recording levels

[masterbaker]

hi y'all im a newbie and its my 1st post so take it easy on me! my question is about setting recording levels and and at what level things should be peaking, ive read that say a kick drum should be peaking at -6db , but i've read elsewhere that it should be peaking at -18db, im confused is there a general rule for setting recording levels or is it done to personal taste?
thanks in advance for any feedback

[brandondrury]

Setting levels is not super robo critical in the digital world like it was in the analog world. With that said, clipping in the digital world is something that should be avoided at all costs.

I generally record pretty hot but make sure that I never clip. In the past, if I was using a noisy preamp, I'd record at a softer level to lower relative level of the noise.

For something like a kick drum -10 to -6 is a safe ballpark. I'd say start with -10dB because no drummer hits the same volume during setup and micing as they do during the song.

Brandon

[masterbaker]

thanks for the reply, at one point i was recording everything to -01db but i was finding when it came to mixing that i had nowhere to go when i was adding compression and stuff , that i was having to turn everything right back down