shotyd, the meters on your recorder tell you how well you're using the dynamic range which the recording process offers. Every recording process has two limits: the "floor" (the amount of noise that's inherent in the process, which can sometimes be heard when the signal levels are low) and the "ceiling" (the highest-level signal that the process can handle without overload or distortion).
Ideally the one moment with the highest peak level in the entire recording would be just below "full scale" (0 dBFS). Then the recording process will have added the least possible noise, while avoiding overload. The main reason people are suggesting -6 to -12 as your peak levels is safety: You never know for sure how loud things are going to get, so you want a few dB of "headroom." Plus there are two unfortunate, practical facts: (1) Meters, especially on low-cost equipment, don't always report true peak levels. (2) Some equipment (and some software) can reach its distortion limit somewhat before 0 dBFS is reached.
OK, I'll add a third item to that list: Unfortunately, some people imagine that the purpose of "headroom" is to have a range which is never used. That's a misunderstanding. Think about someone who builds a building with 15 perfectly usable floors when only 12 are needed--that approach might make excellent sense if conditions can change unexpectedly. But setting aside "permanent headroom" is the difference between having those three floors "just in case they're needed" versus having them "just to have them." There's no practical point in the latter, and it can actually cost you audibly in terms of noise in the recording.
--best regards
Topic: volume of recording (Read 2396 times)