Should master bus be clipping AT ALL when mixing?

[Grahamsxe]

Could you add a limiter on the master bus to keep it from reaching red or should you avoid doing that and and just lower all the channels so it doesn't clip and keep the master bus empty for mastering?

 

[darthjujuu]

Could you add a limiter on the master bus to keep it from reaching red or should you avoid doing that and and just lower all the channels so it doesn't clip and keep the master bus empty for mastering?

you really should have nothing in the red, but i really am hard pressed to hear any degradation if individual tracks aren't clipping...only the master bus. because that means what's clipping is the result of the DAW's summing matrix, and i'm not sure if i'm right or not but to me it seems like a limiter on the master bus handles those peaks musically before digital loss occurs.

howEVER, if you bounce something without a limiter on the 2bus when there's anything in the red, you're going to have loss and audible distortion

edit: but that's also just me, being a jerk to the pro audio world, and the other dudes are right about it being wise to have things maxing out around -4ish at the most

 

[waltz mastering]

so if none of the tracks are clipping (including the individual tracks) and the master bus isn't clipping... is there really any clipping at all ??

Plug-ins?

Could you add a limiter on the master bus to keep it from reaching red or should you avoid doing that and and just lower all the channels so it doesn't clip and keep the master bus empty for mastering?

If none of your plug-ins or individual channels are clipping but you are still getting a couple overs on you master, you can pull your master fader down a couple dB... bounce your track out and master in a new session. It's good to have a bit of headroom.