How should the recording input be set?

[weegee]

Is it OK to have some red zone on the meter or should it be avoided? How should the recording input be set?


Thanks

 

[RobRoy]

I set it where the red comes on occasionally and then back off slightly. Back in the days when I recorded on tape it was different and a bit touchier. Digital is not nice about clipping. Analog tape is nicer about it.

 

[Blue Shadow]

Really depends on what machine and meters you have the energy in the music and the tape you are using. Bottom line one needs to learn what is best for their machine in that recording situation. Read the section on meter in the Teac White Paper. Here is a thread that gets you to that document.

https://www.tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=35440

 

[Tiver]

The tape has the ability to store only so much energy. Once the tape is saturated (maxed) added energy is lost because the tape can't store it and the recording can't match what it's trying to copy. This results in an over saturated tape and will sound like when someone is over modulating on a microphone.

So some tapes are capable of handling more energy and some machines are able to pass the energy to the tape with greater fidelity (this makes for more efficient saturation). It's pretty safe to get your meters only very occasionally peaking into the red. Some tape and some machines will allow a little more leeway.

The source/monitor switch will show the energy coming in and the energy copied. Normally the red peaks from the source will be slightly lower when you switch to monitor. In other words, there is some loss of energy when making the tape. A red peak on the source side may not be a red peak on the monitor side. If you only have a two head deck, the monitor can only be done when the tape is rewound and played back.

 

[Thud3]

What those guys said. And set to record at HI speed.
If your machine has selectors for tape type, you need to set that, too.