Digital Distortion.

[Seizure.]

greatings dudes,

i have been having this problem.

even after checking if nothing is clipping... putting in plug in after plug in (going from single tracks to masters..) and checking how levels are (i mean EVERY plug in... also compressors on my groupchannels etc..etc...)

i still have some digital distortion going on and after checking out something from another band at the same volume i mix/get distortion at it also can't be the speakers cracking up right?

what the hell is going wrong?

and yes... i also check if i wasn't over compressing/limiting....

HELP please!!!

 

[Ermz]

Does this happen only when you play back tracks in your DAW, or with any media player in general?

 

[prowlergrig]

i take it you've checked that there's no distortion while recording?

 

[Youowemeapony]

i have no idea what your hardware setup is, but if things get out of sync, sometimes that can cause pops and skips.. I know when I first got my Octane and hooked up the lightpipe, I was confused as to why I was getting pops and whatnot, but things just werent synched up properly.

 

[Seizure.]

its only when playing back in my DAW yes....

 

[kelch]

I think you just need to do a process of elimination... easier said than done I know, but take each piece one at a time.

start with the bare track(s)...

add one piece (plugin) at a time and test...

 

[~BURNY~]

Also try to keep the master fader at unity gain without clipping. I'm not sure this rule applies the same it does on analog mixer since the master buss is virtual but It could be a solution. Maybe someone here could tell for sure.

 

[~BURNY~]

That would have been great if someone could aswer this.
In analog domain, the golden rule is: Do not use the master fader to fix main level overload cause when the master buss is overloaded, the master fader will lower the level after the master buss. So it's still overloaded.
Is that true in the digital domain?

 

[kelch]

That would have been great if someone could aswer this.
In analog domain, the golden rule is: Do not use the master fader to fix main level overload cause when the master buss is overloaded, the master fader will lower the level after the master buss. So it's still overloaded.
Is that true in the digital domain?

There's no single answer...

If you're referring to an ITB mix with a 32bit float chain, then no... all Busses are capable of 0db overs up to the converters. But usually there are other factors that may cause distortion with overs regardless of bit depth.

kelch-

 

[~BURNY~]

Thanks, that was what I was referring to...

 

[black sugar]

Here's a very technical thread that deals with this subject. Sit back and let your head explode.

http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/m/65447/0#msg_65447


I've read a good chunk of it twice already and I still can't take it all in. I get the gist, but wow... More coffee...

 

[Carrier Flux]

keep in mind...

digital overs will occur without any notification from your meters! Why? I'm not really sure. I've read a bunch about intersample peaks causing overs that don't peak a meter etc...which might be your issue, but I can't explain the details.

in my experience your best bet is to drop the levels of ALL your sub-mixes [or all your tracks even] fairly drastically [unless you've narrowed it down to one bus, then it might be a plug in that buss somewhere...]. it's good that you're acknowledging the overs even though your meters say things are fine, because you can't always trust DAW meters.

try knocking a few db off every one of your sub-mix busses [or even every one of your tracks] and tell us if that helps.

 

[~BURNY~]

Pretty interesting.
Thanks for the link BS.

 

[guitarguru777]

"didnt read the whole thread"

Could it be a latency issue. I had this problem when i 1st started aswell and adjusting the audio buffer cleaned it right up.

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

do you throw a limiter on the master output channel at all?

try it, see how much it cuts off peaks and whatnot.

 

[Seizure.]

"didnt read the whole thread"

Could it be a latency issue. I had this problem when i 1st started aswell and adjusting the audio buffer cleaned it right up.

how do i adjust this?

keep in mind...
try knocking a few db off every one of your sub-mix busses [or even every one of your tracks] and tell us if that helps.

will do, and did help some but still haven't lost all... its still not clean so to say.

 

[kelch]

If you turn off all processing and just run the raw tracks... you're getting distortion?

is it a constant sizzly distortion or occassional popping?

 

[Seizure.]

constant sizzly distortion which gets worse in dense parts with lots of fills and stuff...

i just tried a izotope ozone today and i'm having alot less distortion right know... and i can pump my levels further up.... its weird.. maybe it was the L1. ( and i wasn't over limiting.)

 

[James Murphy]

constant sizzly distortion which gets worse in dense parts with lots of fills and stuff...

i just tried a izotope ozone today and i'm having alot less distortion right know... and i can pump my levels further up.... its weird.. maybe it was the L1. ( and i wasn't over limiting.)

sounds like you were, in fact, over-limiting. this could be due to the frequency content of your mix.. i.e., too much low end. actually, from your description of the problem, i'll lay odds that's exactly what it is. the low end eats a lot of headroom, making it a lot easier to crap-out the limiter.... and L1, while a solid tool, is not particularly known for it's finesse. Ozone, on the other hand, has a filter/eq section prior to the limiter, and it may well be a bit more forgiving than L1 as well.

 

[kelch]

In my experience the L1 does not take hard driving very well

Sounds like you have a gain scheduling problem. Back down all tracks starting with sub-mixes by 1db then others... then 2db