levels

[Bruce Watson]

[Craig Alan] “setting the limiter below+20 to +12 makes sense to me.”

Notice from the SD docs on the 302’s input limiters: “+18 dBu threshold, 20:1 limiting ratio…” So SD ships them with the default limiter threshold at +18 dBu. That’s because of the massive 20:1 ratio. The 2 dB between activation of the limiter and the 302 actually clipping is huge. Not a brick wall, but you can see it from here. It’s highly unlikely you’ll encounter anything that will go through the limiting process and still make it to clipping. So setting the limiter threshold to +12 dBu, which is 6 dB lower, is effectively tossing out that 6 dB of gain. Yes, it’s technically headroom, but practically nothing short of an explosion will be able to make use of the upper range of that headroom. And if you’re recording explosions, please be careful!

That said, just because SD expects people to use the mixer this way doesn’t mean anyone has to. That’s why SD makes the limiter threshold adjustable. I’m just sayin’ that setting the limiters to +12, and making your average dialog peaks 0, that’ll work too. You’re not doing anything that’s wrong.

I only answered that I typically set my average dialog peaks at +8 because you asked the question in your original post:

[Craig Alan] “But why aim for a peak of 0 on the mixer if you can record at say +4 +8 or +12?

My answer is that I personally aim for a peak of +8 on the mixer. Because I can’t think of any reason not to, and SD couldn’t either when I asked them. Limiters at +18 dBu, calibration tone on the recorder at -20 dBFS, and average dialog peaks around +8 dBu on the mixer (which translates to -12 dBFS on the recorder) seem to be the way SD expects the mixer to be used in my understanding.

[Richard Crowley]

There is no hard and fast rule. You must use your own judgement to decide the risk vs. benefit of recording at higher average levels. Here is one of my favorite parables which just happens to apply here…

There was once a magical land where the king resided in fabulous castle with his family and royal courtesans. The castle had an amazing view of the kingdom from the top of a craggy mountain. You could see for miles in every direction. The downside was that the only way up to the castle was a narrow road which in places was hewn into the side of the rocky cliff. The roadway was barely wide enough for the king’s carriage and team of horses.

At the retirement of his most trusted driver, it came time to interview candidates for the job. The king asked each candidate: “How close to the edge of the road can you safely drive my carriage with my family in it?” Candidate A said: “I can drive within 1 foot of the edge safely.” Candidate B said: “I am so good, I can drive within 6 inches of the edge safely!” But then candidate C said: “Honorable King, with such a precious cargo as your wife and children, I would stay as far away from the edge as possible.” Guess who got the job.

———————————————————————————
Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.