Post Master Clipping ARGH!!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter BenignVanilla
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BenignVanilla

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I've been experimenting with EQ'ing the master track after my mixing is done, and trying to get a nice consistent sound from song to song so they can be put on a CD together.

The mix sounds fine in my software, but once the mastering is done, I get clipping galore in the final mp3. What am I doing wrong? Any tips?
 
*gulp*

I am doing all of my work in GarageBand. *covers head from thrown debris*
 
What is on your master buss during mixdown? Where are your peaks at mixdown? Are you boosting frequencies during mastering? Do you have a brickwall after the eq when mastering?
 
Yes, I am doing some EQ'ing in the master track. I seem to be able to get the tracks close to where I want them, but then when I master, the levels are all a mess...so am EQ'ing at the master track level to clean up. Then the output sucks but not in garageband, just in the end result file. I think need to take a deep breath, walk away and start fresh.
 
I am doing a bit of both. I know I am a noob, but I think this is a software issue. It has to be!!! :)

If I listen in GB, it sound great even loud, and with the clips lights at full bore, but as soon as master it out to AIF, MP3, whatever...I either have clipping galore, or a volume so low the track is worthless.

This is getting very frustrating, and I am ready to give up.
 
BenignVanilla said:
I am doing a bit of both. I know I am a noob, but I think this is a software issue. It has to be!!! :)

If I listen in GB, it sound great even loud, and with the clips lights at full bore, but as soon as master it out to AIF, MP3, whatever...I either have clipping galore, or a volume so low the track is worthless.

This is getting very frustrating, and I am ready to give up.
Click to expand...
Ummm, if I read that highlighted part right, of COURSE you are getting clipping, and of COURSE it's going to sound awful.

Simple saving a ile as another format is not "mastering out", nor is simply pushing the peaks to clipping going to give you loudness. If that sounds good in GB, then I wouldn't trust GB to do my mastering.

Like VHS suggested, I'd save your mix as a WAV file with NO clipping in GB. Then do your mastering work, including bringing up the RMS volume using compression, EQ and limiting in a better piece of mastering software such as Sound Forge or Wavelab (Or whatever the Mac equivalents are). Then keep your masters in WAV, and then copy the WAVs to separate MP3 copies for distribution.

G.
 
Thanks for the input. I am a noob, so please bear with me when I equate to dumping my mix into an MP3 as mastering. I will look into other software for creating the final mix.
 
BenignVanilla said:
I will look into other software for creating the final mix.
Click to expand...

In case you missed it, since you didn't address it, what Glen highlighted is very important: "with the clips lights at full bore". If you insist on doing that, you won't get better results in any other software.
 
It was not my intent to say I want to keep the "clip lights at full bore". I don't want to do that at all. I guess I didn't explain well.

When I am in the GB, and mixing the tracks...I can crank things up so I am not clipping and it sounds great. Then when I dump the mixed tracks to a stereo track, the volume is so low, its unlistenable. So for giggles, I just pegged it all, clipped the hell out of it, and I get better volume, but I get garbage output.

So I can't imagine that I can listen to the tracks in GB and they are loud enough, but put into a single file they are not. I can't figure out what I am doing wrong, so I am assuming it's a GB thing. I am going to try an alternate mastering solution like Soundforge as suggested. *shrug* Maybe GB is just not capable?

Anyway, I understand clipping is bad, and I don't want it. Didn't mean to imply that I did want to do it this way.
 
Garageband is working off a 24-bit or 32-bit float mixing engine. That means if you go over 0dBfs it will not clip.
BUT when you mixdown you are no longer in the 24 or 32-bit engine. You are bound to the limits of the file type and/or file settings.

Try mixing down to a 24 or 32-bit wav / aiff file. If it then sounds fine, you are pushing the master too far. You should have a limiter as the very last link of the effects chain.
 
Thanks, I'll have to give that a try. I believe I already mixed down to an AIF with no compression, but maybe I didn't. Damn...why'd I leave the Mac at the studio last night? Grr.
 
with garage band when you view the master track there is the master volume line, drop that down a few db's and you will be set. The problem you have is caused because you have the volume for all of garage band(the slider at the bottom) down to low so it doesn't clip until you share it to itunes.
9aoak3.jpg
 
I thought the slider at the bottom, and the master track volume line were the same thing? No?
 
as far as i no they are not, if you play a selection and loop it, if you notice when you move the master track it does not effect your song until you export it
 
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