mastered tracks imported from cd are WAY hot!

[tioshi]

Strangely enough I've never had to do this before but...When I try to import a couple of stereo tracks off of a mastered commercial CD (wav files) the tracks are way too hot. I know the tracks are good when played on other/thru other sources but protools HD10 is seeing them and playing them back distorted. I've tried converting them to 24 bit, just bringing them in at 16 bit...no difference. What basic critical step might I be overlooking? Thanks

Pro Tools HD-1 accel ver. 10.2
Mac pro quad core - Lion
Lynx Aurora 16

[zedhed]

How exactly are you importing the tracks. IOW are they wav files that have been created by software such as Nero or do you have your cd player connected to your interface?

[elicious]

just to be clear,
basically ignore the red clipping light you see on the meters (norm)
and the crazy looking (solid) waveform...

now if the audio is noticeably distorted, that could be something else;
(unless it's death magnetic!)
e

[jasonthurley]

The best way to import into your session is to drag the audio file from a fiolder directly into the session... this will import the file in its current state (whatever sample rate/bit rate the original file is, instead of converting it to your session rate...

Yes the Red peak lights should hit with a fully Redbook mastered CD .wav (its not really peaking). Yes the waveform will look very thick with small variables in dynamics and sometimes can look like a solid block.

Also make sure a few things have not been accidentally altered such as track "Trim," track volume, master volume, If using a bus, bus send level, and also make sure you are not sending the signal twice (like having an aux track with no plug and the wav is sending to both the aux and master (that would definitely do it!)

[tioshi]

Originally Posted by zedhed

How exactly are you importing the tracks. IOW are they wav files that have been created by software such as Nero or do you have your cd player connected to your interface?

I drag the files from the cd in my dvd drive to the desktop. Then I've tried both of the following: using the import audio function within pro tools (both converting and not converting). I've also tried just dragging the files to an open stereo track. Th same result each time. The files are from a purchased redbook CD (no burning involved).

[tioshi]

Originally Posted by jasonthurley

The best way to import into your session is to drag the audio file from a fiolder directly into the session... this will import the file in its current state (whatever sample rate/bit rate the original file is, instead of converting it to your session rate...

Yes the Red peak lights should hit with a fully Redbook mastered CD .wav (its not really peaking). Yes the waveform will look very thick with small variables in dynamics and sometimes can look like a solid block.

Thanks for the clarification. Just tried importing from a number of different CDs to compare (drag tracks from desktop directly into session). Always the same result (visual clipping). As you've alluded to, it sounds like this is a typical scenario for Pro tools. I've used other two track editors such as Wavlab where this isn't the case (obviously not an apples to apples comparison). Seems a bit misleading, just want to understand the methodology behind why this happens?
Not to incite a huge debate but...Isn't 0 dBFS the ceiling? And isn't the ceiling as high as we can go...a constant? Can someone point me to the reason/explanation of why the peak lights should show clipping when it's not actually audibly clipping. Seems a bit odd.

Just would help to understand...always trying to grow that knowledge base. Thanks

[elicious]

intersample clipping
e

[jasonthurley]

You say "Visual" clipping... do you mean the waveform in the track or the meters?

You can adjust the waveform display so you can "see" all the peaks in the wav file

http://www.ehow.com/video_4976187_pr...rack-view.html

A lot of people use Meter Plugins to see true dB instead of using the meters on the software

[shotgunndunn]

Originally Posted by elicious

(unless it's death magnetic!)
e

Ha!!! Noice!!! LOL!!!

[shotgunndunn]

Check out puremix.net. Fab goes into great detail in a video about the lack of a metering standard across different systems and such. Sadly, I cannot remember if this was a free video or a paid video. Great info on that site.