Hello! Newbie Question about DR-40X Input Gain Meter

[JoeB]

Hello, thank you for allowing me to join the community. I have very recently purchased my first handheld recorder being a Tascam DR-40X. Purpose of use is purely for my hobby and love of wildlife to be able to record bird song and wildlife for pleasure and fun. And so far I'm loving the recorder

But my first question I have I think is probably a very back to basics in terms of audio recording and I hope it’s now too silly to ask, but on my recorder I can see the input gain level meter is as follows:

-50, -30, -20, -12, -6, 0

My main question is what measurement is this? Is it dB? I’m confused as it’s all in minus figures?

And what level should I be aiming to hit when recording?

Many Thanks

 

[BazzBass]

I'm no expert, but generally, with any recorder, try to keep your peaks around -18 to -12dB. But it's digital, so really,as long as the peak light isn't always on, the occasional spike won't kill you

 

[JoeB]

Thank you for this, very much appreciated