Miley Cyrus - "See You Again" - Audio clipping in her track... questions...

[Arkitecht]

OK, I am a mastering newbie - started reading the Bob Katz book, but please bear with me as I ask a simple question that may or may not have a simple answer.

I was comparing diff waveforms and statistics for final mastered recordings. I opened up Miley Cyrus' "See You Again" in Adobe Audition and noticed:

1. The waveform amplitude was extremely loud (understandable.)
2. The waveform went beyond 0db (I always thought to keep it under 0db.)
3. Even though the waveform went beyond 0db and my meters were in the "red" throughout the ENTIRE song (clipping)

I COULDN'T HEAR THE CLIPPING. I TRIED IT ON DIFFERENT SPEAKERS. I TRIED IT IN THE CAR. THE THING DOES NOT CLIP.

Who is the genius that did this (because the song sounds awesome from a sonic standpoint) and WHY do I not hear the clipping even though the meters are in the red for the whole song?

I don't understand this. Other tracks, Pink "U + Ur Hand" are right under 0db with an odd "clip" here and there. Finger Eleven's "Paralyzer" leaves some headroom and maxes out at -2db I believe.

Can someone please explain what may be the reason for this clipping - or is my CD bad?

[Kadden Heart]

hm,...
i have the iley cyrus record,..i could check it tonight to be sure (rela late tohugh)

sounds weird though,...
who mastered the record? and hwo mixed it?

it's a possibility that
A.) the mix engineer was clipping shit really hard,..so the mastering guy had to crush it to death to TRY to keep stuff audible.

or don't forget...not all clipping is audible,.while i would never condone clipping converters, headroom, faders, anything,..it still stands ot be said that sometimes it might not hurt

perhaps the label was like,.."this CD HAS to be at least 12DB louder than every other commcercial record out there despite quality"
and he had to push it super hard?

[Bob Vosgien]

Originally Posted by Arkitecht

OK, I am a mastering newbie - started reading the Bob Katz book, but please bear with me as I ask a simple question that may or may not have a simple answer.

I was comparing diff waveforms and statistics for final mastered recordings. I opened up Miley Cyrus' "See You Again" in Adobe Audition and noticed:

1. The waveform amplitude was extremely loud (understandable.)
2. The waveform went beyond 0db (I always thought to keep it under 0db.)
3. Even though the waveform went beyond 0db and my meters were in the "red" throughout the ENTIRE song (clipping)

I COULDN'T HEAR THE CLIPPING. I TRIED IT ON DIFFERENT SPEAKERS. I TRIED IT IN THE CAR. THE THING DOES NOT CLIP.

Who is the genius that did this (because the song sounds awesome from a sonic standpoint) and WHY do I not hear the clipping even though the meters are in the red for the whole song?

I don't understand this. Other tracks, Pink "U + Ur Hand" are right under 0db with an odd "clip" here and there. Finger Eleven's "Paralyzer" leaves some headroom and maxes out at -2db I believe.

Can someone please explain what may be the reason for this clipping - or is my CD bad?

Hi,
I mastered the Miley record and you're correct, you won't hear clipping on it... The meter calibration of your Adobe thingy is not accurate, that's why it's confusing you. THe record was NOT mastered above Odb full scale.(there are no digital over's)
I can't tell you why those other tracks you mentioned are clipped...

cheers,
Bob

[Arkitecht]

Bob,

Thanks for taking the time to answer my question, I really appreciate it. I'm actually quite humbled that the person who mastered the song actually answered my post! I love this forum.

Thanks again,
Arkitecht

[Bob Olhsson]

Adobe Audition can be very strange.

[UnderTow]

Adobe Audition has great metering and waveform representation. (The best in the industry afaik). It shows the reconstructed waveform rather than a "join the dots" representation. If you zoom in, you can see inter-sample peaks.

Also in Audition you can set 0 dB FS = sine (instead of square like most applications) for the RMS values. Audition is actually correct per AES17 ("AES standard method for digital audio engineering -- Measurement of digital audio equipment") while many (most?) DAWs and plug-in meters are not.

Back to the issue at hand: Even if the audio peaks at 0dB FS, Audition's meter won't go into the red and won't show clipping.

Why do you see clipping and red meters with this CD? Hmmm... Did you load an MP3 into Audition?

Alistair

PS: For more info on this, see my posts in this thread: Truth in metering?

[narcoman]

Originally Posted by Bob Vosgien

Hi,
I mastered the Miley record and you're correct, you won't hear clipping on it... The meter calibration of your Adobe thingy is not accurate, that's why it's confusing you. THe record was NOT mastered above Odb full scale.(there are no digital over's)
I can't tell you why those other tracks you mentioned are clipped...

cheers,
Bob

aye - but they'll be "overs" upon reconstruction surely...

Loads of records are up near zero, OP. Not all "clips" can be heard - try it yourself (although obviously without the impressive results of Bob) - you can push into converters and clip your audio, you won't hear it until you do it hard.