Editing Peaks

I know that when "mastering" our own material, it is helpful to hand edit some of the peskier peaks in order to get a higher overall level when limiting.  My question is HOW do you do it?  Do you do it in Sonar, and if so, what is the process for finding those peaks, and then lowering them?
 
Also, if not in Sonar, do you guys do this in Soundforge or Wavelab or something?  Thanks.

I use an external editing program. (Cool Edit Pro-Adobe Audition) I still feel they do certain operations faster than most DAW programs. I use the hard limit function which leaves the bottom part of the waveform intact. It lowers the peak to any value you determine. It is very good for bringing anything slightly out of context loud back to match other peaks well. 
 
In fact I open up every track from a multitrack session in the editor before a mix. Lots of stuff can be sorted out early. In mastering you can raise the rms of the track by limiting peaks and adding gain. A lot of mixes can handle peaks being limited to say -4 and then have 3 db of gain added. You have just made the mix 3 dB louder without changing the transients much. If at all to be concerned. It tidies things up before it goes into the mastering session. (The louder or healthier things are prior to mastering, the less each mastering stage needs to raise the rms level and hence sound better)
 
It does not distort the tops of the waveform either. It looks flat on the waveform but up close it can still be rounded. You can redraw the shape of the top part of the waveform in Cool Edit. It is nice to tame some wild transients in premastered mix. A mix can benefit from having peaks leveled out in my opinion. It can sound better for it. But not too much is the key.
 
 

Good stuff here, with lots to go on. Last question:  Are there commands in those external editors to find the offending peaks, or is it just eyeballing tracks?  And again, when you say "hand edit" peaks, are you simply using a volume envelope?  I understand Jeff's method is an automated thing (hard limiting), but for hand fixing them, what is the actual process?  Thanks again.

I don't ever edit peaks on the master. It's tricky, time-consuming and doesn't always come out as a transparent edit.
 
If you're allowing a decent crest factor to begin with, those stray peaks can always be tracked back to a percussive hit. Automate it out in the track, not on a bus, and nobody'll notice the edit. If it's a soft synth, you can often go into the PRV and lower the velocity of the note, which is even more invisible. IOW, find the source and treat it as far back in the chain as you can.
 
But if maximum loudness is your goal, using two compressors in front of the master bus limiter will do the trick. Try the TDR Feedback Compressor, which has two thresholds built in, one for peaks and the other for RMS. The idea is to get the loudness up before hitting the limiter, so that you're not depending entirely on the limiter to do it all.

Thanks all, and Bit:  man, that compressor you mentioned, the TDR Feedback compressor is super cool!  I messed with it for a while on several different sources and it is really nice.  I can't believe it is free.  It is downright invisible.  It this age of emulations and fake tape hiss modeled vintage blah blah it was quite refreshing. 

You can use Sound Forge to "draw" a waveform and bring it down from 0dB rather than an envelope.  It is a destructive process, however once you've saved the file.  And you can introduce clicks etc., but it is a good tool.
 
Normalization brings up the volume of the entire track, so that the loudest peak only reaches a predetermined volume - say -3 dB.  If the loudest peak is -4 dB, Normalization brings the entire track(s) up + 1 dB.  It doesn't effect relative volume or RMS or anything but vol, and simply provides gain (and can leave you headroom for limiters etc.).
 
@

Maybe I am missing something, but aren't we just talking about compression here as the most common way to control transients?  Sure you can manually edit peaks and I tend to do that rather than use an automated process but that is only because I work in classical.  By "taming peaks" it is more typical to use a careful dose of a compressor.  Manual editing is a creature of the digital age and I say bravo if you want to attempt it. But there is not shame in using a compressor if you are smart about it. 
 
Hard limiting is a headsman's axe.  It should be the last process, and the last resort to control dynamics.  It is best to think of it as a stray peak fail-safe measure.  A standard compressor at a lower ratio will maintain dynamics much better, and may be adequate in many cases.  

What I like about editing tracks (and mixes) inside a good editing program is it is so easy to highlight or select very specific areas.
 
Hard limiting is of course only one process you can apply. If your editor allows you to use most of your VST's then any number of great limiters such as PSP Xenon could be used or a nice compressor instead. The use of a compressor will require you to think about how it would need to be set for a desired result. Such the threshold, then knowing the ratio, how far up you want that peak to go from the threshold. Compressors can change the sound of an attack transient so you need to be careful in how you use them too. (Not too fast)
 
There are softer options to hard limiting. With some options you may have to think how far up a transient might extent. With limiting you tend to think of how far down from 0 dB FS you are going to limit instead. They all have equal intentions and can all sound good too.
 
If you leave most of a track or mix alone and only edit a few peaks here and there, those edits can be made invisible with care, you will never hear them no matter what you process you use. For snares and kicks then leveling out variations can be a great thing too.  I use a VU to check those and match waveform heights by eye as well.  (Adjustable clip gain)  It seems to work for me that way.

Are you talking real drums or sampled sounds. It is easier to get a more open sound with real drums. I have just finished recording my Sonor kit and had all the drums very open and in the end I preferred the more distant sound of the drums too.
 
As a player it is quite hard to strike everything so evenly as to get really consistent levels on everything. All hits. But the more practice and playing you do the better that gets. I believe drums sound pretty nice when you don't hit them so hard. They have a fuller sound at that level too. They can get thin when you hit them too hard. With drums it only takes a slightly harder hit too and the level can go seriously up. (rimshots) I edit my own playing in a few spots. Not so much in relation to the grid but evenness in hit levels on snares and kicks in particular.  Pop music needs the snares and kicks to be very constant. Other styles allow for more variation such as Jazz. But more often evenness in levels is important. Drummers should record themselves more and not only look at grid timing but amplitudes of things. It can be a bit of an eye opener. I changed the settings of my kick pedal the other day and it records almost very different now.
 
So if you are down at a medium level of playing then you have a wider range, some hits to get soft and others too loud. It is much better to play even right at the drums. Then after only some very light compression on the drum buss will still keep it sounding open and fuller.
 
More precise editing on the tracks themselves relieves a few processes that would normally be required. You can skip things then. Dynamics control can be light and very transparent but still doing its thing. Big drum sound results.
 
The editor software rules.  The closest thing to a very smooth and even live performance is detailed editing to an existing performance that maybe not so even. It is often only random hits too. It can improve it bigtime. You just have to use your ears and a VU meter and listen over edits to ensure they are transparent.  More work in the pre mix track edit, less work in the mixing.