Edit window visual clipping and audio clipping question...

[Jakay]

I'm just curious about how PTs displays the waveform and how it actually handles it. I was recording some vocals and thought I had the level set properly, but as I was performing I got gradually louder (well... I was actually full on yelling by the end haha) and because for no great reason the recording track doesn't leave any clip level markers like it does on every other track, I had no idea I'd gone up into clipping range.

Ideally I aim for my meter to top about halfway through the yellow zone, but this was not the case. But it isn't into the red zone of death yet. Just topping out at -3 or whatever. But when I zoom in on the clip, the top of it is pancake flat in spots, and it isn't waveform zoom doing this either.

So is it actually being clipped? It sounds okay, and it's not flipping the red light not so fantastic, so I guess it's not that bad either way, but I'm kind of disturbed by this. I really shouldn't have sang that song the way I did, so I'd really rather not go back for any more takes unless I really genuinely should.

*when I say it sounds okay, I didn't notice and clicks and pops yet, but I haven't gone and really listened through everything yet either, there's a lot of takes to sift through.

[Drew Mazurek]

Your pre clipped.

What interface? A/D? Some have a soft clip feature.

[Jakay]

Ah yes, that would be it.

My pre is just from the regular ol Mbox 3rd gen, and I was under the impression that it synced up with PT well enough to rely on the PT metering, but I suppose that isn't the case.

Oh well, live and learn. I guess I should start flipping the soft limiter on more often, although it seems like it was somehow already on in hindsight.

Thanks

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Jakay

Ah yes, that would be it.

My pre is just from the regular ol Mbox 3rd gen, and I was under the impression that it synced up with PT well enough to rely on the PT metering, but I suppose that isn't the case.

Oh well, live and learn. I guess I should start flipping the soft limiter on more often, although it seems like it was somehow already on in hindsight.

Thanks

Remember that metering in PT does not show what's going on at the input of the AD converter and that's why if you clip the input of a mic pre it won't necessarily show in PT.

[senditdirect]

My problem is similar to the one in this thread.
Our church records our Sunday services every week to a PIX 270i recorder. I import the audio from the PIX to ProTools 12 weekly. There are aprox 30 audio channels. Levels on the PIX are averaging -25db with no visible clipping during the service. Once imported into PT12, I end up with clipped waveforms even though waveforms are quite small with plenty of headroom. Our PIX recorder is getting its audio feed from a Yamaha M7. The Yamaha M7 is being used for the live house mix but a technician that put the system together has indicated that the audio going to the PIX via Dante cards are not being affected by the M7. Why am I getting clipped audio?