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Question about Mixing and Limiters! confused please help/:
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| prince_narwhal |
| So im mixing my track i put all my sounds in my mixer to -7db (to leave some head room for mastering) but after i do all this i look at my master channel and im clipping in some parts of the song (usually when 808's hit). Do i put a limiter on the master track and set it to -7db then export to master? or do i put a limiter on to -.1 db and export to master? or do i lower sounds in other channels to get it not to clip at the parts? please help this is not the first time this has happened, just the first time i wanna stop it happening |
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| tehlord |
| Turn everything down until it's not clipping any more. |
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| prince_narwhal |
| quote: | Originally posted by tehlord
Turn everything down until it's not clipping any more. |
so should i turn everything down to try and get my master track at -7db? |
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| tehlord |
| quote: | Originally posted by prince_narwhal
so should i turn everything down to try and get my master track at -7db? |
Roughly, yeah.
A good place to start is setting your kick to about -10db on the mixer and mix around that as it'll be the loudest part of the track.
You want the master to be averaging about -6db to -8db.
There's nothing wrong with putting a limiter on the master just in case anything goes over 0db while you're mixing, but it probably won't. As long as the limiter isn't squashing anything and leaving the mix clean. |
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| derail |
As long as there's no clipping and you haven't compressed/limited the master channel, a mastering engineer will be able to do their work.
Whether that's at - 5dB, - 7dB or wherever, the mastering engineer will have all the head room they require. Just ensure those two things - no "overs" /clipping, and no "pre-squishing" of the entire mix (unless it's a creative, "art" decision, in which case let the mastering engineer know what you've done and why it needs to sound like that before being mastered). |
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| evo8 |
| Find out what is causing the clipping and then try to fix that - using a limiter is only masking the problem |
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| SoundDigest |
| You could also post a screenshot of the entire mixer channel, and we'll see what's clipping. As said above though, just by dropping the volume down everything should help and the master will take care of the rest. |
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| evo8 |
| quote: | Originally posted by SoundDigest
You could also post a screenshot of the entire mixer channel, and we'll see what's clipping. As said above though, just by dropping the volume down everything should help and the master will take care of the rest. |
its possible to have no clipping on individual channels but clipping on the master, due to phasing |
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| derail |
| quote: | Originally posted by evo8
its possible to have no clipping on individual channels but clipping on the master, due to phasing |
Phasing doesn't cause clipping. Clipping happens when the signal level is too high - a single sound may not cause clipping on its own, but combining a number of sounds can definitely push the overall level high enough that clipping occurs.
Edit - thought some more, and yes, phasing could cause "overs" where, for example, two sounds with the same dominant frequency (say 80Hz) align, when they're "in phase". Good mixing practice will minimize/eliminate this - don't allow these dominant frequencies to play simultaneously. |
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| evo8 |
| quote: | Originally posted by derail
Phasing doesn't cause clipping. Clipping happens when the signal level is too high - a single sound may not cause clipping on its own, but combining a number of sounds can definitely push the overall level high enough that clipping occurs.
Edit - thought some more, and yes, phasing could cause "overs" where, for example, two sounds with the same dominant frequency (say 80Hz) align, when they're "in phase". Good mixing practice will minimize/eliminate this - don't allow these dominant frequencies to play simultaneously. |
yep, hence why i suggested the OP try and find the cause of the clipping - you get it with transients as well, which is the main culprit as you say, where stuff adds together.. like say the transient of the kick and clap/snare clashing is a common one |
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| DJ RANN |
| quote: | Originally posted by tehlord
-6db to -8db. |
| quote: | Originally posted by Derail
- 5dB, - 7dB
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| quote: | Originally posted by Derail
-12 imo.
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For s sake guys, which is it?
the real answer is none of the above. It's 0db. When you're not sure about what you're doing (i.e. why is clipping), don't leave headroom for mixing that you shouldn't even be attempting.
Just mix to 0db and get the balance the best you can. Then send that to mastering engineer.
Don't forget, now we're entirely digital (for the most part), there's technically no need for a file to be at -6db; they don't need the headroom as they can expand the track in a 32bit float environment without any clipping, and the advantage is that you've printed the relative noise floor at the ratio baseline of 0db.
If you leave -6db at your noise floor baseline, when they expand/gain raise by 6db, they are raising your track to nearly twice as loud, which means any noise is also raised by that factor (relative to the other sounds).
In other words, if you don;t know what you're doing, just make 0dbfs your goal to mix to without clipping. Any mastering engineer worth their salt will be able to work with it, unless they ask otherwise, then in that case, lower your master by 6db and print the file. |
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| derail |
| quote: | Originally posted by DJ RANN
For s sake guys, which is it? |
FFS Rann, don't you bother reading posts before responding? Re-read my post and notice that it says exactly the same thing you're saying.
If you're going to use online forums, learn to read and think.
(oh - and you put my name next to Clay's -12 imo quote - learn how to use quotes properly too) |
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