Thanks shawn and Raymond. I will try these suggestions. Rod ----- Original Message ----- From: Shawn Brock To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 12:59 PM Subject: [ddots-l] Re: tract clipping hey rod, i cant tell you if your problems are comeing from c t or not. i hav found that the meaders are not varry relyable at times. not sure if its c t or sonar. i feel so strongly about this that i dont use them varry much. i giv myself anywhere from 2 to 10 d b head room and worry more about these things in mastering. matter a fact even for mastering here i import something thats camercial to use as a reference track. i judge based on my imported track as well as the meaders. but find that the sampel track is more relyable than those pesky meaders. a few things you can try would bee mastering of sorts. 1, after you mix down import the mix into a new lay out. and use something like the free vst brick wall limetor on the afects ben of the master bus. you can use the vollume trim on the track to push things up to more of an exceptable level. and after this is acheeved just mix down again. or if you dont want to use a brick wall limetor just import a sampel song and try to get your work as close in volume as possible. or if you want to skip all of this and even do it quicker you might trying useing a compressor on your master bus. off the top of my head to rays volume i would say the cake walk compressor presets for guitar or acoustic guitar. these will giv you a noticeable boost! how ever some times it will take you to the point of destortion. good luck man. its all pritty easy just a matter of playing around a little and finding what works for you. some people like to use sound forge for these things. and hey if that works what do you say. i personly hav mastered most of my projects in sonar. and this probly wont change soon. i think a lot of times what a person starts with, is what he will use mostly. and what he learns to manipulate the most is what he will stick with. dont get me rong i see the use in sound forge other wise i wouldn't keep it on the computer. its just sonar seems to be the quickest for me. good luck guy. Shawn Brock Cincinnati Sound Lab 130 East Sixth Street Cincinnati Oh. 45202 Phone: 513-349-8541 Web Site: www.cincysoundlab.com ----- Original Message ----- From: Rod To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 4:34 AM Subject: [ddots-l] tract clipping I have this problem with a couple of projects: When I am converting midi to audio, I try to record with like 2 or 4 DBs headroom, on every instrument, except piano, I record at 8 or 10 DB headroom. Now, when I mix to get my tract as hot as possible, when I check for clipping on the entire project with CT Control F2, it keeps reporting that a couple of tracts are clipping. However, when I go and bring them down until there is no more clipping, the final project gets mixed at a very low volume. I understand that the mastering guy can increase the volume during mastering, but not every projects in my studio goes for mastering. Some people just need something to share with their friends, so I need to provide the project to them with the maximum level as possible. Can I change anything in the way I do things to get a much higher level without clipping the tracts. When I check the master bus, it reports -8 DB as the output level. I am using a delta 44 soundcard, motif es8, and yamaha MG 12-4 mixer. I was under the impression that the CT clipping reporting keystroke might not be accurate when it is used to check for clipping on all tracts, as suppose to on a single tract. Is that true? Take care. Rod