Drum Clipping

[gotet10]

Okay guys, so I'm pretty much a straight up Mac user when it comes to production nowadays, so some of my options are limited. I know that there have been a few threads in the forum about drum clipping and G-Clip alternatives for Mac, and mostly all that I saw about a year ago was T-Racks. So I went out and bought it a few months ago.

Here's my questions-

I don't really know how much to actually clip with the T-Racks clipper.
I used to use G-Clip on my old laptop a lot and I really liked the interface, even though it's super simple. I just really liked how you could see the wave forms and exactly how much to clip them. With the T-Racks clipper, however, you can't really see the wave forms, just the reduction.

Does anyone else use the T-Racks clipper for snares and kicks? I was just wondering; how much do you guys actually clip with it, and what do you usually set the slope for with snares and kicks?

Any help would be appreciated.


Also, does anyone know of a good transient designer for Mac besides the UAD one? I haven't brought myself to go buy a UAD card yet.

 

[Folkrav]

I usually like to use 2 clippers, one with soft knee for softer peak reducing, working on a 1-2dB basis maximum. Then another one with full hard-knee to take out the remaining unwanted peaks, and I set it to reduce as much as I can without actually hearing the clipping.

PS : That is on my mastering, before hitting the actual master limiter for the "loudness boost".

 

[Fandus]

i have it as high and fast as possible before you can hear it. changes on the source, its just one of those things that you have to get right by ear.

 

[gotet10]

Okay so say a Kick 10 type sample. Lots of solid bass, good attack. Would you guys Clip it or add a transient designer with a little attack and a little more sustain? I'm trying to figure out how to use a transient designer properly. It's really only like two nobs though lol.

 

[beechstudio]

Okay so say a Kick 10 type sample. Lots of solid bass, good attack. Would you guys Clip it or add a transient designer with a little attack and a little more sustain? I'm trying to figure out how to use a transient designer properly. It's really only like two nobs though lol.

I find that when using the transient designer, more attack and less sustain makes more of an impact on kick drums. Depends on your source naturally.

 

[Dustin Morrison]

I still just use the bit crusher in logic. It's under the distortion drop down list. Just set it to 24bit.

 

[ahjteam]

Also, does anyone know of a good transient designer for Mac besides the UAD one? I haven't brought myself to go buy a UAD card yet.

how about just using the original, SPL Transient Designer?

 

[Goodfellas453]

can someone explain what drum clipping is? is that to actually make the signal clip/peak? i would think that is undesirable, or is that distortion? which i still see as undesirable

 

[timislegend]

clipping is something that is used in high end a/d converters. it uses a circuit called soft limiting.

software "clippers" do their best (and were designed) to do the same thing however the algorithm is emulating a circuit so it is obvious that a software clipper is much likely to have a lower amplitude difference.

in practice, a clipper can be used to soften transients and increase the noise floor. much like limiting or compression although clipping is actually much less destructive with regards to dynamic range... ie. it doesn't create a "pumping" effect.

this is a desirable process and most preferred in vocal and drum processing as it lowers the dynamic range of the signal but doesn't add compression characteristics like most dynamics processing.

 

[Folkrav]

Tim pretty much covered it. The clipper literally "clips off" the peaks, destroys them - thus it is a kind of distortion. It is often used to cut off the peaks and control the dynamic range without the inherent coloration and pumping effect of hard compressors and limiters, due to their time-reaction-based nature...

As I've been told a lot of times, there's nothing that is purely undesirable if it creates the result you want. At the end, if a mix sounded great through 12 GClip instances, 10 EQs and massive pumping going on, you could do it... (I really doubt it would but still ).

 

[Goodfellas453]

does anyone use logic? is there a clipper in their that would work? or which third party vst is a decent one?

 

[OneDaySky]

GClip from GVST +99

 

[TaylorG]

GClip from GVST +99

Which doesn't work for Mac.........

 

[gotet10]

Yeah... you're pretty much stuck with the T-Racks Clipper.

 

[jimwilbourne]

is there something wrong with the t-racks clipper?
I mean besides having to learn to use your ears. has anyone done a good side-by-side?

 

[ahjteam]

is there something wrong with the t-racks clipper?
I mean besides having to learn to use your ears. has anyone done a good side-by-side?

yup.

 

[Dustin Morrison]

Just use the bitcrusher in Logic. Set it to 24 bit.

 

[OneDaySky]

Which doesn't work for Mac.........

And your point is? I'm just saying it rocks. Where Mac users lose out on Gclip, PC users lose out on stuff like Time Warp.

 

[olif8]

PC users lose out on stuff like Time Warp.

Uhhh...as in the Cubase tool?

 

[TaylorG]

And your point is? I'm just saying it rocks. Where Mac users lose out on Gclip, PC users lose out on stuff like Time Warp.

He's asking for a clipper that will work on Mac.

Okay guys, so I'm pretty much a straight up Mac user when it comes to production nowadays, so some of my options are limited. I know that there have been a few threads in the forum about drum clipping and G-Clip alternatives for Mac, and mostly all that I saw about a year ago was T-Racks. So I went out and bought it a few months ago.

You suggest G-Clip, which wont work for Mac. AND he already stated he's looking for an alternative to G-Clip.


I don't know how much clearer I can make this.