PDP
There once was a note
Just curious, is the output buss of a master ever pushed beyond 0db (into clipping) to make it louder ? Or is the loudness always the result of a high quality recording with high quality mastering.
Massive Master
www.massivemastering.com
There are about 4 million ways to "clip" without showing clips (a brick-wall limiter being one of the most popular, if not one of the least effective).
Straight clipping of the output buss will do some pretty weird things with some converters... You might not hear any of it while you're in floating-point - but once you're 16-fixed, you're going to know something is wrong...
The other part of the question -- A mix that can handle excessive loudness without crapping out is usually the result of high-quality recording. Lots of headroom (the more the merrier in most cases) at every single possible step in every single possible phase of production, proper and reasonable gain-staging through quality gear, etc., etc., etc. Up to and including the mastering process. Without a doubt - The projects that come in here the "quietest" (many of us would call it "normal volume") tend to come out the loudest-slash-best sounding.
Straight clipping of the output buss will do some pretty weird things with some converters... You might not hear any of it while you're in floating-point - but once you're 16-fixed, you're going to know something is wrong...
The other part of the question -- A mix that can handle excessive loudness without crapping out is usually the result of high-quality recording. Lots of headroom (the more the merrier in most cases) at every single possible step in every single possible phase of production, proper and reasonable gain-staging through quality gear, etc., etc., etc. Up to and including the mastering process. Without a doubt - The projects that come in here the "quietest" (many of us would call it "normal volume") tend to come out the loudest-slash-best sounding.
PDP
There once was a note
Thanks,
All good to know, makes sense, a clear clean mix will give the best results when mastered.
All good to know, makes sense, a clear clean mix will give the best results when mastered.
B
brian45
New member
Thanks for the nice information that you shared...
Its been a great idea...
Its been a great idea...
Mo Facta
Farts of Nature
Output clipping aside, it has become common practice over previous years to clip the input of the final AD converter during mastering to achieve uber-loud masters. Some AD converters sound better than others and the ones that sound good (a relative term, I know) usually cost an arm and a leg.
This is all done by feeding a mix, most likely with conservative levels, into analog gear with higher headroom than the input sensitivity of the AD converter allows. The wider this headroom margin before the AD converter, the more you can clip it. This could be as simple as a line driver or a complete analogue mastering chain.
And as Massive said, the better your recording, the more robust it will be to processing.
Cheers
This is all done by feeding a mix, most likely with conservative levels, into analog gear with higher headroom than the input sensitivity of the AD converter allows. The wider this headroom margin before the AD converter, the more you can clip it. This could be as simple as a line driver or a complete analogue mastering chain.
And as Massive said, the better your recording, the more robust it will be to processing.
Cheers