Clipping on commercial releases

[Canis]

HOLY SHIT

well, if imported some of my recordings into a wave editor i'd be probably looking at similar flat tops everywhere, but then, i'm sort of an amateur and no one pays me to do stuff still, i do everything i can to avoid clipping.

 

[DIOBOLIC5150]

"flat top" is an understatement... it's more like "brickwalling"

 

[Frank'nfurter]

Carefull! As I can see these are all mp3 files. If you wanna see the real clippings you have to open the real wav files direct imported from the CD. Ripped mp3's are never a good example to show up the real existing flat tops.

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Don't judge a recording by its look =) Especially when zoomed out...

Hey Diabolic5150, your Windows XP looks nice, is it a skin or something special ?

 

[estigma2001]

Carefull! As I can see these are all mp3 files. If you wanna see the real clippings you have to open the real wav files direct imported from the CD. Ripped mp3's are never a good example to show up the real existing flat tops.

that´s true you must use wav files, but i have a problem,i was checking the image or looking of my track and it was like it has no clipping ok but then the meters show a clipping, is it possible this?

 

[Ermz]

Carefull! As I can see these are all mp3 files. If you wanna see the real clippings you have to open the real wav files direct imported from the CD. Ripped mp3's are never a good example to show up the real existing flat tops.

I'm just wondering, what's the technical reason behind that? Does mp3 compression attenuate some of the peaks or somesuch?

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

It compresses it.

(I can't think of an explanation sorry!)

 

[DIOBOLIC5150]

Don't judge a recording by its look =) Especially when zoomed out...

Hey Diabolic5150, your Windows XP looks nice, is it a skin or something special ?

Well, you can actually hear audible clipping on that track. It may be a pre-release of that album though. Not sure.

As far as the XP GUI goes, it's nothing too fancy. Just WindowBlinds. Looks nicer and runs smoother than the stock XP "fisher price" graphic interface.

 

[SPLASTiK]

Opeth- Blackwater Park

 

[Ermz]

I don't like those XP styling programs. They take up even more unecessary memory... memory I could be using to load more samples or run more tracks

About Blackwater Park... yeah I've noticed that clips like all hell on some systems I've heard it on. Definately pushed to its limits, that album.

 

[AsModEe]

Hearing clipping is one of those things, once you learn what it is... its there bugging you!

I love explaining to people about it so they start hearing it too.

I don't come here very often and I don't know much about mixing and stuff so could you explain me what clipping is? thx!

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

Its a horrible kind of crackly poppy all round nasty noise as the levels get pushed too hard and go beyond the limit of just LOUD.

 

[Ermz]

Imagine what would happen if you started lifting a big wedding cake into the ceiling. All the stuff at the top would slowly start getting mashed down into the body of the cake, until its one big square thing.

Clipping occurs when you push the waveform of a song to the roof and it starts squaring off.

The roof is 0db, and clipping is nasty noise. But I think soon we won't have to worry about it at all, since nobody seems to be able to hear it anymore

 

[Skaldir]

I know a Dimmu Borgir CD which is pretty much at the limit all the time. The waveforms look like a sausage. When you look at it in Wavelab it's at 0, and at some other programm (soundforge?) it has shown clips. Can it be that even in software it's different?

 

[AsModEe]

okay I think I get it, thx!

 

[Nitronium Blood]

I know a Dimmu Borgir CD which is pretty much at the limit all the time. The waveforms look like a sausage. When you look at it in Wavelab it's at 0, and at some other programm (soundforge?) it has shown clips. Can it be that even in software it's different?

I love sausages. The kind that come on a sizzling sizzler hotplate, with chips and barbecue sauce on the size sizzling away with all the smoke in your face, mmmmm.

Sorry, I'm hungry

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Put it this way, more people comment on a quiet master than a bit of clipping!! They always want it louder and usually the can't hear the clipping! It bugs me to death, I'd rather everyones albums were 3db lower but thats the way things have gone.

A-Fucking-Men brother!

I recently took a trip to Canada's top mastering studio for a project of mine. When they asked "how loud do you want it?" I brought examples of discs that came out in the late 80s and early 90s. Discs you can listen to from front to back without becoming fatigued.
"Don't blast the shit out of it." was my reply.


Well, 2 months later, the band still loves thier disc, and their little following loves it too. Good stuff all around. The only thing is, you have to constantly drive it home to the bands that overmastering is a bad thing.

-0z-

 

[Nostalgiaplatz]

The folks at T.C electronics have written a couple of GOOD papers on this same subject for the AES conventions, here they are:

Level Control in Digital Mastering
Music mastering is becoming a battle for maximum level rather than a quest for audio quality, because counting consecutive samples at OdBFS is not an adequate restriction of level.
by Soren Nielsen & Thomas Lund
http://www.tcelectronic.com/media/nielsen_lund_1999_level_co.pdf


0 dBFS+ Levels in Digital Mastering
This paper examines the sonic consequences when 0dBFS+ signals are reproduced in typical consumer equipment. The performance of a variety of domestic CD players exposed to such signals are presented and evaluated.
by Soren Nielsen & Thomas Lund
http://www.tcelectronic.com/media/nielsen_lund_2000_0dbfs_le.pdf