Meters clipping

What program are you ripping it from. Sometimes the ripping conversion can cause some overs.

Also, what meters are cilipping? Is that track routed to your master bus? Or is it routed to your main outs? It should go right to your main outs to avoid going through your master bus effects

if you convert to mp3 while ripping (windows media player does this I think by default), the mp3 often will boost levels slightly, which could cause clipping very easily-

Lance

full_bleed


Hey CJaysMusic, I typically use windows media player to rip but I have used nero with the same results. I have tried routing it both to the master and to the mains. In both cases there is clipping at the track and at the master or mains.

Could it be a calibration issue from my audio hardware?

Try another CD

I can rip 30 songs and maybe have one that clips here and there.
So I really don't know. I was going to say pan laws, but i don't think its that.
Sorry,
Cj

Yea, it is, especially when there's nothing else to try. Pan laws do effect playback levels, but i don't know the full story behind it. Its complicated.

Are you ripping to .wav or to a compressed format?

If it's the latter then the chances are that the cds are mastered to peak just below 0dbFS and that the codec is introducing intersample peaks.

Really interesting lecture here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhA7Vy3OPbc

Child

Going out on a limb here, does your soundcard have a separate "manager" program - one that allows you to monitor direct inputs? On my MOTU, I have cuemix console, which allows me to do this. I discovered that if I don't turn off the input channels (basically all my available inputs) in Cuemix I will get clipping even if nothing is coming thru those inputs, some sort of summing issue I guess. Anyhow, what you are describing reminds me of this. Of course if you need to monitor inputs you re-enable them when needed.

Hey full_bleed this is just a matter of the rms levels being high on a mastered commercial CD compared to the internal reference levels that you are working at inside your DAW during the mixing/tracking phase.

There may not be any actual clipping on the commercial CD and the levels might all be at -0.1db but when you rip this into a wave file and bring it into your session, then the high rms levsls will do two things. One is make the track, buss and master meters show very high values and even look as they are clipping. Also the volume will be very loud compared to the level of your mix.

So it is just a simple matter to lower the level of the playback from the reference track. Either using the trim control right at the top of your channel or just lower the channel fader. By how much? Well I work often at a stardard of my rms levels being at -14 db or in the case of the K system K -14. I have found a lot of commercial CD's will be somewhere around -6 to -7db instead of -14 so trim your gain down by 6 or 7 db should put the reference track close to your nominal operating level of your session.

Later when you master, you make the -6 or -7db ref level to be the ref level and then your mix will be that far short. (Because you have now lowered the ref level of your system)  and during mastering you will raise the level of your mix by about that amout so that it matches the commercial CD.

Send me one of the wave files. Ill check it out on my sysytem for you.
 
Nevermind, i read your last paragrapgh and you figured it out