Tone Deft wrote:'boost the gain' isn't even using the basic vocabulary correctly.
this is basic stuff. you record as loud as you can to keep the signal to noise ratio high. the noise is constant, the only variable is the signal. that's the analog side, it has NOTHING to do with bit depth. any operation afterwards will affect both noise and signal. boost the signal and the noise goes up by the same amount.
headroom is useful for mixing signals together, EQing and whatnot without having to play with the levels to avoid clipping.
hopefully we're saying the same thing and it's just a language thing, it really doesn't matter to me.
in any case.. 16bit or 24 bit.. peaks at -6dB
should give a big enough SNR there's no need to aim to get near unity level
(and accidentally clip the inputs)
provided your recording chain isn't hella noisy in the 1st place.. and you're not pushing the gain on 3 different preamps
remember that a lot of the information gets filtered out at the A/D conversion stage...
the noise floor is lower than the olden days also due to less transistors and high powered gear..
and besides.. the recorded file will be lowered in the mix in any case..
TD.. I love your approach..
your approach is more old school analog desk to tape style...
you should try to record as high as you can..
use the most pristine signal chain as you can..
even 'warm' the signal up by clipping or saturating the tape...
those were the days...
DB...
24 bit means a finer resolution to represent volume...
it's not "really" a bigger range..
just more steps to the same length of ladder...