Losing snare with ghetto mastering

[BLUElightCory]

digi trim. done.
api plugs sound pretty good clipping.

Digi trim is just a gain control, it doesn't do anything else to the dynamics of the signal.

The API 2500 does make a great mix bus comp.

 

[TheDriller]

To add to that, to really push the volume, you need to balance your mixes well. No excess frequencies happening anywhere. In particular I find having a build of lower mids becomes EXTREMELY apparent when you start pushing the limit (and hence turns into a bunch of severe mud), so keep things under control

indeed, i find that the lower mids/ high bass can "soften" a mix in a very shitty way unless controlled.

 

[AdamWathan]

Digi trim is just a gain control, it doesn't do anything else to the dynamics of the signal.

The API 2500 does make a great mix bus comp.

Jordan uses TDM Trim to clip, the mix engine in TDM stops at 0db unlike in RTAS where it can go further, so if you put a TDM trim on your master, your signal will never exceed 0db. You can add another trim after that to bring it down to -0.3db or whatever and your mix will never exceed that value.

 

[BLUElightCory]

Jordan uses TDM Trim to clip, the mix engine in TDM stops at 0db unlike in RTAS where it can go further, so if you put a TDM trim on your master, your signal will never exceed 0db. You can add another trim after that to bring it down to -0.3db or whatever and your mix will never exceed that value.

Fair enough, now here are my questions:

1. Why does anybody think that clipping a digital mix is a good idea?

2. Why use the "Trim" plug at all? A digital mix will NEVER exceed 0dB, it's an inherent limitation of digital audio. The point of using a limiter or a dedicated "clipper" plug is to remove potential peaks as musically as possible BEFORE the mix output to reduce the chance of the peaks hitting the 0dB ceiling and causing digital distortion. The audio is just clipping at the "Trim" plug instead of at the mix bus.

3. I guess this isn't a question - If your audio is hitting 0dB already, there's no reason to add another plug to bring it down to -.3 dB or whatever. You've already clipped the audio and done the damage.

I understand that everyone is striving for a loud mix, but clipping the output bus is damaging to your audio and will create a mix that is distorted and fatiguing to listen to. I wish listeners would learn to just turn up the damn volume knob so we can stop ruining our mixes with limiting and clipping.

 

[jval]

you're starting a whole other discussion but...
of course no one really WANTS to purposefully distort their mix. but if you want something to compete these days, you're gonna do it. It's just absolutely impossible to get that kind of loudness with a limiter unless you want it to sound like absolute trash. clipping is WAY more transparent, at least for anything rock / metal.

and i'm not an expert but with the RTAS engine in protools, it does have headroom above 0. example, if you had a digi eq as insert 1, and clipped it by 6db, followed by a compressor plug, the audio being fed into the compressor would be +6db, not 0.

 

[Morgan C]

Clipping is the lesser of the other available evils.

3. I guess this isn't a question - If your audio is hitting 0dB already, there's no reason to add another plug to bring it down to -.3 dB or whatever. You've already clipped the audio and done the damage.

Converting to mp3 can mess with slightly, so you need to compensate by about .2dB to avoid massive clipping when its converted.