Odd record volume problem

[parchping]

I am recording an LP using Acoustica Premium 6 on a laptop running Windows 7 Professional. My turntable is connected to a preamp with a phono input. The preamp output goes to my laptop headphone jack.

I set up the recording simply, record for CD quality from Line in: Master Volume (the defaults). I hunt through the LP to find a few sound peaks and adjust the volume so that these are at most -1 to -2 dB using the Recording Console Input Level meters. After recording, the actual volume is far less. No adjustments to volume other than the initial setting were made via any control (such as the preamp volume knob).

My USB head phones volume (set to max) agrees with the resulting recording--it is very quiet when I am recording, despite the Input Level being high.

I ran a short test. This album has a sound peak a few seconds after the beginning. My previous setup had Input Level set to 47.8%, which gave the peak value -4dB. I increased Input Level to 100% and the sound peak is now +2dB, which makes sense. I recorded the peak and pushed Keep.

The resulting data shows the peak far below 0dB. By using Adjust Volume it looks like the peak is actually about -12dB (from the measured Input Level of +2dB).

I'm sure the problem is on my end, but I am not seeing where the problem lies. Any help will be much appreciated.

Steve

[stian]

Hi Steve!

I am recording an LP using Acoustica Premium 6 on a laptop running Windows 7 Professional. My turntable is connected to a preamp with a phono input. The preamp output goes to my laptop headphone jack.

I set up the recording simply, record for CD quality from Line in: Master Volume (the defaults). I hunt through the LP to find a few sound peaks and adjust the volume so that these are at most -1 to -2 dB using the Recording Console Input Level meters. After recording, the actual volume is far less. No adjustments to volume other than the initial setting were made via any control (such as the preamp volume knob).

My USB head phones volume (set to max) agrees with the resulting recording--it is very quiet when I am recording, despite the Input Level being high.

I ran a short test. This album has a sound peak a few seconds after the beginning. My previous setup had Input Level set to 47.8%, which gave the peak value -4dB. I increased Input Level to 100% and the sound peak is now +2dB, which makes sense. I recorded the peak and pushed Keep.

The resulting data shows the peak far below 0dB. By using Adjust Volume it looks like the peak is actually about -12dB (from the measured Input Level of +2dB).

I'm sure the problem is on my end, but I am not seeing where the problem lies. Any help will be much appreciated.

Steve

Hmm, it's hard to say what's going on there. Peak levels are, however, a bad measure for loudness. The simply tell what the high signal peak is. If anything in the chain causes signal spikes, that would explain the behaviour.

Best,
Stian

[stian]

Hi Steve!

I am recording an LP using Acoustica Premium 6 on a laptop running Windows 7 Professional. My turntable is connected to a preamp with a phono input. The preamp output goes to my laptop headphone jack.

I set up the recording simply, record for CD quality from Line in: Master Volume (the defaults). I hunt through the LP to find a few sound peaks and adjust the volume so that these are at most -1 to -2 dB using the Recording Console Input Level meters. After recording, the actual volume is far less. No adjustments to volume other than the initial setting were made via any control (such as the preamp volume knob).

My USB head phones volume (set to max) agrees with the resulting recording--it is very quiet when I am recording, despite the Input Level being high.

I ran a short test. This album has a sound peak a few seconds after the beginning. My previous setup had Input Level set to 47.8%, which gave the peak value -4dB. I increased Input Level to 100% and the sound peak is now +2dB, which makes sense. I recorded the peak and pushed Keep.

The resulting data shows the peak far below 0dB. By using Adjust Volume it looks like the peak is actually about -12dB (from the measured Input Level of +2dB).

I'm sure the problem is on my end, but I am not seeing where the problem lies. Any help will be much appreciated.

Steve

Hmm, it's hard to say what's going on there. Peak levels are, however, a bad measure for loudness. The simply tell what the high signal peak is. If anything in the chain causes signal spikes, that would explain the behaviour.

Best,
Stian

[parchping]

I'm seeing a difference in peak level before recording (via the Input Level meters) and after recording (looking at the sound track). It looks like the Input Level meters disagree with the recording. Any spike in the signal chain would show up both places.

As a work around I have been recording setting the peaks in the music to +12dB. This should result in bad clipping, but it does not, so it looks like some issue with the meters.

[stian]

I'm seeing a difference in peak level before recording (via the Input Level meters) and after recording (looking at the sound track). It looks like the Input Level meters disagree with the recording. Any spike in the signal chain would show up both places.

As a work around I have been recording setting the peaks in the music to +12dB. This should result in bad clipping, but it does not, so it looks like some issue with the meters.

Strange, I cannot reproduce that here. Did you enable any of the input processing tools such as the DC offset removal or the phono pre-amplifier emulation?

Best,
Stian

[parchping]

This problem did not previously exist, so it does not surprise me you can't reproduce it. Thanks for checking.

I did have DC offset removal checked (that is the only thing). I compared statistics with and without. Max peak, min peak and RMS both gave answers within less than 0.1dB of each other--essentially identical.

I guess my best bet is to record at +12dB and check to make sure it isn't clipping. Should be really obvious at that level.

Steve

[stian]

This problem did not previously exist, so it does not surprise me you can't reproduce it. Thanks for checking.

I did have DC offset removal checked (that is the only thing). I compared statistics with and without. Max peak, min peak and RMS both gave answers within less than 0.1dB of each other--essentially identical.

I guess my best bet is to record at +12dB and check to make sure it isn't clipping. Should be really obvious at that level.

Steve

Thanks for additional info. What a strange issue -- I don't really have any good explanation for that.

Best,
Stian