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So I'm just messing around trying to "self-master" just to see if I can make things sound better, and it sounds good on my DAW (FL) but when I export and put it on SC some parts sound messed up, specifically the hats in this song.

Soundcloud

I've tried limiting to 0dB and it still hasn't helped, but idk if this is really clipping or if it's just something else.

The master does sometimes go to 0.5 dB, but I've looked at some other tracks from Skrillex and stuff and sometimes those tracks are even going to maybe 1 dB, so I don't know.

I just established that it's Soundcloud's fault because it isn't doing this in Windows Media Player. Sorry for the bad post. Although I would still like help with this.

When your DAW has a little red light that says it's clipping, it just means the levels are pushing it's threshold however it wont make a difference to the sound unless it goes over by a lot
That's the thing with DAW's now, everything is visual which isn't always a good thing
you should focus on the sound, if it sounds like it's distorting then take it back a bit
if it doesn't then let the little light blink away after all people are going to listen to your song not watch the project;)

Well, I don't think anyone expects Soundcloud streams to sound high-quality, so I wouldn't really worry about it that much. If you allow your tracks to be downloaded, people will get the full quality version and not the super compressed streaming version.

unless its going above 0 db, no it isnt clipping, some of the "Self mastering" you have done might duck some sounds here and there from poor compression job, but it isnt clipping if its staying at 1 db or even .5 db like you said. clipping is going above 0 db, and its asking the speaker to produce more sound than possible and the signal gets clipped where the speaker cant push it anymore, which is how clipping harms speakers btw.

nftfhx wrote:When your DAW has a little red light that says it's clipping, it just means the levels are pushing it's threshold however it wont make a difference to the sound unless it goes over by a lot
That's the thing with DAW's now, everything is visual which isn't always a good thing
you should focus on the sound, if it sounds like it's distorting then take it back a bit
if it doesn't then let the little light blink away after all people are going to listen to your song not watch the project;)

if only it was that easy. When something is clipping regardless of how it sounds it wont be good further down the line, for example when uploading to soundcloud or converting to mp3 from wav it can mess up very bad. It's best to just turn it down slightly.

Just zoom in really far on the section of the waveform with the highest volume and if the peak is flat, it is clipped. Whether it was introduced creatively or accidentally.. Well, I guess you will just have to remember!

Ascian wrote:Just zoom in really far on the section of the waveform with the highest volume and if the peak is flat, it is clipped. Whether it was introduced creatively or accidentally.. Well, I guess you will just have to remember!

wow that track in your sig has been limited hard bro I've never seen something cut off to sharply

FuzionDubstep wrote:

Ascian wrote:Just zoom in really far on the section of the waveform with the highest volume and if the peak is flat, it is clipped. Whether it was introduced creatively or accidentally.. Well, I guess you will just have to remember!

wow that track in your sig has been limited hard bro I've never seen something cut off to sharply

That's the draw back of getting excited about putting it online and just using an Ozone preset!

RandoRando wrote:unless its going above 0 db, no it isnt clipping, some of the "Self mastering" you have done might duck some sounds here and there from poor compression job, but it isnt clipping if its staying at 1 db or even .5 db like you said. clipping is going above 0 db, and its asking the speaker to produce more sound than possible and the signal gets clipped where the speaker cant push it anymore, which is how clipping harms speakers btw.

I believe you mean -1, or -0.5. I'm talking positive numbers.

you can push your daw above 0 without hearing audible clipping (like actual distortion) at times, but i don't know that i'd recommend it. to be honest, i don't have a shitload of experience, but different software and hardware can interpret a clipped signal differently. it may not sound distorted coming out of your daw, but once it gets bounced and uploaded somewhere or put on an mp3 player it might be a totally different story. i try not to get above -0.2 to be safe, as that gives me just a little bit of clearance in case a spike i wasn't aware of gets through or something like that.

RandoRando wrote:unless its going above 0 db, no it isnt clipping, some of the "Self mastering" you have done might duck some sounds here and there from poor compression job, but it isnt clipping if its staying at 1 db or even .5 db like you said. clipping is going above 0 db, and its asking the speaker to produce more sound than possible and the signal gets clipped where the speaker cant push it anymore, which is how clipping harms speakers btw.

clipping isnt really anything to do with your speakers, cos if a sound is clipping and you turn your speakers down, its still clipping, just quieter. in the DAW aswell it would be digital clipping, which has a maximum value, so then when a sound reaches that it stays theres, meaning if you push it more the sound will stay at that volume and every other part of the way will be pushed to the maximum volume. in a DAW you would think this is 0db, but its probably not, its probably just a bit more, so that even when you get close to 0db you still have a bit of headroom left. like a safety net. but yeah in a DAW clipping happens before your speakers, its breaching the maximum before it even leaves the computer, and everything is rounded off at that maximum level squashing everything and changing the waves adding extra harmonics that we hear as that nasty clipping sound.

When I beef up tracks to make them louder, I usually use a Waves plugin in combination with the fruity soft clipper. watch Funtcases masterclass for a visual representation of soft clipping, its really useful.

But don't yall hear what I'm talking about? When the sub and everything kicks in, and everything's at their highest, sometimes the hats sound weird.

Ascian wrote:

FuzionDubstep wrote:

Ascian wrote:Just zoom in really far on the section of the waveform with the highest volume and if the peak is flat, it is clipped. Whether it was introduced creatively or accidentally.. Well, I guess you will just have to remember!

wow that track in your sig has been limited hard bro I've never seen something cut off to sharply

That's the draw back of getting excited about putting it online and just using an Ozone preset!

ah right paha, well it sounds pretty sweet!

skimpi wrote:

RandoRando wrote:unless its going above 0 db, no it isnt clipping, some of the "Self mastering" you have done might duck some sounds here and there from poor compression job, but it isnt clipping if its staying at 1 db or even .5 db like you said. clipping is going above 0 db, and its asking the speaker to produce more sound than possible and the signal gets clipped where the speaker cant push it anymore, which is how clipping harms speakers btw.

clipping isnt really anything to do with your speakers, cos if a sound is clipping and you turn your speakers down, its still clipping, just quieter. in the DAW aswell it would be digital clipping, which has a maximum value, so then when a sound reaches that it stays theres, meaning if you push it more the sound will stay at that volume and every other part of the way will be pushed to the maximum volume. in a DAW you would think this is 0db, but its probably not, its probably just a bit more, so that even when you get close to 0db you still have a bit of headroom left. like a safety net. but yeah in a DAW clipping happens before your speakers, its breaching the maximum before it even leaves the computer, and everything is rounded off at that maximum level squashing everything and changing the waves adding extra harmonics that we hear as that nasty clipping sound.

I know clipping has nothing to do with the speakers and it all happens before the signal reaches the speakers, i was just throwing in how clipping fucks up speakers.

ChadDub wrote:

RandoRando wrote:unless its going above 0 db, no it isnt clipping, some of the "Self mastering" you have done might duck some sounds here and there from poor compression job, but it isnt clipping if its staying at 1 db or even .5 db like you said. clipping is going above 0 db, and its asking the speaker to produce more sound than possible and the signal gets clipped where the speaker cant push it anymore, which is how clipping harms speakers btw.

I believe you mean -1, or -0.5. I'm talking positive numbers.

shouldn't have positive number period, and doubt any skrillex song that came off the album is clipping, ive looked at them before too, they slam at 0 db, nothing more nothing less, every professionally mastered brostep song does, either a. yours was a shit YouTube rip, or b. you had maybe 1%pan left or right on the master, that little bit of pan will make it clip.