Andy, a question about clipping distortion.

[Keregioz]

I assume that you've heard nevemore's new album and i also assume, since you're a sound engineer, that you've noticed clipping distortion in some songs....
I have expirienced the same problem when i apply hard compression on one of my songs...What causes it? is there any way to avoid it??
Dead heart in a dead world has obviously a lot of hard compression but not a trace of clipping distortion...

 

[Andy Sneap]

I hear it all the time on records and I've been guilty of it one of twice. You really notice it when a gtr has alot of low end and you are slamming the levels. One little trick is to use that c4 setting where it is doing it on the gtrs, that sometimes gets you by, I usually just back the levels down, I'd rather have a quieter album than a distorted one. You're probably killing the dynamics of your snare and kick attack by then anyway. It's all over St Anger as well, I presume on every song but I only made it up to the third.