Clipping ProTools

[rems]

I just wanted to get this straight. When we are advised to not clip the channels, aux, master, etc is that when plugins are removed or bypassed, the channel should not be clipping (in the red) but somewhere lower. Correct?

[Mike Tholen]

How hard are you hitting your converters? (0dBVU=-18?-14?)
get your gain structure correct and you need not worry...
Observe 0dBVU.

[severe]

Originally Posted by rems

I just wanted to get this straight. When we are advised to not clip the channels, aux, master, etc is that when plugins are removed or bypassed, the channel should not be clipping (in the red) but somewhere lower. Correct?

Correct, bypassed or not. You should stay well below the red at all times and in all instances.

[ShamansDream]

Never clip in the entire signal chain. Plugins are part of that chain. Most plugins will have an input and output meter. Neither should clip. In protools, you have a "PreFader" metering option. You should look at both.
Your signal can hit 0dbfs and not be a problem, it is when you step over that it becomes a problem, [maybe]. A good brick wall limiter can put out a 'loud' mix to -0,1 dbfs and work perfectly.

You might also look into Inspector XL by Elemental Audio. It has a clip analyzer that can tell you if you have several samples in a row at 0dbfs. You can use this anywhere in the chain. Some plugins and DAWs fail to report overs simply because they were clipped already at 0dbfs.

[AlexLakis]

Great advice so far.

Clipping can be a good thing, but not in your DAW. There are much better places to do it. Even if it sounds good, it probably would have sounded better somewhere earlier down the chain. I've been experimenting with clipping my RME ADI-8DS on input recently with pleasurable results. Sounds great to me. Clipping on Pro Tools tracks and on the master bus, however, sounds terrible to me. There are lots of people who swear that this is the #1 problem with mixing ITB. Hopefully, a good over-sampling meter will come out for RTAS native systems soon, so they can stop guessing.

[ShamansDream]

There are certainly techniques that favor clipping, even extreme clipping, but not if you are trying to maintain a 'pristene' signal path... DUH...

Soft clipping is also a tecnique, but a lot easier to do with tape saturation

[pingu]

I agree with what everyone has said but also at the end of the day if you have a slamming kick ass mix happening and all of a sudden you see a few red lights and you poo your self

You then attend to the problem and after doing so you feel the song is not the same and you liked it how it was.

Go back to the red.

[severe]

Originally Posted by pingu

I agree with what everyone has said but also at the end of the day if you have a slamming kick ass mix happening and all of a sudden you see a few red lights and you poo your self

You then attend to the problem and after doing so you feel the song is not the same and you liked it how it was.

Go back to the red.

I would find myself in situations like this before I was further educated on the PT mixbuss. I would just cross my fingers and remind myself of the little bit of headroom that PT allows after the peak indicators.

I now find solace in more conservative levels from the get-go.


...and the mixes sound better.

[Bob Olhsson]

Digital clipping can sound OK until the next time you go to process the signal. Then you get that crunchy digital grunge that everybody hates.

[rems]

Thanks for all responses!

How hard are you hitting your converters? (0dBVU=-18?-14?)
get your gain structure correct and you need not worry...
Observe 0dBVU

Mike, in my case 0=-18. I'm always making sure that the converters never clip. Is this what you were asking?

[Mike Tholen]

If you were observingg 0dBVU at your converters you shouldn't have ANY clipping...you'll all the headroom you need.