WEIRD mastering issue...

[AdamWathan]

So I did a quick mastering job on some tracks I recorded for this band a couple weeks ago, rendered the masters, saved the project, closed it and left it. Couple days ago I go to open the projects to play around a bit and all 3 projects (3 songs) are CLIPPING LIKE CRAZY. I didn't change ANYTHING after the export before saving and closing... Master bus chain was something like ReaComp, GClip and Event Horizon. Can anyone think of any reason why this might happen? None of the settings appear to have changed from what I remember on the plugs. When I consolidated the tracks I noticed they were exported at 16 bit and reimported back into the project instead of the 24 bit I was recording at, is there any way that would make a difference? Still boggles my mind though because I consolidated several times throughout the project before mastering and the issue didn't creep up until after exporting, saving and reopening



Just tried something, if I import the original master I made back into the project on it's own track, solo it and disable the master bus fx chain, it STILL clips! But if I import that track into a new project it sounds fine... Using Reaper BTW... What the hell setting could I have possibly missed somewhere that is making my project sound like BALLS?


EDIT: Here's a RAR with two projects, clips.RPP is one of my original project files from the session but with every track deleted and all the fx removed except for the master MP3 which I reimported and doesntclip.RPP is a brand new project just with the imported master mp3. They look IDENTICAL to me and use the SAME master mp3 and one clips and one doesn't?!? BAHHH! What the hell is going on?!?

http://www.ashesofthefallen.net/Cliptest.rar
(currently uploading, should be done within 5 minutes of me posting this for any of you guys who are too quick for your own good!)

EDIT 2: I know this mix sucks and the performances are awful, not proud of it

 

[-Loco-]

Could make a difference. Try adjusting your sound output buffer in ASIO or something maybe you changed that by accident. Is it only THAT project that clips?

 

[AdamWathan]

All 3 projects from that recording session now clip, check the 2 sample projects, everything I can think to check is identical yet one clips and one doesn't :/

 

[Chris_P_Critter]

Dude - I use Reaper too, and the only thing I can think of is maybe an autosave file could recover the original master? Do you have that setup - if not - do it! I have mine set to save a new RPP every 10 minutes or so.

Good luck bro! I would DL and fuck around with it, but I am in a cubicle in hell right now.

 

[John_C]

it might be a panning law problem

make sure it's set to the default settings

 

[AdamWathan]

I'm an idiot sorted it out... The outputs on the clipping version were set to be the audio outputs on my Onyx1200F but all the tinkering I've been doing has been with headphones on my laptop and for some reason I was still getting sound even though it was routed to an interface that wasn't even connected but the sound was pushed super hard... Thanks dudes!