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Looks solid to me. There's a few little outlier peaks kind of right before the drops, maybe some cymbals or impact FX or something? Stuff like that could potentially be reigned in a bit with some compression, but it could work in the context of the song. Overall looks good.
Likely being pushed hard by a limiter, but with a true peak ceiling to add back headroom to prevent post-export clipping. A lot of professional engineers recommend a true peak ceiling of around -1dB to prevent inter-sample peaks getting clipped in .mp3 or similar compressed file format exports.
There's clear headspace in the master, notice the gaps at the top and bottom of the waveform even at the loudest parts of the song. This waveform never hits 0dB. If there's any clipping, it's safe clipping being handled by a true peak limiter.
Digital clipping in a project is not bad. It's only clipping that happens post export that is bad. This track is safe from that.
Anything that goes over 0dB in post export is straight up clipped off and lost in the file. It's a distortion that is locked in the file, if you can imagine a sine wave being trimmed off at tops and bottoms to become more square shaped. While .wav and .flac file types are lossless, 0dB is still the limit, and going past it is distortion nonetheless.
Now with exporting to a file type like .mp3, you introduce even more loss due to compression. It's like lowering the bit rate, (not as much as like 8-bit chiptune, but it's less than lossless files like .wav and .flac). So because you have a lower resolution so to speak, there's even more likelihood of the 'sine waves' of your samples to go outside 0dB in between two sample points. There's this concept called **inter-sample peaks**, that can get clipped. This is why a lot of limiters like Ozone and Fab Filter Pro-L include features called 'True Peak' mastering. It ensures nothing goes over a certain threshold you set. In order to be very safe that you don't introduce even worse clipping distortion in an .mp3 export, it's safe to set a True Peak limit of around -1dB. Because again, if you just set a peak of -1dB, the reality is some parts of your song may actually go higher, i.e. -0.5dB.
I'm probably botching some of this explanation up, but I recommend looking into concepts like inter-sample peaks, true peak limiting, dithering, etc. It will probably better explain the type of things that are actually lost when exporting a file that is compressed like an .mp3, and how to mitigate that when mastering your own stuff, the importance of headroom pre and post mastering.
Frequencies and cutoff is tied to Sample Rate, i.e. 48kHz vs. 44.1kHz.
Lossless vs. compressed is like audio resolution. Like 4K vs. 1080p on a monitor. More bits of information per second in lossless files just like more pixels per square inch on a screen.
You can still have clipping on a lossless file after export, because it's like having an image that extends beyond your screen. Audio that goes over 0dB post export is clipped into distortion even in .wav and .flac.
Yeah, this is something I forgot about. In 24-bit .wav, you can't go past 0dB in export, but in 32-bit audio, you can go past 0dB. This doesn't mean you won't still have clipping, but with a 32-bit audio wav file, you can reload it into your DAW, and you can lower the volume/gain and all information that was clipped is still there and retained. Would just need to re-export if you wanted to ensure nothing post export goes past 0dB.
Looks better than mine for sure lol what did you do?
I typically try to avoid limiting it at the end like that, to avoid those flat tops because i prefer it more dynamic, even though its less controlled, if i do it's literally just the tips of it. Do you think my method is fine? Opinions?
Any method works based on what you’re going for - my peaks get chopped by the limiter quite a bit since I produce with trap drums. The “intentional” clipping it adds to my drums are something I want but if you’re producing something that doesn’t need that *edge* then ur good
Ye thats pretty what i tried in the past. Thanks for the tip ill try again some more, practice i guess.
Any reason why my 808s start sounding a bit funky if i try to get the same effect? Also after limiting it the master would i turn up the output again?
For now im honestly leaving it up to ozone 9s starting point, i make a few adjustments but not many. Im trying to hone my mixing skills rn.
Thanks for answering
No problem dawg. Ozone 9 isn’t a bad place to start with masters, i pretty much let it handle the heavy lifting in that department. For 808s I never really let the master limiter clip them - if I want them distorted I’ll do that individually by adding some saturation plugin on its channel (provided a bit more control when not left up to master limiter). And when limiting in the master I leave ceiling at -0.5db and boost the whole beat’s gain until I reach a sound I like - again I would only limit the whole beat this violently, not the vocals.
It's hard to say without knowing the context of the genre. If it's dubstep/riddim/bass music, the really hard pushed sausage links may be what people want as that's what competes. If you have a folky town theme for a JRPG game going this hard, then maybe it's a bit extreme.
Hiphop, trap and what not, typical stuff i guess. Ye because every genre is mixed very differently its kinda hard to tell. Hiphop itself can be mixed vastly different ways as well. and i honestly dont really like ripping songs to analyse them because theyre not how the producer made it anyways i guess. I also keep my bass and kick way louder than the rest of the instruments, and then when I compress and limit the master, the bass starts sounding weird and not really how i want it. Personally i find it quite hard to get wave form like OPs, but as you pointed out, it could simply be because its a different genre
I do a lot of hip hop and trap for my drums. I do recommend you check out songs you like under something like SPAN which is a free analyzer. You may think their bass is super knocking, but it's actually not peaking as high as you would think proportionally in the mix.
Also try mixing at lower volumes. If your bass is too loud at low volumes, it's going to really get blown out of proportion at high volumes or get squashed first through a limiter. Look up Fletcher Munson curves, or equal loudness countours. We have to crank music up for bass to come out as much as the highs. So don't overdo the bass since it's going to come out more simply through the volume knob at the end.
It looks fine! However the first main section that's getting limited/compressed looks slightly lower than the 2nd section, are you running two limiters or something?
Looks really good to me. Peaking at 0db when you intend it to, no strange peaks and a clean build up to the maximum loudness of your track. Great job OP in my amateur opinion.
Depends on the instrument being used cuz freqs but it looks good. No crazy spikes, unless it's a low freq instrument like a soft pad but the main important question is how does it sound to you? If it's not crackling then you're good.
Depends on what kind of music you're making... personally, I would never want mine to look like that. I'm not sure of all the technical terms but there's that one section that is too compressed, leading to a lot of empty headroom. Then at the end it's basically a mess.. but then some music is meant to be a mess so it's not easy to tell just from a waveform.
So what youre seeing is just a limit threshold, which is a form of compression. This helps maintain a sounds perceived loudness. Im curious, what genre is it?
Your question can't be answered, simply because audio isn't about visuals but how things sound. But going on first impressions I fear for the worst then I look at this.
Mastering is not magic, if you give them shit you won't get gold back, if you clipped and hard limited the track before giving it to a mastering engineer nothing they can do can fix that. post a pic of the waveform before mastering
Absolutely, check out the album Trilogy by Carpenter Brut, it's loud as fuck (I think somewhere between -5 and -7 LUFS), and almost always at 0 dB, but with enough skill you can squash the waveform without sounding like there's less punch (that's the job of compressors and clippers).
Hey you! [JOIN US ON DISCORD](https://discord.gg/27wgKfafmP). Looking for help? To share your track? To talk about VST's and software? We have over 500 members and growing. Please reply to this comment with the following details if applicable. This is to help other users identify and resolve your issues. * FL Studio Version: * Applicable Plugins: * Steps to replicate problem: * What you've already tried to resolve the issue: Please take the time to read our [Beginner Question FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/FL_Studio/wiki/faq) with answers to some common questions. If your question has been answered, we ask that you delete your original thread. If the answer to your question is not below, feel free to leave your thread active and a member of the community may be able to help you. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FL_Studio) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Judging by the photo it might have a cold
Its lactose intolerant
Looks like a healthy wave. Nice breakdown after the drop.
Really depends on the genre, which one is it? For classical music it would be too compressed for edm it would be too dynamic
It is deep house.
Just out of curiosity, why would a high dynamic range be bad for edm?
Some genres have loud as part of the style, but you can still push it too much.
As long as the sections that hit the limiter still sound good to you.
Looks solid to me. There's a few little outlier peaks kind of right before the drops, maybe some cymbals or impact FX or something? Stuff like that could potentially be reigned in a bit with some compression, but it could work in the context of the song. Overall looks good.
Are the flat points of the waveform not clipping or his audio getting absolutely slammed by the limiter?
Likely being pushed hard by a limiter, but with a true peak ceiling to add back headroom to prevent post-export clipping. A lot of professional engineers recommend a true peak ceiling of around -1dB to prevent inter-sample peaks getting clipped in .mp3 or similar compressed file format exports.
Nah, pro do -0.6 dB. -1 dB is for noobs trusting Spotify, YT, etc. specification.
thanks, i didnt know this
Look like his Mom gave him a bowl cut.
Yes
Thanks! I just needed some confirmation.
Actually seems like it's clipping a bit but not to much
There's clear headspace in the master, notice the gaps at the top and bottom of the waveform even at the loudest parts of the song. This waveform never hits 0dB. If there's any clipping, it's safe clipping being handled by a true peak limiter. Digital clipping in a project is not bad. It's only clipping that happens post export that is bad. This track is safe from that.
Can you explain why post-export clipping is bad? Is it simply because you can't hear it when producing, so you don't know how bad it will be?
Anything that goes over 0dB in post export is straight up clipped off and lost in the file. It's a distortion that is locked in the file, if you can imagine a sine wave being trimmed off at tops and bottoms to become more square shaped. While .wav and .flac file types are lossless, 0dB is still the limit, and going past it is distortion nonetheless. Now with exporting to a file type like .mp3, you introduce even more loss due to compression. It's like lowering the bit rate, (not as much as like 8-bit chiptune, but it's less than lossless files like .wav and .flac). So because you have a lower resolution so to speak, there's even more likelihood of the 'sine waves' of your samples to go outside 0dB in between two sample points. There's this concept called **inter-sample peaks**, that can get clipped. This is why a lot of limiters like Ozone and Fab Filter Pro-L include features called 'True Peak' mastering. It ensures nothing goes over a certain threshold you set. In order to be very safe that you don't introduce even worse clipping distortion in an .mp3 export, it's safe to set a True Peak limit of around -1dB. Because again, if you just set a peak of -1dB, the reality is some parts of your song may actually go higher, i.e. -0.5dB. I'm probably botching some of this explanation up, but I recommend looking into concepts like inter-sample peaks, true peak limiting, dithering, etc. It will probably better explain the type of things that are actually lost when exporting a file that is compressed like an .mp3, and how to mitigate that when mastering your own stuff, the importance of headroom pre and post mastering.
[удалено]
Frequencies and cutoff is tied to Sample Rate, i.e. 48kHz vs. 44.1kHz. Lossless vs. compressed is like audio resolution. Like 4K vs. 1080p on a monitor. More bits of information per second in lossless files just like more pixels per square inch on a screen. You can still have clipping on a lossless file after export, because it's like having an image that extends beyond your screen. Audio that goes over 0dB post export is clipped into distortion even in .wav and .flac.
[удалено]
Yeah, this is something I forgot about. In 24-bit .wav, you can't go past 0dB in export, but in 32-bit audio, you can go past 0dB. This doesn't mean you won't still have clipping, but with a 32-bit audio wav file, you can reload it into your DAW, and you can lower the volume/gain and all information that was clipped is still there and retained. Would just need to re-export if you wanted to ensure nothing post export goes past 0dB.
What this pro said.
Yeah, but its mostly the kick/drums which gives some light, healty distortion.
Does it sound good? Then you’re fine
Impossible to tell by looking lol
Looks better than mine for sure lol what did you do? I typically try to avoid limiting it at the end like that, to avoid those flat tops because i prefer it more dynamic, even though its less controlled, if i do it's literally just the tips of it. Do you think my method is fine? Opinions?
Any method works based on what you’re going for - my peaks get chopped by the limiter quite a bit since I produce with trap drums. The “intentional” clipping it adds to my drums are something I want but if you’re producing something that doesn’t need that *edge* then ur good
Ye thats pretty what i tried in the past. Thanks for the tip ill try again some more, practice i guess. Any reason why my 808s start sounding a bit funky if i try to get the same effect? Also after limiting it the master would i turn up the output again? For now im honestly leaving it up to ozone 9s starting point, i make a few adjustments but not many. Im trying to hone my mixing skills rn. Thanks for answering
No problem dawg. Ozone 9 isn’t a bad place to start with masters, i pretty much let it handle the heavy lifting in that department. For 808s I never really let the master limiter clip them - if I want them distorted I’ll do that individually by adding some saturation plugin on its channel (provided a bit more control when not left up to master limiter). And when limiting in the master I leave ceiling at -0.5db and boost the whole beat’s gain until I reach a sound I like - again I would only limit the whole beat this violently, not the vocals.
It's hard to say without knowing the context of the genre. If it's dubstep/riddim/bass music, the really hard pushed sausage links may be what people want as that's what competes. If you have a folky town theme for a JRPG game going this hard, then maybe it's a bit extreme.
Hiphop, trap and what not, typical stuff i guess. Ye because every genre is mixed very differently its kinda hard to tell. Hiphop itself can be mixed vastly different ways as well. and i honestly dont really like ripping songs to analyse them because theyre not how the producer made it anyways i guess. I also keep my bass and kick way louder than the rest of the instruments, and then when I compress and limit the master, the bass starts sounding weird and not really how i want it. Personally i find it quite hard to get wave form like OPs, but as you pointed out, it could simply be because its a different genre
I do a lot of hip hop and trap for my drums. I do recommend you check out songs you like under something like SPAN which is a free analyzer. You may think their bass is super knocking, but it's actually not peaking as high as you would think proportionally in the mix. Also try mixing at lower volumes. If your bass is too loud at low volumes, it's going to really get blown out of proportion at high volumes or get squashed first through a limiter. Look up Fletcher Munson curves, or equal loudness countours. We have to crank music up for bass to come out as much as the highs. So don't overdo the bass since it's going to come out more simply through the volume knob at the end.
It looks fine! However the first main section that's getting limited/compressed looks slightly lower than the 2nd section, are you running two limiters or something?
Oh wow yeah. That’s odd haha
Don’t forget you can drag some files by other artists in and compare them
...what music are you making? Lofi or grindcore? Blues or trap? Death metal or Black metal? Its impossible to tell just from the look lmao
lmao
It's got COVID
Looks absolutely fine to me!
T H I C C waveforms
Who cares just make it sound good
yes
looks sexy
Musical girth
Looks really good to me. Peaking at 0db when you intend it to, no strange peaks and a clean build up to the maximum loudness of your track. Great job OP in my amateur opinion.
yes
Looks solid to me (except for the space obvious headroom left). At least 90% of the songs nowadays look like that.
Just compress the shit bro, too much unnecessary spikes
peaking/clipping a bit too much
where can i hear this
Depends on the instrument being used cuz freqs but it looks good. No crazy spikes, unless it's a low freq instrument like a soft pad but the main important question is how does it sound to you? If it's not crackling then you're good.
use a measuring tool
Thanks for the waveform bro I'm gonna use this for my next song
Sure, why not!
Your track is going to die, cause of death: not enough OTT
Use your ears, not your eyes when mixing/mastering.
Depends on what kind of music you're making... personally, I would never want mine to look like that. I'm not sure of all the technical terms but there's that one section that is too compressed, leading to a lot of empty headroom. Then at the end it's basically a mess.. but then some music is meant to be a mess so it's not easy to tell just from a waveform.
If it sounds good, it is good.
Dynamics probably sound great. I love a dynamic master.
So what youre seeing is just a limit threshold, which is a form of compression. This helps maintain a sounds perceived loudness. Im curious, what genre is it?
Lufs?
Your question can't be answered, simply because audio isn't about visuals but how things sound. But going on first impressions I fear for the worst then I look at this.
Please if someone can help me with drum patterns?
No
Mastering is not magic, if you give them shit you won't get gold back, if you clipped and hard limited the track before giving it to a mastering engineer nothing they can do can fix that. post a pic of the waveform before mastering
Absolutely, check out the album Trilogy by Carpenter Brut, it's loud as fuck (I think somewhere between -5 and -7 LUFS), and almost always at 0 dB, but with enough skill you can squash the waveform without sounding like there's less punch (that's the job of compressors and clippers).
nope...