If the master fader is consistently lighting up red, it can be become a problem for mixing.Īn interesting thing to consider, also, is 32-bit float processing found in many DAWs. It’s best to rely on your ears for that, and consider the red meter a gentle warning rather than an indicator of anything hazardous to our recording. This is, of course, in regards to our channel faders. Simply because a signal has reached or surpassed 0 dBFS in our DAW doesn’t actually mean that it’s distorting. Whereas analogue clipping is more forgiving in the way it chops round waveforms into squares, digital clipping precisely lops the head off our lovely sine wave, resulting in harsh distortion. Any excess data is disregarded, which can result in digital clipping–a sine wave hitting its ceiling and becoming a square wave. This is because our system has run out of 1s and 0s to accurately convert our signal into digital information. When a signal reaches 0 dBFS (full-scale) on a meter, we’ve run out of headroom and potentially into digital clipping issues. Just as when a loudspeaker is pushed beyond its physical limitations, a digital system can be overloaded at the input stage to the point of clipping. In the presence of an input signal that is, for instance, 10 dB higher than the speaker’s specified maximum, the soft-clip circuit kicks in to limit the signal and prevent clipping. The “soft-clip” circuit has been used in speakers since the ’80s, limiting the signal at the input stage. However, many speakers have built-in precautions to avoid clipping, such as circuits that act like limiters. Physically, if a loudspeaker remains in a clipping state for too long, there is potential for damage to occur due to overheating. If a loudspeaker is clipping, for example, the phenomenon can be aurally understood as distortion or break-up. A visual representation of a clipped sine wave. The overdriven signal causes the amplifier to attempt to produce an output voltage beyond its capability, which is when clipping occurs. When an amplifier is pushed beyond its maximum limit, it goes into overdrive. In the simplest sense, audio clipping is a form of waveform distortion. But, precisely what is happening when audio clips? And why is it important to understand this fundamental audio phenomenon? Audio Clipping Defined The result of which is, almost always, scrambling for knobs or faders to make the light go away. We’ve all heard the dreaded term “audio clipping.” It often shows itself as an admonishing red light in our DAW, on our audio interface, or on our speakers.
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