When am I Actually Clipping?

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Phonic
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2012/05/17 00:24:40 (permalink)

When am I Actually Clipping?

I have FabFilter Pro-L (a very good limiter) on my main bus and I have it set to a ceiling of -0.3.  With this setup I don't see any clipping on my Main mixer, however the Main outputs section (the one that you cannot put plugins on) shows clipping.
 
What gives?  Which meter is right?  Why am I clipping the main outputs when I have FabFilter on?

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#1

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    John
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    Re:When am I Actually Clipping? 2012/05/17 00:39:10 (permalink)
    Are you sure that you have all your tracks going to the buss with the limiter on it?

    Lets call that the master buss. All track and buses should out put to it. The master buss should out to your main outs. The main outs represent your audio interface. Also be sure that the level is set to unity on your main outs.



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    John
    #2
    SCorey
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    Re:When am I Actually Clipping? 2012/05/17 10:12:31 (permalink)
    Does your main buss have any pro channel plugins running? If so, make sure it's not set to Post FX bin.

    -Steve Corey
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    Lynn
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    Re:When am I Actually Clipping? 2012/05/17 10:20:09 (permalink)
    Do you just see clipping, or do you hear it?  You're not really clipping unless you can hear it.  Some may disagree, but if you can't hear it then it's not there.

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    Lynn

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    #4
    js516
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    Re:When am I Actually Clipping? 2012/05/17 10:26:20 (permalink)
    Maybe one meter is set to peak and the other is set to rms?

    Joe Sera
     
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    #5
    Seth Perlstein [Cakewalk]
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    Re:When am I Actually Clipping? 2012/05/17 11:00:38 (permalink)
    Peak and RMS will show different settings as they are different types of meters. The master bus that you put the limiter on in SONAR is the main bus for the project. The other 'main' faders are actually software controls for the actual output of your audio interface. Leaving those at zero is best practice. Then control the output of the interface with ist hardware monitor knob on the interface itself.

    SP

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    #6
    dorism
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    Re:When am I Actually Clipping? 2012/05/17 16:46:48 (permalink)
    There are a couple of things to consider - when recording try not to overload your inputs and make them too hot. I normally aim to peak at about -6db so there is always some headroom. Use 24bit if you can - higher resolution. When you look at the mains output - you are observing the result of constructive and destructive interference because you are combining all of your tracks together. Its difficult to predict where you will clip but you can do a preview of the waveform in the bus so you can get some visual feedback. Again as a rule of thumb, I'd always mix down so that no peaks ride above -6db. You'll want to give some breathing space for some volume maximisation and you'll need this space to give the compression enough to do its work properly.

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    #7
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