clipping converters - mastering shootout

[Fragle]

hey guys,

so, i finally decided to do a little shootout between software clipping vs clipping the converters as i was really curious about the differences.

now, i'm only running RME converters, which i guess are far from the best for these sort of things....i'm sure that with some real highend ones the difference will be much more apparent...but you got to work with what's available.

well, here's the link: [file will be up in 10min]
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1296348/master test/MASTER TEST.rar

the mix file is just that, a 30 sec snippet of the mix (i chose the unrest song i posted in another thread for this one). i labeled the master files A and B to make this a little more interesting, but i'll reveal what's what soon

now, i went pretty far with the levels to exaggerate the effect. there's the same amount of level boost, 14,3 db to be precise, on both the software and the hardware one. software was 2 gclips chained back to back. there's nothing else going on, except a limiter on the backend with threshold 0db, ceiling -0.4db or sth so things don't hit the 0dbfs mark. i guess in more of a real world scenario one would use less clipping and some additional limiting to get the loudness, but as i said i deliberatly went overboard here to highlight the differences.

well, enough of the rambling - i'm curious if you guys can tell which is which, and what's better!

btw, the mix is already pretty compressed (this was taken straight from the mix file, just without the gclips and limiters on the master bus). if you feel the test would be more revealing with a less compressed one, i'll upload another one no problem

 

[CarlBlomqvist]

I think B is gClips.
I don't really know why..
I use it and I think it sounds familiar ^^

 

[Fragle]

any other comments?

as i said, if anyone has an idea how to make this more scientific feel free to comment!

 

[Keessi]

Maybe I'm high, but does B have more low end?
I'd guess B is software

 

[Fragle]

well...that's interesting

i agree with B having a bit more lows, and a smoother sound overall. A sounds harder to me, with B having more warmth. the difference is very slight though...imho.

the interesting part is that both of you got it wrong: A is gclip, B is the hardware.

any other comments?

 

[Mikaël-ange]

Bump to an "old" thread but I have a little question btw

Can you describe your hardware cliping gear?
You only described ITB cliping chain

I ask this because refering to an other old thread (2 years old) about cliping converter, mostly eq was used for push level into cliping.

Other question: have you use standard loopback chain or Lasse chain with standard insert on 2bus?

Thanks in advance

 

[Mikaël-ange]

Bump

 

[Fragle]

sorry, necro thread lol. but to answer the question: hardware was a simple loopback fireface out -> fireface in. essentially clipping the fireface converters.

by the way, right now i'm always clipping the ff converters when mastering stuff. gclip only gets used as a quick fix to get some volume out of the mix and see how it holds up after clipping/limiting the mix.
hardware just sounds smoother, and it's easier to get into commercial levels without sacrificing as much fidelity as you do ITB...imho at least. works for me.