Hi All,
I am working in Reaper to edit some audio files before uploading to the Octatrack. These are longer form recordings (couple mins) with volume levels that change. I recorded the audio with my microphones with a peak around -18DB.
What peak levels would you recommend I export the audio files at? I will mostly be playing the audio through speakers in live settings.
Hello I think you are a bit too low to get a good signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)
In peak focus you should be between -12 to -6 dBFS
(in Average/RMS more between -18 to -15 dBFS RMS, This aligns with 0 VU in analog terms—ideal for most preamps and converters.)
Also you should record in 24bit ( * The increased dynamic range (144 dB) lets you record with more headroom without losing resolution.) or even better 32 bit, that way you have more options.
Then regarding the Octatrack it’s a bit of a different story and what you intend. But usually while creating I don’t want to miss gain and I don’t like to gain too much anyway. I tend to normalize at -0.5 and then (possibly gain negatively) mixing in the OT as I see fit…
Prepare then your audio to be exported for the OT internal file (16 or 24 bit @ 44.1khz)
of course 16bit take less space than 24bit so depending on your intentions, streaming for card or flex you may be smart here
But at some point (and in any means I usually keep my recording source as backup because I usually want to be able to get back in time so I never destructively do anything to my stuff, it save me time and headaches to proceed that way even if it is a bit cumbersome)
Depending on my goals : studio track, Live, etc… I may go back on my source files
AUDIO FILE COMPATIBILITY
Both Flex and Static machines can handle 16 or 24 bit/44.1 kHz wav/aiff files, either in mono or stereo .
Wow, thanks for the advice! That was really great. In the past I’ve just uploaded audio at whatever the recorded level was and then raised or lowered it on the Octatrack to try and find a balance but this is much better. This is going to make playing live so much more smooooth.