Audio peaks at -.5 dBFS in Pro Tools but clips at up to 5.4 dBFS in Sony Vegas Pro?!

[austinm08]

wtf, mate.

Can someone please explain what is going on with Sony Vegas Pro?! lol..

I don't understand this.

My stereo mix peaks at -.5 dBFS in Pro Tools, but when I bring it into Sony Vegas Pro for my video, it's clipping like crazy (up to 5.4 dbFS)... anyone have an explanation? I admit that I'm a noob when it comes to audio for video, but this makes NO sense to me..

 

[philbagg]

wtf, mate.

Can someone please explain what is going on with Sony Vegas Pro?! lol..

I don't understand this.

My stereo mix peaks at -.5 dBFS in Pro Tools, but when I bring it into Sony Vegas Pro for my video, it's clipping like crazy (up to 5.4 dbFS)... anyone have an explanation? I admit that I'm a noob when it comes to audio for video, but this makes NO sense to me..

I don't know Vegas Pro at all, but how can you get "up to 5.4 dBFS"?

 

[austinm08]

I don't know Vegas Pro at all, but how can you get "up to 5.4 dBFS"?

I guess that wouldn't make much sense. But that's just what Vegas is saying when it clips. It shows a value on the meter every time it moves and that's the highest value it's giving me as I watch it.



(it's in the negatives when not clipping)

 

[philbagg]

The only explanation that I have is that you have pre-fader metering on in Pro Tools, and you're pushing the fader up 5.9 dB, but the meter's showing you -0.5dBFS, whereas Vegas is showing you 5.4dBFS.

Either way, there's no such thing as a positive value for that scale, so I agree with you: WTF?

 

[philbagg]

Instead of doing a bounce out of Pro Tools, record your mix onto an Audio Track in Pro Tools (via Bussing), and see what your meter reads there.

Also, is there any import settings you might be missing on Vegas? As I said, I'm unfamiliar with Vegas, but it could have some kind of Gain Boost or Normalization setting for import that you could have selected.

 

[austinm08]

The only explanation that I have is that you have pre-fader metering on in Pro Tools, and you're pushing the fader up 5.9 dB, but the meter's showing you -0.5dBFS, whereas Vegas is showing you 5.4dBFS.

Either way, there's no such thing as a positive value for that scale, so I agree with you: WTF?

Pre-fader metering is on, but I'm not pushing any faders up at all. My tracks were printed with effects and faders are at zero. I then printed a stereo mix and there is absolutely no clipping in PT. I never did bounce out of PT.

Also, is there any import settings you might be missing on Vegas? As I said, I'm unfamiliar with Vegas, but it could have some kind of Gain Boost or Normalization setting for import that you could have selected.

Import settings? No idea. But I checked and there was a noise gate, eq, and compression plug-in automatically slapped on the audio tracks which I deleted (they were all zeroed out, anyway)...

 

[witzendoz]

wtf, mate.

Can someone please explain what is going on with Sony Vegas Pro?! lol..

I don't understand this.

My stereo mix peaks at -.5 dBFS in Pro Tools, but when I bring it into Sony Vegas Pro for my video, it's clipping like crazy (up to 5.4 dbFS)... anyone have an explanation? I admit that I'm a noob when it comes to audio for video, but this makes NO sense to me..

I don't use vegas all the time but have used it over the years, great software by the way.

Is it clipping on the stereo track meter, the bus meter, or both? There could be a plugin active on either the track or the bus, open the plugins at each location and have a look. Vegas has a couple of plugins set as standard, but usually there are not active (tick box).

Also usually by default the track volume is -3dB and the bus 0. This is to allow a little headroom when multi tracking.

Cheers
Alan.

 

[austinm08]

Interesting....

I just bounced to a .wav and it's not clipping; it's playing back as expected.

I wonder what's going on with the 'in-the-box' buss printing. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Pro Tools prints it as two mono files using that method but as a single stereo file with the 'bounce' method..

 

[philbagg]

Pre-fader metering is on, but I'm not pushing any faders up at all. My tracks were printed with effects and faders are at zero. I then printed a stereo mix and there is absolutely no clipping in PT. I never did bounce out of PT.


Import settings? No idea. But I checked and there was a noise gate, eq, and compression plug-in automatically slapped on the audio tracks which I deleted (they were all zeroed out, anyway)...

Maybe you broke everything

Stop doing that



I'm all out of ideas man. I tried to tackle it from the Pro Tools side, which I know, and failed. I can't tackle it from the Vegas side.

Why don't you just finish the work in Pro Tools? It supports video

 

[austinm08]

Finish in Pro Tools? I can't do crap with video in Pro Tools without a DV Toolkit or Complete Production Toolkit or whatever. hah

I'm going to look into it and see what's going on, though.

 

[philbagg]

Interesting....

I just bounced to a .wav and it's not clipping; it's playing back as expected.

I wonder what's going on with the 'in-the-box' buss printing. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Pro Tools prints it as two mono files using that method but as a single stereo file with the 'bounce' method..

A single stereo file is still two mono files. The wrapping is just different.

Was your audio in Vegas mono or stereo? I'm starting to think you selected "Mono (summed)" in your export settings in Pro Tools, and selected "Stereo Interleaved" in your bounce, which made the difference.

If you sum both mono channels, you could easily get the kind of boost you're describing here.

 

[austinm08]

A single stereo file is still two mono files. The wrapping is just different.

Was your audio in Vegas mono or stereo? I'm starting to think you selected "Mono (summed)" in your export settings in Pro Tools, and selected "Stereo Interleaved" in your bounce, which made the difference.

If you sum both mono channels, you could easily get the kind of boost you're describing here.

Right. But when you print to a stereo track in PT, you end up with two separate files, whereas if you bounce, you end up with one file.

I never selected anything the first time, as there was nothing to select. I bussed three tracks to an aux containing a compression/limiter plug-in. I bussed from that aux to a new stereo track to print it. Maybe there's a problem in what I did there?? but what?

The clipping audio in Vegas was the two mono files.

 

[philbagg]

Right. But when you print to a stereo track in PT, you end up with two separate files, whereas if you bounce, you end up with one file.

I never selected anything the first time, as there was nothing to select. I bussed three tracks to an aux containing a compression/limiter plug-in. I bussed from that aux to a new stereo track to print it. Maybe there's a problem in what I did there?? but what?

Agreed, when you print, you get two separate files in your "Audio Files" folder, but then you'd usually export the region to get one stereo file.

Did you not "export" the region from the new stereo track in Pro Tools? It gives you similar options/settings to "Bounce to Disk", one of them being Mono (summed)/Multiple Mono/Stereo Interleaved.

The clipping audio in Vegas was the two mono files.

Where they both panned center?

 

[austinm08]

Agreed, when you print, you get two separate files in your "Audio Files" folder, but then you'd usually export the region to get one stereo file.

Did you not "export" the region from the new stereo track in Pro Tools? It gives you similar options/settings to "Bounce to Disk", one of them being Mono (summed)/Multiple Mono/Stereo Interleaved.



Where they both panned center?

Ah, no I've never exported regions before.. I guess I should've done that.

I had them panned hard left and right.

 

[philbagg]

If you're panning them hard left and right in Vegas, then they shouldn't be clipping on the master buss.

You seem to have diagnosed the problem, I'm still not getting it?

 

[austinm08]

If you're panning them hard left and right in Vegas, then they shouldn't be clipping on the master buss.

You seem to have diagnosed the problem, I'm still not getting it?

Well I figured out how to get my completed mix into Vegas without some absurd clipping...

I didn't really diagnose the problem on Vegas' side.

I just tried again, and yes, one mono file is panned hard left and one is hard right. Panning them from the center does nothing to help with clipping, at all. The values that it's showing are still hitting 5.x ..... so I have no idea why Vegas handles two mono files differently than one stereo file...

 

[austinm08]

Whoa, check out what I found.

If you right-click in the "Pan" section of an audio track, it brings up this menu:

Choosing an option other than "Add Channels" cures the problem.
Interestingly, though... even when selecting "Balance (0 dB Center)", it is quieter than the stereo file during playback.

Just a couple observations.