Help! Which meter do I trust?!

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sixer2007

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My cubase master fader is telling me things are clipping after limiting, but Voxengo Span is telling me that it's peaking at -.03 like I've set in my limiter. Which do i believe? Is cubase crazy?
 
Cubase did the same to me.


I'm not sure, but it may have something to do with the meter showing before the inserts. That's the only thing I can think of. I'm sure someone else who has more knowledge on this subject will correct or confirm.

Whether it IS crazy or not, I find it irrelevant. As long as the audio is not damaged, you're fine.
 
Ok, thanks for being so prompt! I have to finish this project today.
There's no clipping as far as i can tell. I've listened a bunch of times and can't hear any distortion on the tracks...

That fader has 3 setting.. Input, Post-pan, and post-fader. On input, no clipping, but it doesn't go near -.03. On the other two there is no difference and it clips.

Interestingly, for my mixes, i set up a buss that has everything routed to it, and don't really mess with the master fader inserts, and that buss never clips and will read -.03. Strange.

Thanks, I think I'll ignore.
 
I'd imagine the input setting would be exactly as you described.

Post-pan and post-fader surprises me however. You say it's the fader? Or the meter?

I think I did that buss route too when I was using Cubase. Just convinced me that the meters are weird.
 
Ah wait, just checked. It's "Meter Input", "Meter Post-fader" and "Meter post-panner".

As far as I can tell, "Meter post fader" is a dirty liar! Meter input is the only one that gives a true number it seems...
 
"Meter Input" is pre-fader/pre-inserts and should only be used when you want to monitor the signal entering the channel before pans/fader adjustment/inserts etc.
"Meter Post-Panner" is the meter mode you want to select when you are metering your master output. This is post-everything.

If Elephant is placed on Insert 7 (which is post-fader) on the master out and SPAN is placed on insert 8 peaking at -0.03dBFS and the fader volume is set to 0.00dBFS, you should get no red-light peaks whatsoever.

If you do however, most likely it is a miscalculation. Try setting your project bit resolution to a 32 bit float point mode and raise the oversampling to 4X or higher in Elephant and see if the problem is still present.

It goes without saying that SPAN should be placed AFTER Elephant on the master.

And also SPAN can not only function as a peak meter but also an RMS meter, which is very useable when you do your masterings.

Best regards.
 
-0.03...? :eek:

How about -0.3 or -0.5 instead? You're probably going to have intersample peaks at those levels. You're most definitely going to have them at -0.03dBFS.

And "damage" is relative to the playback converters -- Some handle intersample peaks well -- Others do not. Heck, some sound crappy just running hot in the first place without clipping.
 
Yeah, that is true, -0.3 I'd agree is much more preferable.

But Cubase meters are not capable of measuring intersample peaks, so still, if everything is set correctly, no red lights should appear.
As far as I know by the way, Elephant still is not capable of measuring ISP's (correct me if I'm wrong), so as Massive Master points out, it's a great tip to use a meter with ISP detection. I don't think SPAN is capable of that. FabFilter Pro-L is a great limiter with ISP detection, but OZone 5 also have ISP detection as far as I know.
 
Sorry guys, I meant -.3. Idk why I kept saying .03.
Either way, masters are done, printed, and burnt to discs. Played all the way through in all CD players tried so far.

Was a 6 month project. The band is stoked. I'm so happy and relieved!
 
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