Sound wave clipping at low volume.

[largoman]

Can someone please tell me why My sound wave is clipping While playing at a low volume level. I must have something set wrong, but have tried switching everything and cannot lower the Wave. Playing acoustic guitar on a focus right 4I4 Interface.
Device name***** DESKTOP

Processor*********** Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8400T CPU @ 1.70GHz** 1.70 GHz
Installed RAM*** 12.0 GB (11.8 GB
System type****** 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

[largoman]

Can someone please tell me why My sound wave is clipping While playing at a low volume level. I must have something set wrong, but have tried switching everything and cannot lower the Wave. Playing acoustic guitar on a focus right 4I4 Interface.
Device name***** DESKTOP

Processor*********** Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8400T CPU @ 1.70GHz** 1.70 GHz
Installed RAM*** 12.0 GB (11.8 GB
System type****** 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

[albee1952]

Looking at the waveform, I'd guess it was recorded way too hot. Maybe you are confusing volume(how loud your speakers are) with audio level(how hot the waveform is)? Always make sure your metering is set to Pre-fade for recording. If its set to Post-fade and you bring the fader down, you could be recording much hotter than the meter tells you because it is following the fader(and NOT representing the incoming signal level). This gets toggled under the Options menu near the bottom.

Also, looking at the screen shot, I see you are making a classic mistake by not naming the track(hint hint)

[Darryl Ramm]

Are you monitoring the audio signal as you record? Or just playing live?

Other things to look for ... is the clip indicator lighting up on the 4i4? In addition to making sure your Pro Tools audio track is in pre-fader mode (and I'd use meters in classical mode) while tracking. Look at that meter and adjust it's levels with mic gain, mic placement and mic/playing technique... not any fader in Pro Tools). You might also want to look at the Focusrite Control, especially if you are hardware monitoring through Control.

Any there is just no reason to record hot, input signals levels around -12dBFS or -16dBFS or so can help ensure you will never clip the inputs.

If using an external microphone things may be simple, but if you have an acoustic guitar with onboard piezo pickup and/or mic and has it's own DI/preamp make sure you are connecting it correctly to the interface. Don't run an amplified signal into the interface preamp.

The easiest way to get this stuff right is to find some good acoustic guitar audio recording tutorials on places like YouTube or Groove3 etc. Early on you likely won't even know what to ask about/and be missing lots of stuff.

If you need more help please post screen shots from the computer not fuzzy mess photos of the screen. Since DUC horribly down-scales images, post your screen shots on a photo/file sharing site and provide links here. https://www.ionos.com/digitalguide/s...-11-screenshot

[largoman]

I watched the meters as I was playing, comma and they were very low. The master volume control was about halfway as also was the Input Jack. That is why I couldn't figure out why The volume wave was so high. It was set to my normal recording levels. I also turned the mix DB to - 18 dB's. I thought that might lower the volume and minimize the wavelength. Eventually I Used the zoom control to lower The wave length. That worked but, I had to increase the Jack input control. I will definitely look at
Everything You've Mentioned and And I'm sure it will help solve this problem. I very much appreciate your help. Thank you.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by largoman

I watched the meters as I was playing, comma and they were very low.

What meters? And what mode are they in? Again, you need to be watching the track meter for the track you are recording and it needs to be in pre-fader mode when you are tracking. And you can look at the Focusrite Control input meters. These are the only clear ways to see if you are getting input clipping.... and if they show a conservative low signal level then you know for sure it's not clipping on input and the problem is elsewhere (external DI/preamp problem (flat battery?), wrongly applied clip gain, improper use of plugins, some gain staging problem, ... etc.). Master fader meters give you no information about input clipping, only output clipping.

[Top Jimmy]

Originally Posted by largoman

I watched the meters as I was playing, comma and they were very low. The master volume control was about halfway as also was the Input Jack. That is why I couldn't figure out why The volume wave was so high. It was set to my normal recording levels. I also turned the mix DB to - 18 dB's. I thought that might lower the volume and minimize the wavelength. Eventually I Used the zoom control to lower The wave length. That worked but, I had to increase the Jack input control. I will definitely look at
Everything You've Mentioned and And I'm sure it will help solve this problem. I very much appreciate your help. Thank you.

Use the shortcut ALT-A to reset the waveform zoom. Then adjust your input gain to an appropriate level.

[largoman]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

What meters? And what mode are they in? Again, you need to be watching the track meter for the track you are recording and it needs to be in pre-fader mode when you are tracking. And you can look at the Focusrite Control input meters. These are the only clear ways to see if you are getting input clipping.... and if they show a conservative low signal level then you know for sure it's not clipping on input and the problem is elsewhere (external DI/preamp problem (flat battery?), wrongly applied clip gain, improper use of plugins, some gain staging problem, ... etc.). Master fader meters give you no information about input clipping, only output clipping.

I keep my eyes on the track meter I'm recording on. I've never used the Focusrite control meter for volume control before. (pretty dumb I admit), but have never really needed to. I also was using an app I haven't worked with alot. Irig 6. So I'm sure I did not have it set as properly as I should have. Thanks for taking the time to give some important information to me. There are alot more things I will be keeping my eyes on from now on. Appreciate that.