Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Frindle  I can't believe you guys are actually clipping A/D converters for sound effect!? And even going a far as rating them on the basis of how they respond to overload errors?
This is a very bad idea IMVHO - and what you will get will be a lottery involving what the converter actually spits out and what will happen when the erroneous result is processed in your mix. It's asking for trouble :-(
More to the point - if A/Ds are to be rated by how they respond when drastically over driven, that leaves the door wide open for A/D manus to 'exploit' you by deliberately building in errors and distortion into their converters, which you cannot remove when you don't want it.. This is a massive step backwards technically and undoes one of the valuable advantages of digital audio which is supposed to put you in charge :-( |
I agree with you in principle P. but.... it is nothing new. It is has been a common practice amongst some ME's and some mixers for a long time.
It was not uncommon for engineers to push the limits in the analog domain, driving the tape into saturation... sometimes to a pleasing effect, so it would make sense that the limits and boundaries would be pushed in the digital domain as well. (to see what one can get away with)
For me, nothing is done by default, and once in a while driving the ad does work well. It is also one reason, in addition to a very good da, I have a very crappy da set up for monitoring... to hear what the consumer will hear.
I could be wrong but I had heard the DSM was a clipper as well...maybe not.. but anyway I've read on some forums where mixers are using clippers and limiters extensively in their mixes on drum busses, snare, and guitar channels etc... to in turn get their master louder....you know how it is on the internet, BS can spread like wild fire.