Gearslutz.com - View Single Post - Clipping occurs in final mix but it sounds good..
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Old 2nd November 2006   #8
bob katz
Mastering
 
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 3,099

Quote:
Originally Posted by Darius van H View Post
I'm not sure it's fair to say that clipped material always doesn't sound good when broadcast, converted or played back on crappy systems.

It depends on your definition of good - if you're listening from an audiophile, anti-distortion point of view, then granted, clipping is always bad.

On the other hand, if you're trying to achieve a "hot" master that retains a lot of punch and has similar apparent loudness to other songs in the same genre, then clipping can be a useful and valid tool.

D
Yes, one man's meat is another man's poison. I'm torn from both sides every day of the week. Have pity on me. Client #1 doing a Latin Pop is asking me to give him another ref that's 1 dB hotter than the already clipped thing I produced whose RMS is already about a K-9!!! in order to "compete" on a CD changer with a terribly-distorted Mark Anthony with about a 4 dB peak to RMS ratio!

Client #2 doing a rock album is worried that the slightly clipped master I produced for him is distorting on some small systems and might make a poor MP3. I definitely agree I went too far with Client #2 and I made a mistake. I definitely think client #1 is making the wrong choice but I will do what he asks.
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Bob Katz DIGITAL DOMAIN http://www.digido.com
"There are two kinds of fools. One says-this is old and therefore good. The other says-this is new and therefore better."

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