Yes, the "Z" (Flat, unweighted) peak he measured was 116dB from a spoon dropped on a plate.
Snapping your fingers can reach a similar level, clapping hands can easily reach over 120dB SPL peaks at a meter.
Obviously, percussion instruments can get far louder than that.
Light drum stick clicked together are over 120 dB at more than a meter distant, though would read only read 88 dB(C)S (slow).
Hitting an Latin Percussion "Jam Block", a plastic imitation of a wood block, with a heavy stick had to move it to another room to not go over 122 dB, at which point the measurement system using an iMac internal mic was clipping.
Even with the Jam Block half closed and damped with gaffers tape and paper towel, (dropping the resonant frequency from around 1kHz to 700Hz), it still was too easy to go over 122dB.
If a recording is clean with no limiting, drum peaks in the 500 Hz and up range may be +30 or more than what a dBCSlow reading will read. Having monitors that can reveal that requires some serious headroom.
That said, my hearing can't handle that level of headroom..
Art
My last build got up to 105db clean (avg) with peaks of 112db (@ 8’ lp) and it was Just starting to be able to reproduce drum solos in a believable way……..next build is supposedly good for a 120db peak.
Not something you’d want to listen to for more than a minute or two but that’s what it would take (imo) to accurately master drum recordings.
Not something you’d want to listen to for more than a minute or two but that’s what it would take (imo) to accurately master drum recordings.
Not nescessarly, i think that listening @ calibrated level helps more ( it gives a normalised rendering and so help compare things together).
But in a way yes depending of your listening distance 85dbspl ask for high peaks capability with wide dynamics signals.
That said even raw drum takes are rarely 20db crest factor in the style i usualy do ( not this much classical for me).
And even 85dbspl C is already loud to me. I recently dropped to 82.
But in a way yes depending of your listening distance 85dbspl ask for high peaks capability with wide dynamics signals.
That said even raw drum takes are rarely 20db crest factor in the style i usualy do ( not this much classical for me).
And even 85dbspl C is already loud to me. I recently dropped to 82.
When it comes to musical transients, the time constant, (or “time weighting” taken from the weight of an analog meter’s needle filter used to slow it’s movement) used for the SPL reading makes a huge difference in the average reading. “Impulse” has a time constant of 35ms. “Fast” is 125ms, “Slow” is 8 times that, one full second.
“Peak” does not any time constant applied.
Peak level is the true peak of the sound pressure wave at maximum.
A monitor level of 79-85 dBC “Slow” is not an indication of peak levels, which can have a duration far less than impulse. If Krivium or you are using “dBC slow” as a reference of 20dB dynamic range, that is a completely different reference than what the actual range may be.
Using a little 6” (150mm) drum, approximately one meter from the microphone in a 4x4meter room, with a noise floor of 40-50dB(C)F (Interstate Highway 75 and air conditioners outside the window..), the eight drum hits rise from 68 to 102dB, while the peaks range from 75 to 102dB(Z).
Certainly not a Grammy winning performance, but illustrate a “drum solo” with a dynamic range of 80dB or more, with peaks above 120dB.
Camplo, as you well know, that little drum is a far cry from usual trap drum levels.
Calibrate your REW SPL meter, record some fortissimo snare hits at one meter on the logger, and if the peak Z readings are not well above 125dB, I'd be surprised, as hand claps are that loud.
That said, many mics are not capable of that input level without clipping- the flat LZ peak at 122 dB in the logger above is due to the microphone limit.
Art
Art, yes 83/85dbc slow setting (@ listening point) with pink noise at -20dbfs.
The choice of this range is half arbitrary: it corespond to what Dolby proposed as standard in mid 70's for cinema iirc annd it should enable to recover from 8hour exposure /day. In EU norms changed some years ago and supposedly it droped to 82.
Mountainman bob i get you but you could not stand to work at realistic drum level. First it's unsafe, second your mix are going to be basslight.
The 'big' monitors i've been exposed too had this kind of capability ( reproduce realistic drums spl @ listening point ) but it was NEVER a request from technicians to listen at this levels: artists asked it to judge their own takes. A drummer want to feel what he played.
I wasn't happy to have to endure that and sometimes you can't wear earplugs as some people are touchy...
The choice of this range is half arbitrary: it corespond to what Dolby proposed as standard in mid 70's for cinema iirc annd it should enable to recover from 8hour exposure /day. In EU norms changed some years ago and supposedly it droped to 82.
Mountainman bob i get you but you could not stand to work at realistic drum level. First it's unsafe, second your mix are going to be basslight.
The 'big' monitors i've been exposed too had this kind of capability ( reproduce realistic drums spl @ listening point ) but it was NEVER a request from technicians to listen at this levels: artists asked it to judge their own takes. A drummer want to feel what he played.
I wasn't happy to have to endure that and sometimes you can't wear earplugs as some people are touchy...
It is not possible to play a drum kit in a small room properly without hearing protection or significantly having to pull your punches which ruins the flow and feel on anything that needs to be hit hard. I grew up learning in a large garage and could hit as hard as I liked. When I tried the same in a bedroom with a few reflective surfaces nearby it nearly took my head off it was that loud. Fun for a short while..
Have a look at the contents of the Master Handbook of Acoustics
https://books.google.com.au/books?i...=gbs_selected_pages&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false
Art, where I grew up most of the clubs were also bars which meant as a teenager I had to find clever ways to get snuck into these 21+ venues. The best way was to wait outside the club until the band I wanted to see arrived for sound check, usually a few hours before the bar opened to the public. I saw a lot of sound checks this way and one thing that always amazed me was watching the sound man and band set up the mic level on the snare drum. Every strike on that drum was like a gunshot; my eyes would involuntarily blink everytime. Watching my favorite band run through a song at the end of soundcheck for an audience of just me and my best friend is one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life.
sorry for the anecdote, I’m feeling wistful.
Yes I get that you can’t work at that level…….my thoughts are if the playback system is capable of reproducing ’live‘ conditions fairly accurately then distortion shouldn’t be a problem at lower working levels.
Plus it’s been a lifelong goal to reproduce a live drum set at home…….my drummer friend says I’ll never do it! (2 lab 15’s in 4 cu ft sealed box’s and a pair of 10” pro driver mtm’s on top says I will.)
Plus it’s been a lifelong goal to reproduce a live drum set at home…….my drummer friend says I’ll never do it! (2 lab 15’s in 4 cu ft sealed box’s and a pair of 10” pro driver mtm’s on top says I will.)
Definitely an example of stage IV audio disease!
Oh no... this is how what i suffer is called!
Given it is open baffle it isn't surprising such high sd is needed. For br to sealed comparison it is already almost always 2x the number of drivers for same spl and bandwidth extension ( with the drivers i used for sim and same box volume/ using LT on closed). Not very efficient.