How do you adjust the gain and level settings to avoid clipping and distortion?

3 steps to get good audio for post-processing and avoiding clipping and distortion: 1. Record from the proper distance of the microphone. The distance between the sound source and the microphone should not be too far or too close. A distance of around 6 to 8 inches is considered as standard. Depending on the type of VO work, you may need to adjust the distance a little. 2. Peak should not cross -6 dB in the meter*. 3. Some talking parts should exceed -12 dB. It is okay if all talking parts exceed -12 dB but never exceed -6 dB. * Crossing -6 dB in the meter does not necessarily mean the audio will be clipped or distorted. However, following that rule makes post-processing easy.

Gain is a sound engineer's best friend and worst enemy. It's what amplifies the signal a mic picks up but also amplifies the noise floor (depending on the mic). Use gain to aid a signal rather than to generate one.

Level is the quantity of the audio signal you want to hear after it's been amplified or trimmed with gain. A knob or fader increase and decreases the level you want to hear but does not affect the quality or the amplitude of the signal being generated. This is often time called volume. However, volume has another definition in mathematics (and physics, etc.) used to define the amount of space a three-dimensional object occupies. Most typically used correct terms are loudness of SPL (sound pressure level). While colloquially used to refer to loudness, in technical terms, volume actually relates to the physical space a sound occupies or,

Gain and level can be measured precisely with a dB meter. There are many different dB values and weighting that can be measured depending on the use case and what the results will be applied to. Unlike an acoustician, most people would measure gain and level using some sort of meter found on hardware (e.g. mixers, amplifiers, etc.) or software (e.g. DAW, etc.). The best way to measure gain and levels effectively is to remember that 0 dB is the threshold of hearing for the average human. You can work your way from there by increasing and decreasing and paying close attention not only to what the numbers are telling you but more importantly to what your ears are interpreting. This is Golden Ears.

Setting gain is secondary to proper microphone positioning. All mics have a different sweet spot at which the proximity effect kicks in and all you get is low-end distortion, additional to excessive plosives. If you're too far and feel safe that it won't distort you'll have to increase the gain significantly which also increases the noise floor (depending on the mic). To avoid clipping: - ensure no processing is active on the raw signal - start with minimum gain - position at an appropriate distance (experiment with different mics types) - increase gain gradually and test at various distances - ensure that sound source (e.g. voice actor) provide a dynamic test (i.e. quiet and loud) - sound is unpredictable, so add processing with caution

Correct type of mic for the application first, mic placement second, processing third. If you follow those steps, distortion is much harder to produce. Thanks to the market becoming more consumer-friendly with the likes of YouTubers, Podcasters, etc. equipment is finally progressing faster than it used to. Most known brands (across their entire lineup, from consumer to pro) are getting closer and closer to "perfect" equipment.

Un buen sonido se logra ajustando el gain. Mantenerlo en su nivel nominal evita ruidos y saturación, asegurando una se?al clara. Monitorear los niveles ayuda a prevenir el clipping. En vivo, es clave probar el sonido y usar compresión para picos inesperados.