How Clipping Can Make Your Mix Bigger, Punchier and Louder
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- čas přidán 22. 03. 2021
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Clipping on purpose? Aren’t we supposed to avoid that at all costs?!
I’m gonna show you how to use clipping in your mix - not just in the master bus - as a tool for loudness, impact and punch. - Hudba
RIP to the master of clipping - Clippy from Microsoft Word. May he rest in peace, and may his contribution to clipping never be forgotten.
RIP clippy... you were a true warrior of clipping
RIP microlimp instead .
There could never be another
Being reminded of Clippy is like losing the game
@@EdwinDekker71 I just lost the game.
I'm crying at how effective this is, while at the same time making me feel stupid.
Using the limiter for loudness is how you end up with an all cymbals drum sound.
Hmm
That’s why you mix into the limiter, so you know to turn the cymbals down
This is a perfect example of trust your ears and do what sounds good. We’d all probably naturally reach this conclusion to clip a little bit if people didn’t make it sound like it’s a sin to clip
Ableton reminds you that you shouldn't do this. It has distortion programmed into it when you clip the master
I've been doing this all my life, sending the mix through a Behringer console and clipping back in the DAW. For hard genres like metal, rock, dubstep, this can work like a charm. Nothing makes a kick drum hit hard as a clipper
Sorry, can you clear something up for me? So on the way back in are you still keeping the drums' actual db around the same? IE in the mix stage you've got the drums at say like -6db, route out to Console for clip then back in around -6db?
Great tutorial! Been doing this for years in different ways... The Moral of the story is "Mix with your ears not your eyes"
Why not just mix w brain? This involves some knowing which involves looking at great visual tools.
@@chinmeysway 😂exactly
@@chinmeyswayit’s the same principles behind flying by looking outside your aircraft and not at your instruments, you obviously need/ utilize both but you focus on your peripheral
Finally, I've understood what clipping plugins are and do. Thank you so much Jordan.
Ngl, I've been doing this when I mastered and I was always scared when my boss comes around when I'm doing this before I Limit/compress the transients. You just gave me confidence to say I know what I'm doing! Thanks man, and keep at it
Back in the analog days as a band member, I always noticed that the engineers would have the meters on the drum channels flashing red on the hits, and I wondered if it was OK. Maybe this is the rediscovery of that technique?
This is the way I did things back in the 90s when I started building my first home studio based around a Tascam 424 mkII portastudio. Because the signal-to-noise ratio of cassette tapes wasn't great, you just had to crank the level to tape to get the audio above the noise floor. You soon realise that running the level hot to the tape sounds best and gives you some natural compression/limiting. I think there is a LOT of mileage to the 'clipping' method. Maybe try some channel-strips on the master bus and just crank the level. You will also get some 'sweetening' depending on the type of console plugin you're using.
FL Studio Producers Be Like: S O F T C L I P P E R
One of the best out of the box "free loudness" plugins ever hah.
there's a reason that it's under dynamics plugins as well as distortion plugins in the plugin selection. It's so good it had to be in there twice :D
lol no cap
When I see you talking about clipping am so happy,clipping is the most underrated part of mixing but clipping,saturation,is key to reduce the Crest factor/dynamic range of a signal,hence increasing RMS where the percieved loudness lies.
Newfangled audio elevate is the mastering limiter I recommend is so great cuase I has a cliper at the end that you can completely control it's a game changer!!!.
OMG, this is really what I've been searching for all times!!! Thanks so much, bro!
Great video and super informative! Looking forward to seeing these plugins you are working on
Haha yesss a few years ago Andreas stayed at my studio to help work on a record and I saw him do this and it changed my life! He’s a great engineer/producer.
Thanks, Jordan! Never used clipping before to my advantage because I never knew how to go about it but I use it all the time to get my mixes louder for the dame reasons you stated and now I know I'm not crazy 👍😃
Oh dude you just solved a major problem I had for sure. I clipped on my 8 track and I though it sounded better, but i couldnt find a clear answer to what that did to the audio. Thanks.
I've been mixing audio in some capacity or another for 25 years. I've mostly done arena level live sound for that, but often have to make mixes of shows. I'm shocked that I have never known of this clipping technique - and now that I've seen this demonstration it makes complete sense. Never again will I use a limiter for loudness.
try limiting and clipping together :)
Hey i love the amount of lower resonance on that snare. Tone is on point! Seeing too many people EQ ing that resonance out and I just love that part of the snare frequency.
Great advice as always! I can’t wait for the series next month!
man I could listen to that guitar section all day
Freeclip is a great plugin I've been using for a while now, definitely enhances the perceived loudness, always add it at the end of the drum bus.
yeah that's Great , i recently started using this method in my mixes and the result is Amazing , thanks for explaining
Wooooh this is it! Exactly what I was struggling with. Thank you so much Jordan 💪🔥
Be. Careful. ... if you're just sending a reference mix, then fine. If you are sending this to mastering, nope nope nope. The only reason he isn't getting digital clipping (the really bad sound) in the first example is b/c Pro Tools is running internally at 32-bit float. As soon as this gets mixed down to 24-Bit or 16-Bit, there will be digital artifacts that can't be undone. In the example of the Waves L2 - most of the issues he is having is from using it with the noise-shaping turned on as well as dither (noise). You can use a different limiter (like the FabFilter ProL-2 for example) and have way more control over the attack/release etc. and get much better results. Clipping is an art, and is very useful, but this use of it is not going to work when sending to a mastering house.
This is super interesting! I gotta try this! Thanks Jordan!
This is a great trick. Submission Audio has an amazing limiter that has the same effect. it doesn't destroy your drum transients, and at the same time, it gives you the loudness you need. This is just a cheaper way to do so and I absolutely love it.
I just looked, its a clipper LOL that's awesome. You learn something new every day
Amazing tip! thanks so much Jordan! Really sounds awesome
God, I love Andreas Magnusson's work. Been listening to his stuff since his years in Scarlet.
I Love the JST Clip Plugin-in!
I second that. That plugin is boss! And super easy to use
amazing plugin, only thing i don't like about it is not having a clipping meter...yes use your ears but jeez...
Love it too
That and the JST Transify!
Awesome vid.. Looking forward to your plugins!
Kazrog K clip 3 is an awesome clipper. resizable with great metering and has volume match to hear exactly what its doing. I've tried several clippers and this one worked best for me.
1:43 man that's some very nice solo ! Mix sounds great !
great tip, especially on just using that trim plugin! never thought of using it like that but it's so obvious!
Love to see it. I've been using Logic's Bit Crusher on clip mode to do this very thing for almost ten years. Used to think it was a dodgy approach! Finally just trusted myself, and my happy clients. I've seen some of the 'bigger' mastering studios like sterling do this by clipping at the AD/DA converters when they print. Pretty cool. However you manage to clip your signal, as always, if it sounds good IT IS good.
The AD/DA makes tons of sense! Before this era where everyone can mess around with digital versions of rack gear, people were probably wondering how mixes got so "pushed" without getting into clipping. Turns out, they were clipping the whole time!
Love this!
I am new to audio but noticed how incredible things sounded the other day when I boosted my preamps. I noted the clipping and backed off.
Planning to get back there and play around some more now that I’ve been given some “professional latitude”. Thanks!
You can clip preamps on purpose during tracking. Used to do this with my APIs on snare
@@hardcoremusicstudio what about my Apollo preamps when tracking? Super cleannn
That track sounds like something from a DBZ game.. I love it
Dragon dragon watch the dragon dragon Ball z. 😉
I want to thanks JV, this video is very helpful
Awesome content as always!
Great tutorial! Been using Ik Multimedia's Soft Clipper for a while, it does some magic on master bus. But realize now i should probably replace alot of brickwall limiting with clipping!
Submission Audio's Flatline is the greatest one out there for that imo ! Very transparent sounding and the results you can get out of it are awesome !
Hadn't heard of that. Thanks!
@@hardcoremusicstudio Ermin over at Systematic created it. Very curious to get your 2 cents on it, but it seems to be fairly well loved already.
@@hardcoremusicstudio Ermin used it to master Plini's last album.
@@hardcoremusicstudio look up the video "4 Clipping Plugins, SAME Algorithm" Flatline uses the same algorithm as Free Clip
@@pianoatthirty That's not very shocking to me. A hard clip is a hard clip... no?
I misused compression so much in the past (noob problem). Clipping is great. The cleanest solution there is. I also backed down on saturation. Compression makes sense to glue several items together, or to shape the snare. Nowadays I am very careful with compression.
i used to and still sorta have this problem. I clip on specific things, usually drums. Usually use the mpc and gain up the drums in there. or clip it in ableton. I still struggle at times with compression, but ive been using it way way less over the years...
my man, I too was crushing the hell out of my mixes until somebody pointed this out to me
Best easter gift tip. Thanks a lot!
Are we not gonna talk how cool that guitar/solo riff is?😎🤘 Great video as always. Been dong this for years first by accident, then secretly leaving here and there as it sounded great and later more deliberately, awesome to hear from other engineers that it's not a "sin".🤙
Thanks - super relevant. Been using a clipper on mix bus but was wondering about using on drums
Great video. Thanks very much.
Awesome video! Thank you!
Newfangled Audio Saturate is a really good one, Transparent with comprehensive metering
I _just_ figured this out like a week ago! Game changer for sure.
I appreciate these videos. It’s rare you hear controversial advice such as this. One of the best pieces of advice I keep coming back to is “don’t be precious with audio.” Also, that EQ is just + and - ‘s
Best video on clipping on YT! Thanks!
Just bought the BSA clipper, love it
THANK YOU JORDAN :) such awesome advice
Besides the clipping trick I just learned, the track is pure fire!!
'StandardCLIP' is my fav... it has good metering, great specs plus it's dirt cheap!
You legend mate 💯
I've absolutely noticed this effect! I've always hesititated to used this method though. Why? Fear! I totally thank this channel for giving me a bit of courage!
Doesn't clipping blow up high end speakers ?
@@jowlorenz9555 no, I don’t think it does, no. It’s just than when you push a channel into the red it often sounds better than pushing into a limiter! That’s all we’re talking about really. And some plugins can mimic this effect!
@@LouisLinggandtheBombs
Isn't there even a speaker brand called Clipsh?
Another loudness technique is to use saturation, of course; everyone knows that. But I'm not sure everyone knows about sonnox inflator. It is another way to push up RMS to reduce the crest factor (which allows a limiter to achieve more level boost without destroying transients).
Yup, Inflator goes on my drum crush and mixbus. One of the first plugins I bought when I got a Pro Tools rig.
Definitely tames the peaks.
Great stuff
I really like GClip. It has a simple soft clip option, and the visuals are very clear with an amplitude over time graph so you can really easily see what you've been clipping off. Best of all it's free.
Been using the kazrog clip for a while. Turns out I could’ve just used a trim this whole time lol. The kazrog is still probably the best clipper I’ve heard though
Venn audio has Freeclip that's probably what you meant by not having a proper user interface. But it's free and I think it sounds great! Thanks for this great video.
I think this is a great topic, two questions if I may ask: Do you have good or bad experience using clippers on parallel drum busses, before and/or after the compression unit? And secondly: How and when to use the oversampling option that some clippers provide? I found that I need to avoid oversampling on parallel tracks, because it causes a slight delay, resulting in a phase shift. Oversampling also often seems to change the sound of the track it's applied to, not just the clipping portion, at least the algorithm of FreeClip, my favourite clipper, does. Is it more advantageous in your opinion to avoid the os option entirely, on submix groups and master tracks, anyone? Cheers :)
I do hiphop, but I plan to experiment with this! #blessings #peace #love
Great work 👏 👍 nice video 📹
Eye opener..❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Great vid Jordan. Appreciate the info. I've recently been using/experimenting Kclip 3 by Kazrog with the multi band feature on drums. Really enjoying the results with each band having a mix blend feature along with the ability to apply a different style of distortion/clipping to each band as well. I think someone with your skill set could really make great use of something like that, much more than me... Love to know what you think or any tips, take care ✌🏼
Question, don't most daws use a 32 bit float system meaning you can clip without any distortion on playback and only hear the distortion after you bounce a file to a 24 or 16 bit file? Meaning the way you're doing it while it may work, there's no way to hear how much distortion there is during playback until you export or bounce the track?
This is true, in Logic Pro i would get this issue a lot but using Reason i never have an issue, not sure if it has the same system but when I bounce i always get what i heard in playback
Great tip
Another good video!
I wish I have seen clipping on purpose tutorials 10 years ago. All of a sudden I don't try to push drum with every possible tool to squeeze a little bit more out of it. Sometimes I need to take back! It saves a ton of time and effort and frustration.
You a real one dawg 💯
Thank u very much !
You are the man.
Mmmm. That little “chica” makes me smile every time haha. Great tip!
You should really check out the Newfangled Saturate clipper. Has become my go to.
I like using Kazrog KClip3 on the master and Boz Little Clipper on tracks. Tons of fun when doing electronic music :)
Thanks! 🙏
Hi Jam master J! Have you tried the Kazrog clipper? It's pretty great. There is always room for another
clipper out there so PLEASE consider putting one out.
cheers!
T-Racks soft clipper has a pretty nice interface and yields a fairly transparent sound in my experience
yes
I use this technique in Wavelab when mastering.
The best clipper I used on drums is GVST and it's free!
Thanks 🙏🏽
Try Limiter 6 from Tokyo Dawn. It has a clipping section. You can even hear what us being clipped so you don't overdo it.
Thanks for the TIP advice i will try it for sure ,
i would love to learn how to use a limiter on the mix bus without loosing resolution and without getting those artifacts that youre talking about , it sounded like that you use the clip gain pluggin temporarily on the mix bus just to have the band listen to it loud enough , so how do you get your mix to sound louder and ready for mastering ?
Love your content , thank you !!!
FreeClip is what it says on the tin, free, sadly it's not available for Pro Tools. but the thing is it can do a whopping 32x oversampling if you're afraid of aliasing (which isn't really going to be heard if you don't clip really hard anyway). The clipping behavior can only be adjusted in stages instead of percentages.
Venn Audio also makes V-Clip which is just for 30 bucks, with Pro Tools compatibility.
Check out Airwindows plugins. They have a bunch of great clip plugins with different flavors.
Hey Jordan and viewers!
Do you clip drums first, then compress to shape nice even transients, or compress first, and then clip everything flat and crunchy?
Thanks!
I just started learning a little about production and mixing because I can’t afford producers and mixers for my music so this might be a dumb question, but why can’t you just record loud if you’re okay with a little clipping/distortion. I like the way it sounds in some of my vocals (although it’s usually not that noticeable ) or on distorted guitar. But why do you need a clipping plug in as opposed to turning up the output?
That song with the wah solo sounds awesome! Where can I hear it?
Excellent video. Would have been nice if have included the way you use FG-X as clipping.
Have you tried the Joey Sturgis clipping plugins and the bx Masterdesk plugin from Brainworx?
JST CLIP sucks because it only compensates 12db whilst other clippers goes all the way to 24db
Dude, you should try Flatline by Submission Audio before you put time into making one. Great video though, very helpful thank you!
wait, so you just let the master output go into the reds and bounce it that way? or do you at least use some sort of limiter/soft clipper after the trimmer? I did this years ago when i first started and kept getting weird artifacts all over the place
Now that you can clip on the channels but not on the master fader with 32 bit float, can you attain that same loudness and power by clipping on the channels?
great video!!! who is this on the reference!!!???? slammin jamming!!!! so cool!!!
A good clipping plugin? Try standard clip. It has very high-degree oversampling for online and/or offline use, and it has tuneable filters. It's really a great, great clipping plugin. I highly recommend it. You will really want high-degree oversampling for some uses to eliminate aliasing distortion.
It might sound good (haven't tried), but when i see that interface it's an immediate no for me.
this video is so important
Ok, so if you use this on a single track you would normally place it after EQ+compress+saturation, correct?
Stillwell Audio's Event Horizon plugin is good for clipping too.
you have to use clipping with all the plugins hitting all the hot spots otherwise it will sound terrible if you don't isolate the proper frequencies and highlight the transients as good as possible
I typically use the Maxim Limiter on my master fader... would you use this instead of that in the same slot?