View Full Version : Clipping meters in protools
Robot Sound
02-16-2001, 07:39 AM
Can somebody with more profesional experience then I have give me their opinion on clipping the meters in protools. I personaly do everything possible so that there is no red ever. however other people that i know drive it into the red until the meter on the procontrol has every single LED lit up non stop. Then they L1 the master fader and say that it's not clipping anymore. this seems backwards to me. They say as long as it does not sound like it's clipping then it's not clipping. And while it doesnt really (sp?) sound like it's clipping I don't think it sounds that good either. I guess everything loses all it's dynamics and it sounds kinda muddy. Please somebody lay down the law for me. thanks.
I experienced that in some cases (especially drums) i may clip the tracks, and it sounds even better. This is due to the fact that a short over just adds 1 or more edges to the transient.
In all other cases IMHO it sound worse.
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somewhere in the planet
Bob Olhsson
02-16-2001, 08:10 PM
Just because something sounds "ok" in your studio, you should never assume that it is going to sound "ok" elsewhere. This is because any distortion will be compounded as the clipped waveform is reprocessed, lossy-coded or broadcast. Some D to A converters also distort a lot more than others. This is why there are clip indicators in the first place.
Certainly one can get overly hung up on metering but clipping distortion is something that can come back around and really bite you later.
adamflys
02-16-2001, 09:28 PM
all good rock records have distortion
we never came out of the red in our last record also,
I watched a friend do some Rage Against the Machine tracks - they also were red happy
just our experiece though
Robert U
02-17-2001, 05:10 AM
RobotSound....do a search and you will find that this subject has been discussed very thoroughly.
Adamflys...are we talking digital or analog distortion????
-Robert
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"Are we going to do it with the computer or are we in a hurry?"
s.d. finley
02-17-2001, 08:17 AM
I have noticed recording some sessions that
the LED indicaters give a small amount of headroom, before the waveform actually does clip. Maybe 2 to 2.5 dbs. When i am recording, i try not to have anything go in the red. Later, when i am mixing, i will use the audiosuite GAIN to increase any low levels to where i want them.
I always try to get the hottest signal possible, PUSH the signal as far as you can,
once you CLIP, where you hear distortion and the waveform is visibly clipped, you are screwed!
I use some gentle comp going in on drums and bass, vox ect.
peace
ps. where's my 5.1!! http://duc.digidesign.com/ubb/images/icons/grin.gif
SDF
Robot Sound
02-18-2001, 07:53 AM
Thanks guys... i did a search and found a ton of info, but please, don't let that stop anyone from throwing in their 2 cents.
IOP Drummer
02-22-2001, 11:15 AM
Yo, keep in mind that recording at low levels digitally does not use all of the bits, so a low level 16 bit recording can easily sound like it's an 8 bit recording.
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