Need some help with Superior Drummer questions

[andymonize]

I've been using Superior Drummer 2.0 in Pro tools LE and am still fairly new at it. My biggest question right now is How do I get rid of the clipping? I separate all drum pieces onto different midi tracks and route those tracks to a stereo instrument track. None of the midi tracks clip during playback but the instrument track does. And no matter how much I turn down the instrument track fader it still clips. I'm sure this may be a simple question to answer but I just can't figure it out.

[Stig Eliassen]

MIDI is not like audio - it doesn't clip.

The reason it doesn't help to lower the fader on the instrument track is that the meters show pre-fader level. You can lower the level from inside the Superior plugin. Have you tried that?

[albee1952]

That's the ticket. Open up the SD mixer and back down anything that clips audio or aux tracks.

[andymonize]

I have tried lowering the level within Superior Drummer. To be honest, drum tracks sound great during playback but the Instrument track indicates clipping even though it is not distorting or anytihng. My biggest problem really seems to be when I bounce a song from pro tools to itunes. All tracks sound great after bouncing except the drum tracks are very loud and boomy. It doesn't sound nearly the same as during playback within pro tools.

[Stig Eliassen]

My biggest problem really seems to be when I bounce a song from pro tools to itunes. All tracks sound great after bouncing except the drum tracks are very loud and boomy. It doesn't sound nearly the same as during playback within pro tools.

Something is not right here. I never bounce to disk so I don't know the potential pitfalls while doing so, but if I remember correctly you get what you hear during the bounce? Do you have any sort of "audio enhancers" or eq's enabled in iTunes?

[albee1952]

I'm confused too. Just how do you bounce to iTunes? Maybe there's a flaw in your work flow? If you record at 24 bit, then you need to use a dither plugin on the master track(in the last slot). If you record at higher than 44.1K sample rate, then you should convert to 44.1K. I use SD a lot and never have an issue with the sound quality at any stage of the project. Lay out your method and maybe someone can spot a flaw.

[andymonize]

I'm sorry I should have clarified that better. What I meant was that I put the song into itunes after I bounce to disc. As for the audio enhancers or eq's, I am not using any. Also, I am using dither on my master track. Should I not be putting the song into itunes?

[necjamc]

Originally Posted by albee1952

I'm confused too. Just how do you bounce to iTunes? Maybe there's a flaw in your work flow? If you record at 24 bit, then you need to use a dither plugin on the master track(in the last slot). If you record at higher than 44.1K sample rate, then you should convert to 44.1K. I use SD a lot and never have an issue with the sound quality at any stage of the project. Lay out your method and maybe someone can spot a flaw.

Actually Itunes will playback 24bit 96k. You just can't burn disks from it at that.
And I just got SD and noticed it is a little hot. I record all my drums on 1 midi track and then convert to 14 tracks of audio. This gives me a lot of control over volume EQ, comp etc and frees up CPU for mixing. That's my workflow anyway. It solves the clipping as well, But you can turn down the master in SD if your running in stereo.

[albee1952]

Maybe I am still not clearly understanding what's happening. Where is the clipping? Is it in Pro Tools or iTunes? One thing to consider is that iTunes is a consumer "product" and isn't exactly what you should be using for pro results. For burning audio CD's for quick checks, its fine. But for real product, I would recommend a real program. Mac users mostly go with Toast. Windows users have a few choices like Sony CD Architect or Steinberg's WaveLab. Both of these have much better metering.

[necjamc]

Originally Posted by albee1952

Maybe I am still not clearly understanding what's happening. Where is the clipping? Is it in Pro Tools or iTunes? One thing to consider is that iTunes is a consumer "product" and isn't exactly what you should be using for pro results. For burning audio CD's for quick checks, its fine. But for real product, I would recommend a real program. Mac users mostly go with Toast. Windows users have a few choices like Sony CD Architect or Steinberg's WaveLab. Both of these have much better metering.

I'm not sure either, but your on the money about using a better program for burning. I was thinking that his transients from SD were clipping, because they clip slightly in PT with the default settings on some of the hits anyway.