In Reaper is it possible to reduce the peaks in a track without reducing the overall level of the recording? I have a short recording which I am using in a film soundtrack. The peaks clip giving a few tiny clicks. Reducing the replay level of the track stops this, but it makes the track too soft compared to the rest of the film soundtrack. So I want to just reduce those few peaks WITHOUT clipping them, just sort of round them off. (If I could get at the waveform of the sound and was able to, I could manually reduce and smooth off the peaks.) Will Reaper allow me to do this, or do it automatically?
Remove peaks?
- Thread starter timtimtim
- Start date
Tadpui
Well-known member
Spend a little time reading and learning about compression and limiting. That's where you'll get the benefits that you're looking for.
Reaper comes with a few compressors like ReaComp, and a few limiters like JSLoser. Spend some time learning what the different parameters do, and some time experimenting with your track and you'll start to hone in on what you're wanting to do.
Reaper comes with a few compressors like ReaComp, and a few limiters like JSLoser. Spend some time learning what the different parameters do, and some time experimenting with your track and you'll start to hone in on what you're wanting to do.
bouldersoundguy
Well-known member
Editing and automation are fine for some things but this sounds more like a job for a limiter.
mitchiemasha
New member
Yes, as said... Limiter! Limiting and actually automating the volume are 2 different things. If you wanted to go the automate volume route and the peaks follow a set pattern, you could use something like Volume Shaper by Cable Guys. I use this to emulate ducking/sidechained pumping compression. You can control the actual curve of the release instead of just the release time (different compressors will have different release time curves). It's much easier to dial in the desired slam to the pump.
Another, naughtier way, would be to record the track so it doesn't clip, then over normalise it in Cool Edit or similar. Say 120% then renormalise it to 99.7.
Another, naughtier way, would be to record the track so it doesn't clip, then over normalise it in Cool Edit or similar. Say 120% then renormalise it to 99.7.
VomitHatSteve
Hat STYLE. Not contents.
Good call! A limiter or compressor would be a fine way to do this; plus, they're excellent tools to know how to use for a lot of recording applications.
Good choice! If you have a small enough number of peaks, automation is a great way to nudge them down in volume without affecting the sound of the rest of your mix.
Good... actually... this one feels a little over-complicated for this application?
bouldersoundguy
Well-known member
If you manually reduce the peaks and then want to try raising the overall volume you'll have to go in and readjust all those peaks again. If you put a limiter on the main bus or on a submix group bus then changes in the track volume don't defeat the peak reduction.