in order to increase overall, perceived loudness. You will need to also compress your vocals to match that decreased dynamic range, otherwise you will be too quiet in some parts and too loud in others, compared to the music. What the meters say doesn't matter much unless they are in the red.

[sjs94704]

First, thanks for your feedback about compression and I will look into that.

You know how when your recording you want your input to hit at around -18 ??

Putting recording levels aside for a moment, when I go to play the song back, just like the aparent standard for recording level is around -18, is there also a standard for what number on the mete to work towards when playing back both the vocals and music?

[foxAsteria]

I've actually removed the numbers off my meters, because they're not really that important unless you're working professionally in broadcast or you're a mastering engineer or something. Don't get hung up on the numbers. These rules of thumb are there to help you maintain enough headroom that you don't clip, because recorded clipping cannot be fixed. Nothing else really matters. Not to mention that many of them came from analog recording days and are no longer relevant to digital recording. Volume can always be increased later. Just stay well away from 0dB on the peak meter. You'll probably want to look into the difference between Peak and RMS metering:

https://theproaudiofiles.com/video/m...1-peak-vs-rms/

[ashcat_lt]

Turn the backing track down until you hear the vocal where you want it in the mix. Don't worry about the meters. Listen and adjust until it sounds right. Once you're happy with the relative levels and are thinking about creating a file for final distribution, THEN you look at the meters and adjust the Master fader til it peaks just short of 0dbFS.

[vdubreeze]

The reason much of this question is hard to answer is because it's all relative. Your backing tracks are loaded in and you're monitoring/listening probably through your computer's audio output. Your computer might have a strong or a weak output when maxed, or the computer's volume might be set anywhere, and what you consider a good headphone volume to sing with might be much too low for someone else. You may have imported a track that has had its peaks limited down quite a lot and then normalized to max or it may be peaking at -4 and not limited at all. So there really is no proper level that the track fader should be at when recording vocals. As long as it gives you something to sing to that feels right and isn't clipping its meter or the master fader you're good to go.

If someone is using an external recording interface with a headphone knob sometimes the best answer is to leave everything where they are and turn the hardware headphone level knob until you like it, and then adjust the vocal track output (not the recording level/input) to fit.