no tracks clip except the master fader?

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djclueveli

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i have about 6 tracks and none of them clip but the master fader. it goes to like +3 above 0. so do i jus lower the master fader and it will be ok?
 
djclueveli said:
i have about 6 tracks and none of them clip but the master fader. it goes to like +3 above 0. so do i jus lower the master fader and it will be ok?
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why not just lower your 6 faders a tad?
 
its really the kick in the beat that makes it clip but if i lower the beat so the kick wont clip the other sounds get real low. i didnt make the beat either so i can go back and lower the kick itself
 
Either lower the master fader -3, or lower all the other tracks together by the same amount until the clipping stops. I personally would lower the track faders by the necessary amount.
 
Well, taking 3db off the buss by either method will solve the immediate problem, but you may find that it puts you trying to pump the stereo mix file back up and then some afterwards. If the kick transients are causing you to pull everything down, the time to deal with it is now, not in mastering. I'd suggest you try a multiband comp/limiter on the drum track, try to zero in on the freq band that the kick has too much energy in, and give it a nip and a tuck. You may be able to do this with just a parametric EQ.
 
djclueveli said:
its really the kick in the beat that makes it clip but if i lower the beat so the kick wont clip the other sounds get real low. i didnt make the beat either so i can go back and lower the kick itself
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the next question is, are you working with a 24bit or 16bit rate?

Without going into extreme details, if you're in 24, you're fine. Lowering that a couple of db won't hurt you. You can bring that back later in mastering. In fact, a little headroom actually helps you more than a heavily "packed" pre-mastered mix.

Also, what software are you working with? Some DAW software dosn't actually clip as soon as you see a red light. The red light can indicate a point safely before you reach clipping. But that depends on what you're working with.

It's not so much what you see, it's what you hear.


A common mistake is that red lights automatically mean "clipping". The truth is, red lights mean whatever the manufacturer specifies them to be.
 
djclueveli said:
im workin wit a 16bit track and i use samplitude
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Does anybody else here find that simply and utterly incredulous?
If the kick transients are causing you to pull everything down, the time to deal with it is now, not in mastering.
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I disagree - The time to deal with the mix is the mix. If the mix is clipping, just turn it down (I prefer at the track level) until it's not a problem.

Personally, if your mix is even *CLOSE* to clipping, you're probably mixing too hot for your own good. In most cases with the average pop/rock/etc., you should be looking for mix levels hovering around -20dBFS (RMS). If anything in the mix hits above maybe -6 or -5dBFS, I'd be turning it down. Lower is fine also.

You only have headroom until you use it up. If you're going to use it up, use it up ONE TIME at the very last possible point. Not during the mix.
 
isnt it different for hip hop tho when it comes to that because in hip hop the kick is suppose to be loud and have a big boom to it. does that mean i have to put a multiband compressor on the beat and lower the kicks volume so it wont clip?
 
no. its not even clippin on the track. the master is jus clippin when everything (beat and vocals) is combined. i guess i am mixing too hot. if i wanted to get vocals around -11 do yall recommend i put a limiter and set the output to -11 and and mess with the threshold so i can get pretty even vocals and some limiting when the vocals pass -11 on the peak meter?
 
Massive Master said:
You only have headroom until you use it up. If you're going to use it up, use it up ONE TIME at the very last possible point. Not during the mix.
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Well, I didn't realize this was hip hop, and that the kick wants to stick out like that. In any event, I wasn't advocating using up headroom - the kick was already doing that. I was advocating getting the headroom back by surgically fixing the embedded kick, rather than waiting till the whole mix would be affected by trying to tame it.
 
When he was asked if it was 16 bit or 24, I have feeling he was thinking "tracks". Hence, the "16bit track" answer.

That's my theory.:D
 
Aaaahhhh...Could be. "A 16 bit track". Of course.

But then again, maybe not....you never know. :eek:
 
Proper use of EQ and compression can give a track the impression of something without actually doing that something. For instance... using a little compresison for that kick sound with some judicious EQ and maybe even panning can give that kick the impression of more volume when actually it is lower in overall rms and peak levels. Basically, you can get your track to not clip without losing the power of your track. You just might have to look for an alternate approach.
 
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