Levels/clipping Question

[polaris20]

Am I correct in thinking that as long as my audio source doesn't set off the "red light" at the top of the meter, I shouldn't get clipping/distortion?

I think I might be misunderstanding how to read it, because it appears to get distorted even without triggering the red light, and I want to make sure I am getting optimal ratio between high enough levels, but without distortion resulting.

FWIW, I am using the default Peak meter.

[valley]

Am I correct in thinking that as long as my audio source doesn't set off the "red light" at the top of the meter, I shouldn't get clipping/distortion?

Yes. That's not to say it can't happen, but it shouldn't be.

However, your audio output device may have an extra gain control that is applied after the ASIO drivers, and if so, you may be applying gain here without knowing it.

[valley]

I guess one thing to check is to render the track to a 32bit wav, and then open it in a wave editor and look for clipping.

[polaris20]

I guess one thing to check is to render the track to a 32bit wav, and then open it in a wave editor and look for clipping.

Yeah it's clipping. I haven't been reading the meter correctly. The clipped parts do go into a red bar, but they don't necessarily activate the red light that requires clearing.

When it hits this red bar, it does clip. I also read the instruction manual for T2, figuring the meter information isn't going to be that different for me. Sure enough, they say to make sure it doesn't get near 0db, and when I went back to see exactly where 0db is, I was definitely hitting it.

To compound things, I have been recording in 16bit, because I figured since they were just demos, I didn't need to do 24bit.

[pHz]

also ... dont forget that as long as your master level meter isnt clipping it doesnt matter too much if individual track meters ARE going into the red ...

(tracktions - and most other hosts for that matter - 32 / 64 bit internal audio engine means its VERY difficult to ACTUALLY clip individual tracks)

slainte rob

[polaris20]

also ... dont forget that as long as your master level meter isnt clipping it doesnt matter too much if individual track meters ARE going into the red ...

(tracktions - and most other hosts for that matter - 32 / 64 bit internal audio engine means its VERY difficult to ACTUALLY clip individual tracks)

slainte rob

You mean make sure the master level isn't going red while recording?

[pHz]

ah recording ... try not to hit the red ANYWHERE while recording ...

(i was talking about playback / rendering ... sorry)

slainte rob

[polaris20]

ah recording ... try not to hit the red ANYWHERE while recording ...

(i was talking about playback / rendering ... sorry)

slainte rob

Ah ok, yeah that's what threw me off I'm like "but then what's the point of having a track meter, if you can peg all the time anyway when recording?"

[valley]

FWIW, if you are recording at 24bit, you can safely get away with leaving 6dB of headroom without any real loss of quality.

If you let your peaks bounce on, or around -6dB, you have a fair amount of headroom to cover unexpected spikes, and you'll still have a signal that will bounce down nicely to 16bit for mixdown.

[polaris20]

Damn, no wonder I was clipping. I was damn near halfway between -3db and 0db most of the time, in 16bit.