N
Nervouspace
Guest
Then why do mixers, limiters, and compressors max out at 0 decibels? I've never really thought about it until tonight
bandcoach
Zukatoku - Mod Scientist
Because you are thinking about it the wrong way.
Absolute 0db is the threshold of sound - this is defined as being 60db below normal background noise - read 1 000 000 times as soft (for every 10db you add another 0 to the end). We increase intensity upwards to the point of 130db (10[sup]13[/sup] or 10 000 000 000 000 x as loud as the threshold of hearing), the threshold of pain.
Mixers, on the other hand, are set to reflect changes in effective spl by showing how much the signal has been amplified in relation to an absolute maximum, non-clipping level.
0dbfs on a mixer or daw is about the loudest you can amplify a signal without clipping - most mixers and daws have a nominal 0db scale point and then use some gifure higher for the absolute full scale signal.
So all other spl/db levels in mixers and daws are read/interpreted relative to this maximum and indicated as being below or negative in relation to that level - i.e. -6dbfs is 6 db below the nominal maximum (which is approximately 10[sup]-6[/sup], or 1/4 the intensity)
Absolute 0db is the threshold of sound - this is defined as being 60db below normal background noise - read 1 000 000 times as soft (for every 10db you add another 0 to the end). We increase intensity upwards to the point of 130db (10[sup]13[/sup] or 10 000 000 000 000 x as loud as the threshold of hearing), the threshold of pain.
Mixers, on the other hand, are set to reflect changes in effective spl by showing how much the signal has been amplified in relation to an absolute maximum, non-clipping level.
0dbfs on a mixer or daw is about the loudest you can amplify a signal without clipping - most mixers and daws have a nominal 0db scale point and then use some gifure higher for the absolute full scale signal.
So all other spl/db levels in mixers and daws are read/interpreted relative to this maximum and indicated as being below or negative in relation to that level - i.e. -6dbfs is 6 db below the nominal maximum (which is approximately 10[sup]-6[/sup], or 1/4 the intensity)