best stage to clip

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 1:25 am

Hello guys im mastering some house tracks and still cant get them to the level of the tracks their bringing me. I know this tracks are clipping but they still sound good. My question is: what place is the best stage to clip to attain more gain. Ive heard the da convertors is the best place. Is this true or im offset. I got apogee 800s?

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 8:53 am

What?

If you want more volume, turn the amp up.

I can't think of a piece of digital gear that sounds good clipping...

Even tubes only sound good as they bend into clipping... YOU DO NOT WANT DC SIGNAL IN YOUR SPEAKERS.

At least I don't in mine.

Moderator Joined: Sep 12, 2002 Posts: 1847 Location: NYC

what kind of level are we talking about here?

Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:27 am

A lot of mixes -- MOST mixes - don't have the 'loudness potential' as much of the ultra-crushed stuff off the shelf. Even the most experienced mastering engineer with the greatest gear on the planet is limited (no pun intended) by the mixes he's given.

Best place to clip? If you clip the DA, you have to clip before it goes out. What's the rest of the chain and where is you line reference?

Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 8:18 am

Massive Mastering wrote:

Best place to clip? If you clip the DA, you have to clip before it goes out.

Could you explain a little please?

Was I correct in my assumptions in my first post?

Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 8:53 am

Why would anyone record a house to begin with?

Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 3:52 pm

Greener wrote:

Massive Mastering wrote:

Best place to clip? If you clip the DA, you have to clip before it goes out.

Could you explain a little please?

Was I correct in my assumptions in my first post?

A lot of ME's clip to some extent. But *usually* it would be at the AD. To clip the DA, you're going to be ramming a signal out of the DAW on the way to the analog chain. In any case, it's all going to be dependent on the rest of the chain, how it's calibrated, etc., etc., etc.

Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 12:07 am

Basically, gain structure.

Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 12:41 am

Sometimes, during a mix, I will lightly clip the Analog to Digital converters, if I'm mixing rather hot. But this is generally only on the drum transients. This kind of clipping provides a slightly harder crunch on the drums due to the heavy pair harmonics with symmetrical clipping.

Sometimes, while mastering, I'll boost to clip drum transients. Certainly don't want that on other instruments. Clipping is not something you should do lightly. That is, to say, clipping isn't something to take lightly or, give. And even after clipping the drums, I'll frequently normalize to 99.6%. Put that in your plug-in & smoke it.

Not a mastering engineer
Ms. Remy Ann David

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