Jonah A. Kort wrote on Sun, 05 October 2008 12:50 |
or quiet do you monitor? I have a 002 and I think if you turned
the knob 2 millimeters (about as soon as the stereo comes into
view), that's how quiet I am. I don't own a SPL meter yet, no
money(s). I generally start mixing at 11pm, my parents sleep above
my room. But I think if someone was talking while I was mixing
that they'd have to stop talking or leave or both or
never show up.
-jonah
|
Yup, as everyone has said, 85dB SPL at the listening position is a good reference level... but what is that in reference too? This is what is important...
When you get the money, go to radio shack and buy an SPL meter for $30 or $40. Set it to C-weighted (although some people will argue it should be A-weighted, but Dolby and I believe AES/EBU standards say C weighting, try both and see which works better for you) and slow response. Turn the dial to 80dB. Play back a pink noise signal (using the signal generator plugin) that is set to -15 inside the plugin window (your 002 is setup from the factory so that -15dB inside the computer is "unity gain", also known as +4dBu, or 1.228Volts, or 0 on an analog VU meter). Keep the fader for the track set to "0".
Now start with your monitor volume all the way down... turn it up until you start to see the volume appearing on the SPL meter in your hand. Stop when you hit 85dB. With a pen and some masking tape, mark that stop on your 002's monitor volume knob.
One thing to mention, if you are really close to your speakers, you should be using 82dB instead of 85dB. Dolby recommends any speakers within 13'4" should be calibrated to 82dB... but that's not a rule... try both and see which gives you better results.
When you start tracking or mixing, set the volume knob back to the spot that you marked with the tape/pen. THEN start setting mic preamp levels or start mixing. At first, DO NOT turn down the monitor volume, if something feels too loud, turn down it's fader, if something is too quiet, turn up it's fader.
Once you get a relative balance happening, then you can start dropping the volume to see what it sounds like quieter or turning it up to see what it sounds like louder.