CLIPPERS + LIMITERS = MEGA LOUD !

To join my Mixing Accelerator System:

To join my Mastering Made Easy System:

Want me to Master Your Music?:
(20% Discount Code - 'thanksforwatching')

Audio's Secret Society:

STALK ME ON IG:

OTHER EPIC VIDEOS FROM ME...

Never Do This With Nearfield Monitors

How to get Super Clean Vocals

(use code : ‘thanksforwatching’ for 10% discount:)

NEW VIDEOS EVERY - MON, WEDS & FRI : 6PM GMT
***Click the notification bell so you don't miss any!***


▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
🗣 STALK ME EVERYWHERE!---

• INSTAGRAM → @streaky_mastering
• TWITTER → @streaky
• FACEBOOK → @streaky


▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
📺 MY POPULAR VIDEOS…

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
👋 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS…

WHAT DO YOU DO: Pro Mastering Engineer (since 1995)
DO YOU WORK IN THE BOX OR ANALOGUE: Depends on the track, mostly hybrid
FAVOURITE SPEAKERS: Kii Three BXT Monitors
HOBBIES: Family, Friends, Classic Cars

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
- MY MASTERING KIT:
- MY YOUTUBE KIT:

[briancase]

OK, no one explains the difference correctly, so I'll do it here. Imagine we have a 44.1KHz, 16-bit PCM digital audio format for export. Each of the 44, 100 samples per second (one stream for left and one for right) has a value between -32768 to 32767 (signed, twos-complement 16-bit binary). But, our DAW uses 32-bit or 64-bit floating-point internally, so there are values allowed outside this range (that's why you can go into the red on your individual and even master tracks all over the place but not distort). In the final PCM file, however, such values aren't allowed. What do we do with values outside this range (from -96db to 0db, 6db per bit)? A clipper simply takes anything less than -32768 and makes it -32768; it takes anything greater than 32767 and makes it 32767. That is, a clipper *throws aways* information. This has the effect of saturation or distortion depending on how far out of range the sample values are. A limiter, in contrast, *scales* out-of-range values by multiplying by a value less than 1.0. Now, how this clipping and limiting is actually done is where the differences in individual clippers and limiters comes in (the more clever they are, usually the better, but cleverness induces latency). Some, actually most if not all, limiters look ahead, some clippers look ahead, and act on *groups* of sample values. What about that over-sampling value you can set on some clippers and limiters? So, if we have four sample values: 32766, 32767, 32767, 32766, you can guess what the value between the two 32767 values would be if we created, with oversampling, some intermediate value(s): it would be *greater* than 32767. That's a *true peak* value: it's what the waveform would look like when it's reconstructed by the D/A conversion on output. So, even though there's no sample in an audio file that's greater than 0db (32767 or less than -32768), there can still be a peak above 0db *after* the signal is reconstructed for presentation to a speaker (or over-sampled). So, clippers *throw away* information by just chopping sample values; limiters try to preserve dynamics and harmonics by *scaling* sample values (a compressor *scales* by the ratio, for example). Scaling can preserve more of the original information, though it clearly cannot preserve all of it (unless you scale *all* samples, which is the same as turning down the volume). Also, the issue here is *crest factor, * which is the difference between the peak value and RMS value of your sound. If you can get a low crest factor, you have the potential to make your final, exported mix loud without too much distortion from either clipping or limiting. And, clipping and limiting serve to reduce crest factor. That's the reason you can use saturation on a, say, cymbal sound and reduce it's peak value while actually making it *sound* louder: saturation takes the energy of the transient and spreads it around with harmonics that don't change the sound much but reduce the transient/peak energy: this serves to reduce the *crest factor* of the sound. There's plenty more to say, but, I've said my peace.

[mattstevens]

Dude you are an absolute legend! I've been a mix/mastering engineer for 12 years. I own Manic Recording Studio in Toronto. You have by FAR the most helpful, insightful and thoughtful content on the internet when it comes to the world of audio!

Thank you for your service.

[dawnpoint]

I hate the loudness wars, but I used Flatline on my mix for the first time and it really unified the whole thing, made it easier to listen to loud and even brought out lots of the details.

[andrevierbucher]

I like your tutorials because they are short but contain so much information.

[WAZA___]

Freeware Gclip is a good one. It has a waveform display too has you set it.

[hermanshermits]

What a wonderful human being you are Streaky! I know its all part of the marketing plan and you also sell great products and courses, but the amount of knowledge you are willing to share online for free is just out of this world. You are truly a legend for helping people this much, my biggest respect and compliments, you are truly one of a kind!

[cloroxbleach]

The only mixing and mastering channel worth watching.

[ctatrains]

I find myself watching more and more of Streaky's videos. He doesn't explain things like he's talking to another engineer. He explains things like he is NOT talking to another engineer.

[homebrewinstrumentals]

Ive been producing for 14 years and never looked into clippers. Im excited to experiment now - ive always struggled to get loud yet transparent masters. Thankyou 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[soundcore]

I use Kclip by kazrog. Sometimes I prefer also adding an exciter before the limiter. Or just shaping or rounding of some peaks with unfiltered audio zip with a very tiny threshold and gain reduction. Usually just a couple of dB. I was inspired using an exciter by an ozone 9 preset as a goto mastering chain.

[SAZIZMUSIC]

C L I P before you L I M I T >>> Instantly changed my masters!!. Thanks master <3

[Krishanu]

I did ask about this clipper thing few days ago on your insta dm and here is the explanation and demo great🙌

[Dutch.van.der.Linde.-]

carnage ~ "it makes everything very very way more super louder"

[binary-me]

Ace. Didn't even know there was such a thing as a 'clipper'. just Used it to tame some Acoustic guitar spikes . Thanks, Streaky !

[sh-kwox]

Oxford inflator is amazing, no idea wtf it does but you get increased loudness with no loss in dynamics, no compression etc

My chain for my drums is ssl bus comp, saturn2, Oxford inflator, soothe, limiter

[UndeadDillema]

This is my new favorite channel. These engineer channels are usually full of super long videos with some boring guy and and awful/irrelevant music. The music on this channel is always amazing and the videos are easy to follow along to.

[samuelemanta]

i literally discover mastering world since january 2021 to apply on my beats and i can tell that this trick is the best i learned so far.

[samcoffeymusic]

So awesome. This info is helpful. Well explained. Thanks Streaky for helping take the guesswork out of understanding this tech.

[LTD]

Awesome video Streaky. Cleaning up the peaks before going into the limiter. Then using the limiter to just smash the track.

[fischergreen]

Now I understand just how to use a clipper with a limiter. Thank you love your content some of the best out there.