EMG456 Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 Hi all. I've been involved in home recording on and off since the advent of the first portastudios - I know, i'm that old! I haven't done much for the past 10 years or so but am just about to get moving again. My question for you - is it still standard practise to use a bit of external compression/ limiting before going into the audio interface or do today's 24 bit interfaces have enough headroom that we can avoid that and still get good signal/ noise ratio without any danger of clipping? Up to now I've always recorded stuff into the desk with an old Drawmer compressor inserted on the channel and then sent to the interface input. I've just bought a MOTU Ultralite interface and it looks as if I might be able to just go straight into that and apply dynamics later - is that how most folks work now? I'm sounding like such a relic I'm making myself laugh here! Cheers Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 (edited) [quote name='EMG456' timestamp='1467060695' post='3080935']...go straight into that and apply dynamics later... [/quote] This would be the 'default' way of working; there is no need technically to compress or limit before the interface. There is no need, either, to push towards clipping, either (unlike the older tape machines and the like...); it would be better to leave a few db spare as headroom, even at peaks in the playing. The interface you've mentioned has bags of headroom and wide 'pad' options, so no problem at all. You may prefer to compress beforehand, of course, and it's not forbidden. It obviously can't be adjusted or removed after the fact, that's all. Subject to completion, correction and/or contradiction from others; hope this helps. Edited June 27, 2016 by Dad3353 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 (edited) ^^ Listen to your Dad. ^^ You can leave loads of headroom if you want to because 'signal to noise' is essentially a moot point now. There IS no noise. You don't need to get anywhere near 0db when tracking. I play direct into my interface and if compression is needed later to fit something into a mix, or just to make it sound good, I'll do it within the DAW when mixing. Edited June 27, 2016 by discreet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMG456 Posted June 27, 2016 Author Share Posted June 27, 2016 Excellent, chaps - that's what I needed to know. Ta. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 You can still make use of the Drawmer on an audio bus or to polish your finished mix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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