So I’m starting my journey in audiobook narration and recently upgraded to an WA-87jr mic, and the focusrite scarlet 2i2.
I’ve noticed that when I have the “Auto gain” function, or the “safe” function on, my recordings are incredibly low forcing me to use a fair amount of amplify/normalize just to get them within better hearing range.
This, of course, also amplifies all the mouth noises as well as this one specific “tk” sound that’ll happen randomly mid word.
Is this just the nature of the beast when using an automatic feature, or am I doing something wrong when recording?
**Any and all additional tips are also welcome. Like I said, very very new to all this and trying my best to learn.
The important thing is that the levels aren’t too high. If you “try” to go over 0dB you’ll get clipping (distortion). I believe the LEDs on the Fosucrite when the levels are too high.
Nothing bad happens when you get close to 0dB and you should be able to bypass the automatic level controls and adjust manually.
But low levels aren’t really a problem. Pros often record around -12 to -18dB, leaving plenty of headroom for unexpected peaks, then they amplify later. If your levels are more predictable you can record “hotter”. If you are recording live music the levels are often very unpredictable so you need more headroom.
Low acoustic or analog levels can sometimes be a problem because you can get a poor signal-to-noise ratio. But turning down the knob turns down the signal and noise together so it doesn’t hurt quality.
This, of course, also amplifies all the mouth noises as well as this one specific “tk” sound that’ll happen randomly mid word.
The bad news is… It will be the same if you record louder or amplify later. Amplification is linear so it amplifies everything by the same amount, including any background noise or anything else “unwanted” so it makes the noise more noticeable. It will be the same if you leave it as-is and turn-up the volume when you play it back.
P.S. There is one quirk if you record in mono with a stereo interface and one microphone. The signal is cut in half (-6) dB so the level doesn’t go over dB when the two channels are combined. If you are using two microphones, that’s a good thing, but with only one channel being used your levels will be lower than expected.
You can record in stereo and get one silent channel, but then you’ll need to deal with the silent channel after recording. So either way, you’ll have to deal with it after recording…
I advise patience! The friendly sounding term “Signal Chain” is a nice name for a series of places where our levels can be adjusted. It can be a challenge to figure out how to balance levels between mic, line and tracks. But some day you WILL become as rich and famous as the rest of us!!
Ha ha I’ll look forward to it. Right now my head is mostly spinning trying to find that sweet spot between “don’t over process” and “get the ACX checker to say yay” and “without sounding horrible”
I have that one already actually! It works on most stuff, but not the persistent mid-word sound. I’ve also spend entirely way too long trying to find the exact spot where the “tk” is which also sometimes works but….usually doesn’t.