Confused about the art of gain setting..

[travicles 10+ year member]

First off, I know how to set gains, but I am confused with the test tone usage. I used 0 dB tones at 50hz and 1000hz to set my gains. It seems like this is sometimes an imperfect method other than being able to equally set the gains of all amps. I input some songs into audacity to see their frequency peaks, and most songs do not peak at 0 db. Unfortunately, some do...(And some even go over such as swing my door by gucci mane.. 1.9 dB)

Here are some of my findings:

No Hands: 39 Hz @ -4.3 dB

White Girls: 32 Hz @ -1.3 dB

On my level: 47 Hz @ 0 db

Welcome Back: 39 Hz @ -2.6

It seems as though by setting the gain at 0 dB you are able stay in the safe zone, but you also lose out on the ability to play the majority of songs to their full potential. Is it that I just have to rely on turning it up until I can hear clipping? What are the rules to follow on how loudly to play a song? Discuss.

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[ahole-ic]

It's just common sense. You don't want to play every song "to it's maximum potential". That is a silly notion. Setting it at 0db is a good compromise of performance/safety for your equipment.

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Its a safe zone. Thats all

 

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

First off, I know how to set gains, but I am confused with the test tone usage. I used 0 dB tones at 50hz and 1000hz to set my gains. It seems like this is sometimes an imperfect method other than being able to equally set the gains of all amps. I input some songs into audacity to see their frequency peaks, and most songs do not peak at 0 db. Unfortunately, some do...(And some even go over such as swing my door by gucci mane.. 1.9 dB)
Here are some of my findings:

No Hands: 39 Hz @ -4.3 dB

White Girls: 32 Hz @ -1.3 dB

On my level: 47 Hz @ 0 db

Welcome Back: 39 Hz @ -2.6

It seems as though by setting the gain at 0 dB you are able stay in the safe zone, but you also lose out on the ability to play the majority of songs to their full potential. Is it that I just have to rely on turning it up until I can hear clipping? What are the rules to follow on how loudly to play a song? Discuss.

Those aren't accurate at all lol. If a song had a bass line of -0dB it couldn't have ANY mids or highs without clipping/distortion. The low note in white girl is around -6.5dB, on my level is around -7dB, etc.

 

[travicles 10+ year member]

Those aren't accurate at all lol. If a song had a bass line of -0dB it couldn't have ANY mids or highs without clipping/distortion. The low note in white girl is around -6.5dB, on my level is around -7dB, etc.

Well this is good to know. In this case, is it a good idea to use a lower tone such as -3 dB or -5 dB for setting gains?

 

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

Well this is good to know. In this case, is it a good idea to use a lower tone such as -3 dB or -5 dB for setting gains?

The most I would do is -3dB. The audible gain between -0dB and -3dB isn't very noticeable, though. Most of the time you are just generating more heat in the sub. Personally, when I have a new setup I start with the gain at a moderate level then over the course of a week or so I constantly adjust it until I find a sweet spot of loudness and a safe level for the sub (if your dustcap gets hot very quick for example your gain is up too high..)

 

[travicles 10+ year member]

The most I would do is -3dB. The audible gain between -0dB and -3dB isn't very noticeable, though. Most of the time you are just generating more heat in the sub. Personally, when I have a new setup I start with the gain at a moderate level then over the course of a week or so I constantly adjust it until I find a sweet spot of loudness and a safe level for the sub (if your dustcap gets hot very quick for example your gain is up too high..)

Lol so I shouldn't listen to the people who use -5 dB tones to set gains I guess. Your method makes sense, and I may try that in the future. Right now, clipping isn't really an issue for my sub as I have a lot of headroom, but this is good insight. Thank you.

 

[05trailblazer 10+ year member]

alomost all songs have diferent kbps since they get uploaded and downloaded unless u buy them

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

http://www.caraudio.com/forums/car-audio-reference-database/534215-how-set-gains-dmm-post7901426.html#post7901426

we use 0dB tones to set gains so we don't clip the amp outputs with any program material. does this mean that with most songs the musical peaks will be below 0dB? sure. and as a result you lose that last bit of available wattage? yep. would you hear a difference? nope.

but there are plenty of modern songs that have equal loudness mixing. i use Goldwave to evaluate songs and their recording level.

this is why we recommend you have more amplifier power than you actually want to use - so you can get the full potential out of your equipment while not getting close to clipping.

i'm seriously thinking about making a bass CD that has a different track for each frequency (in 1 Hz steps) where there are intentional -0dB solo bass notes and there is music/noise/vocals/etc. in between - maybe a 60-70% duty cycle. the thought is for people who want to play a song that focuses on a specific frequency. i don't know if this would be desirable or not. My scion tC build buddy picked up Maschine and Komplete - and can quickly bang out electronic bass songs that sound wicked. We can master and produce it ourselves.

i was making some 1Hz step bass tracks for another member and ran into the same issue where the music/vocals ride on top of the bass note - reducing overall level. so my 5 min. solution was to have the music in the left channel only and a 0dB peak pulsating sine on the right channel. then he can use y-adapters to split the signal so left channel music is mono to the speakers and right channel bass is mono to the sub.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

The most I would do is -3dB. The audible gain between -0dB and -3dB isn't very noticeable, though. Most of the time you are just generating more heat in the sub. Personally, when I have a new setup I start with the gain at a moderate level then over the course of a week or so I constantly adjust it until I find a sweet spot of loudness and a safe level for the sub (if you're not blowing woofers you're not trying hard enough..)

Fixed.

Seriously all this DMM setting and 200$ SMD mystery box are pretty silly. Use your ears and use some common sense. You can use whatever method you like to set your gains and if you're a nitwit you're still going to break stuff.

 

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

alomost all songs have diferent kbps since they get uploaded and downloaded unless u buy them

Kbps has nothing to do with a song clipping or not. Kbps is for sound quality purposes, i.e. how much the song is compressed, how much of the high end is cut off, etc. The only time you will run into two versions of a song where one is clipped and one isn't is because someone bass boosted one of them

 

[DBfan187 5,000+ posts]

-10dB tones at amp only, 0dB for everything else in the signal chain before the amps

gain overlap is good http://www.davidnavone.com/heresHow/files/LevelSet222.pdf