0536 – Automatic Level Control

2022.06.20 – 0536 – Automatic Level Control

Automatic Level Control versus Manual

In a home recording studio, your mixing desk or the recording set-up on a video call may have an ‘automatic level control’ that you can ‘set and forget’. They keep signals below distortion point, and when they fall too low they cut in and boost the signal upwards.

But adjusting the recording levels manually gives you more control and creative freedom. You can use your professional judgement to choose settings to perfectly match different circumstances, instead of passing control to the machine, whose systems were designed to cope with ideal conditions.

Another drawback to some ALC systems is the problem of ‘pumping’, which can happen when there is a pause in speech and the ALC hunts for sound to boost the levels. If there is a lot of background noise, such as passing traffic or an AC unit in your home studio, the ALC will surge this forward whenever you stop talking for much more than a moment. Then when you start talking again, the first word may be clipped as the system struggles to cope with the sudden surge or sound.

None of these problems can occur with a manual recording that is correctly monitored, but having to monitor levels means your attention is divided between the tech and the talking. Using ALC means you can save your concentration for the most critical element – the content. If you must use ALC do so under perfectly quiet conditions. A better solution is to set the levels manually and monitor them by listening on headphones.

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