[heathen]

WHY? Is all I can ask. I find the sound of mildly clipped converters ugly above a monitoring level of say 75-80 dbspl in almost any mastered record. I read all these ideas on getting THAT sound by clipping converters. Why not distort and clip a drum (or whatever sound)with a marshall pre amp and quad box mic it up and record it on a channel and balance a mix between original and distorted to get THAT sound. Is it laziness or lack of imagination?Or am I seriously missing some sort of magical point in clipping converters as some sort of magical cure for a lazy un-imaginative mix.I don't think so.

To me clipping converters in mastering is like smashing all your nice plates just before your dinner guests arrive and then having to serve dinner on plastic plates.

As far as I'm aware every consumer stereo system has a volume knob. Inconsistant monitoring levels during mastering sessions seem to be one of the main problems I could think of in attaining a good realistic level,which will translate well everywhere. Which seems to be the reason/idea behind clipping converters (attaining that last 0.00000231%) ,every thread with a loudness question will have 5 posts saying "oh I clip my converters".

Ok then well, WHY? I see no benefit. Flame me all you like everyone but........seriously think about it. Why not record all your distortion in the mix and leave all your transients still intact. Or just run your final mix through the Timeworks master comp which clips nearly anything and everything which hits it.
Maybe I'm just old ,hmmmm thats right im only 33.
Seriously I don't think anyone has mentioned this or did I miss it.

Clipping converters in mastering is not good practice as far as im concerned. What does everyone else say. To clip or not to clip. Im not a clipper.

Heath