Re: [gear] preamps for field use

["Dan Dugan" dandugan_1999]

david briggs, you wrote:

>Im not too sure about the comment " Your S channel
>isn't under-recorded; it should be lower."
>Your digital recording is limited then. If you ever want to increase
>the volume of the lower track the quality will decrease.

Not in the real world. Even recording 10-20dB low, the natural
ambience is likely to be way above the noise level of even a 16-bit
system.

>If you have recorded at the optimum level then you can always lower
>the volume.

What is optimum? A level that produces a theoretically better
signal-to-noise ratio but no improvement in practice, or a level that
plays back in a natural balance without adjustment? My argument is
that turning up the S channel for better saturation might have had
some meaning in analog tape days, but isn't necessary with the
available dynamic range of digital.

-Dan