Consumer Electronics

ZERO dB LEVEL

One might think that with such easy-to-read electronic metering systems now available to cassette deck manufacturers that all would be well and that everyone ought to be able to record with equal professionalism regardless of which machine is used. Unfortunately, that's not true either. In the days when cassette decks used those quasi-VU meters exclusively, the ballistics of the meter were not the only thing that wasn't standard from unit to unit. Neither was the recording level which corresponded to “0 dB” on the meters. Unfortunately, that lack of standardisation has persisted to this day, even though the meters and their usefulness have improved with the advent of electronic metering.

Recording level indication, at least as applied ...