XPost: rec.audio.pro   
   From: adrian@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid   
      
   Mike Rivers  wrote:   
      
   > On 11/22/2010 11:36 AM, Adrian Tuddenham wrote:   
   >   
   > > They should first know that dB is a power measurement, this is the   
   > > fundamental fact on which the rest is based.  When they have grasped the   
   > > basics, then they can be shown that the voltage is a handy way of   
   > > comparing two power levels in the right circumstances (and they can   
   > > remember some handy voltage ratios if appropriate).   
   >   
   > But most people working in audio don't need to compare power   
   > levels, they need to compare voltage levels. I'd teach them   
   > the "20" formula first. But then you may be more into theory   
   > and less into practice than I am.   
      
   I remember the struggles I had in my earlier days, trying to get a grasp   
   on how to use the dB system.  There was so much misinformation and so   
   many things that didn't add up when you came to match theory with   
   practice.  Nobody seemed to be able to explain what was really going on.   
      
   Now most of my recording chain is of my own manufacture and I design   
   specialist equipment for others.  I am in a good position to look back   
   at my earlier mistakes and misunderstandings and see where I went wrong   
   (and where I was sent up the wrong path by others).  I am also in a good   
   position to spot when other people are in the same quandry for the same   
   reasons as I was.   
      
   That's why I tend to be a bit pedantic about the use of dB;  I know from   
   experience that a little pedantry at the outset will pay-off later, when   
   the student moves on and becomes a true professional.   
      
      
   --   
   ~ Adrian Tuddenham ~   
   (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)   
   www.poppyrecords.co.uk   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)