peak clipping?

B

Bisson820

New member
Hey guys,

so i've been noticing that even when i slam it into a limiter... which i KNOW isnt mastering... it still isnt nearly as loud as a commercial volume... which is fine because i plan on professionally mastering my tracks anyways... but for my own curiosity i'd like to try to acheive that loudness (which may or may not be a good thing to some folks, but thats besides the point)

i've read about peak clipping which usually clips the kick and snare (loudest peaks in a master track) so you can compress/limit it even harder to acheive more volume.


NOW... this sounds like it would warp the sound and could potentially be a bad idea... that is my first assumption.

my second idea is.. "hmm maybe this is the "secret" behind getting it louder"

and lastly ... my idea is that "hmm maybe i can do it a LITTLE bit before it starts sounding weird"

So my question to you guys is, what do you know about this peak clipping?

what kind of problems can it cause?

is it a big no no?

if it is something that is normal practice, are there any free plug ins that you may know about that i could use to experiment with?

Thanks y'all,

Tyler
 
I don't think it's "normal practice" but I've heard that it IS done pretty often. Mostly by mainstream dance or rock...never personally tried it though.
 
Bisson820 said:
So my question to you guys is, what do you know about this peak clipping?

what kind of problems can it cause?

is it a big no no?

if it is something that is normal practice, are there any free plug ins that you may know about that i could use to experiment with?

Thanks y'all,

Tyler
Click to expand...

I was never a fan of the concept of clipping. I don't like what it does or how it sounds...and it goes against the grain concerning anything and everything that is taught about how digital audio should be handled.

There is a plug called G clip and Event Horizon which I've heard some people mention that maybe you could give a go.
 
I don't understand how you're not able to get a mix as loud as you want with a limiter.

If you set your peak at-.3 (for example), you should be able to bring the ratio down until you get the volume you want. I'm not saying it won't sound like crap, but if we're only talking about volume, any look-ahead limiter should give you all the volume you want.

The thing is, not all mixes can stand up to being brick-walled to "commercial" levels. That's where a good mix stands up and a bad mix falls apart.
 
Ok, i do know there is truth to having your mix "master ready" ...

I leave plenty of headroom, none of my tracks come CLOSE to clipping, i record at decent levels and i get a mix to where i want it to be, nothing sticks out... but there is definitely a difference from when i slam it through my limiter on logic pro 9 and when i hear a commercial mix.

so how can i get those peaks down (snare and kick) for instance without making it audibly different in the mix?
 
So far you've only mentioned pulling the peaks down (and raising to make up the difference.
There is also increasing the density of the body of the mix below the peaks by compression.
 
mixsit said:
So far you've only mentioned pulling the peaks down (and raising to make up the difference.
There is also increasing the density of the body of the mix below the peaks by compression.
Click to expand...

yea mixsit thanks, i am aware of what compression does.
 
This is what i mean..



this is limiting as far as it can without distorting... yet its NOT commercial volume.

i know to the people that know how to master i probably look like an idiot.... but thats why im asking for help. :D

What else do i need to do aside from multipress/compression/limiting to get the volume i want.
 
You can only limit the mix s much as it will let you. Some mixes just can't be made loud, no matter what you do.

This can be due to a few different things

1. The limiter you are using isn't the right one for the job you are trying to do. Different limiters react to different mixes differently.

2. You mix is way too dynamic. The limiter can only beat the transients back so much before it starts sounding bad. Compressing the drums in the mix and turning up the non-percussion instruments to make the mix louder will help the limiter take it the rest of the way.

3. Too much super low end. Any sub-junk that you don't hear or really need will eat up headroom and cause the limiter to distort before the mix gets loud enough.

4. Not enough midrange in the mix. Midrange seems louder than low end, if your mix is really heavy in the low end and has very little midrange, it will never really seem loud.
 
Farview said:
You can only limit the mix s much as it will let you. Some mixes just can't be made loud, no matter what you do.

This can be due to a few different things

1. The limiter you are using isn't the right one for the job you are trying to do. Different limiters react to different mixes differently.

2. You mix is way too dynamic. The limiter can only beat the transients back so much before it starts sounding bad. Compressing the drums in the mix and turning up the non-percussion instruments to make the mix louder will help the limiter take it the rest of the way.

3. Too much super low end. Any sub-junk that you don't hear or really need will eat up headroom and cause the limiter to distort before the mix gets loud enough.

4. Not enough midrange in the mix. Midrange seems louder than low end, if your mix is really heavy in the low end and has very little midrange, it will never really seem loud.
Click to expand...

Yes...but how do I make it louder?

:)
 
The Mid-Range point mentioned earlier is talked about in a Sound on Sound article this month, saying that the ear is particuarly sensitive to frequencies in the 2K to 6K region (because of a resonance of the ear canal) so even a slight boost there will make a big difference to the percieved loudness.

I wouldn't personally sacrifice the tone of my mix for loudness, but making sure your mix isn't lacking there, or could take a little boost there without ruining it could help your loudness experiment.

This is the article, It lets you read some of it for free, and the bit i'm referring to is at the begining, if you want to purchase it all it's only £0.99 (Pay Pal and all major Credit Cards accepted, terms and conditions apply).


Crafting Loud Mixes That Sound Great
 
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Another factor - a buildup of low end energy/mud that doesn't contribute anything to the mix will prevent you from getting 'louder' tracks. If you can't accurately hear it, you probably won't know it's there...
 
You could always take the manual peak removal approach... it only takes one inaudible peak to inhibit normalization and compression. You can usually see these spikes in your mix with the entire audio file in one window (depending how accurate your audio file display is). Zoom in and scroll through the entire song...if you find one or more short spikes highlight them one at a time and reduce the volume so the spike is even with the rest of the mix (or you try removing them providing they're very short - preview what it'll sound like first (or make sure you can "undo" each step to make sure you're not losing or flattening out any important attack points of one or more instruments). Chances are you won't even notice the missing spike.
Now that you've removed a half dozen or so inaudible peaks from your recording you should have all kinds of headroom to apply a limiter and normalize your mix giving it plenty of extra volume.
 
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