Clipping the master track

[rems]

I read somewhere that when bouncing, the master track level should not reach the red zone. I cant hear any clipping when this happen but maybe there is a good reason to avoid it. Does anyone know? If it has to be avoided, can I just lower the master track fader or do I have to lower the other tracks?

[Jaleo]

I had a similar question about entering the red zone. The response was that the red will appear after 3 or so samples rise above 0 dB. This does not necessarily mean you can hear any problem, but the signal is distorted in some small way. I have tried many versions of mixes where I have surpassed 0 dB in a small way and compared it to the same mix where it does not clip the red. I have never been able to actually hear a problem with the mix unless I purposely crank the master or track levels to high excesses of red. Normally I will have one or two spots in a mix that momentarily exceed the 0 dB threshold. If you can't hear distortion that doesn't mean its not there, but it might happen over a period of 3/48,000 of a seconds at a frequency you can't distinguish from the rest of the mix frequency content.

[citi]

Originally posted by rems:
I read somewhere that when bouncing, the master track level should not reach the red zone. I cant hear any clipping when this happen but maybe there is a good reason to avoid it. Does anyone know? If it has to be avoided, can I just lower the master track fader or do I have to lower the other tracks?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">It's mostly just an accumulation of sounds that make the master to hot. Typically the more tracks you have the louder the sound should get. If there is nothing clipping in the mix, than lower the master a tad.