my mix sounds fine before i bounce it, then it clips!

[cacti]

so im using ozone 4, my mix sounds great while in LIVE, but after i bounce it down to .wav, the mix is gainy and clips like crazy. any suggestions?

[Bokonon]

Is it clipping on the meters in live? If so, that's why, stop it clipping (redlining) in Live and try bouncing again.

[cacti]

Is it clipping on the meters in live? If so, that's why, stop it clipping (redlining) in Live and try bouncing again.

nope, not at all, its all green.

[dinaiz]

You can also try to bounce it without Ozone, in 32 bit, no dithering. The import it in http://www.wavosaur.com/, and use Ozone in it. The you'll see your levels, after live, before and after ozone and change things accordingly. Anyway I think live has more headroom than wav files. In other words, you wont necessarily hear any clipping in live, even if the master metter is sightly "in the read" but you'll definitely hear it after bouncing !

[cacti]

ok thanks, whats the importance of 32bit?

[auditory canvas]

The lower the bit rate, the less headroom there is. If you are pushing it to the loudest before clipping on a 32 bit file, then it will clip when you dither down to 16 bit.

Aim for an average level of -12db on the meters before bouncing down. That will give you plenty of headroom for mastering the audio once bounced.

[cacti]

thanks, so its better to bounce the track without ozone on it, then open the wav file and then add ozone?

[auditory canvas]

thanks, so its better to bounce the track without ozone on it, then open the wav file and then add ozone?

It's entirely up to you. If you add it before bouncing down then make sure your level going into ozone is at about -12db, it will then give ozone plenty of headroom to do it's work. Make sure ozone isn't pushing out anything higher than 0db on the output, pref a bit lower, as you don't want to completely flatten the mix, it will sound tedious on the ear, but that part is entirely down to personal preference.

[cacti]

thanks, so its better to bounce the track without ozone on it, then open the wav file and then add ozone?

It's entirely up to you. If you add it before bouncing down then make sure your level going into ozone is at about -12db, it will then give ozone plenty of headroom to do it's work. Make sure ozone isn't pushing out anything higher than 0db on the output, pref a bit lower, as you don't want to completely flatten the mix, it will sound tedious on the ear, but that part is entirely down to personal preference.

cool, can i just pull the master volume to -12, or do i need to pull each channel volume down?

[auditory canvas]

thanks, so its better to bounce the track without ozone on it, then open the wav file and then add ozone?

It's entirely up to you. If you add it before bouncing down then make sure your level going into ozone is at about -12db, it will then give ozone plenty of headroom to do it's work. Make sure ozone isn't pushing out anything higher than 0db on the output, pref a bit lower, as you don't want to completely flatten the mix, it will sound tedious on the ear, but that part is entirely down to personal preference.

cool, can i just pull the master volume to -12, or do i need to pull each channel volume down?

You can just pull the master fader until the meters are averaging at -12db. Just make use that none of your tracks are clipping too.

[cacti]

i have a compressor on the master track (with nothing squished just for slight kick sidechaing) so i just dropped the output to -12, i think i can do it within the ozone 4 plugin right?

thanks for the help.

[auditory canvas]

i have a compressor on the master track (with nothing squished just for slight kick sidechaing) so i just dropped the output to -12, i think i can do it within the ozone 4 plugin right?

thanks for the help.

Yu can adjust the input in ozone 4 I'm guessing, I don't use it, but would be surprised if you can't.

-12 isn't a hard rule, it's just more of a guide, to get you some headroom for mastering, you can crank it up a little if you want to, just try not to go over -6, it all depends on how much processing you are doing in ozone, and how much additional headroom it needs from the initial input.

[anamexis]

The lower the bit rate, the less headroom there is. If you are pushing it to the loudest before clipping on a 32 bit file, then it will clip when you dither down to 16 bit.

Just to clear this up: this is false.
0db is 0db, no matter what bit depth.
Simply put, higher bit depths increase the dynamic range, but in the other direction - the additional resolution allows you to record quieter sounds, not louder. So if something is clipping, upping the bit depth won't change that.