From the course: Vocal Production Techniques

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Checking and setting levels

Checking and setting levels

From the course: Vocal Production Techniques

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Checking and setting levels

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- The human voice has a naturally large dynamic range, and this can make setting the input level on your mike preamp without clipping or overloading the level a little tricky. Let's discuss some techniques to do this methodically so you'll be set up to capture optimum levels. I'll touch on this again later on, but there's a very delicate performance art to consider once the singing begins. In terms of checking and setting levels, you don't want to tire out your vocalist while you take your sweet time setting up your mic pre-level. So the first step in setting a level is to already have a ballpark input level set before your singer arrives. You can do this with yourself or with an assistant. The spot you're aiming to hit is about halfway up the digital full scale meter. The very highest instant peaks can reach -4 to -6, but the average should hover around -20 or -18 dbFS. Then when your vocalist arrives, you can have them sing near or into the mic when they're warming up, and that'll…

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