Internal recording with Traktor and clipping question.

[GPS]

Hey guys, I am in the process of finalizing my Spring mixtape and I have some questions in terms of clipping and how it affects internal recording in traktor.

When I did my fall promo mix, I analyzed all my songs and set the gain so that the levels showing on he main (top of traktor) would be right below the red. In other words it would almost ever hit the red when a track was at full level with a certain gain. Obviously when I would do a transition to the next song it would hit the red every now and then since more sound was being added to the main.

To counteract this, I setup the recording level to a certain level so that it never hits the red.

So summed up, the main levels would hit the red at times (mainly during transitions), but the recording level would almost never hit the red.

Is this the popper way to do it?

When I heard the finished results on mt fall mix it all sounded well.

Thanks!

[mostapha]

Never hit the red. If you're mixing internally (which it looks like you are), traktor might take care of it for you, since the internal mixer has more headroom than it says it does (by a lot).

If you're mixing externally, once you've clipped, you've clipped. Either way, clipping gets you nothing and can degrade sound.

Also…you shouldn't be getting louder during transitions unless you do it specifically by choice…if you think you're making that choice every transition, you're probably doing it wrong.

Just record a bit quieter and turn it back up later (normalize it) with basically anything. Audactiy can do it…I tend to use Ableton Live because I'm comfortable with it, but I'm looking into Peak Pro since I wound up with a license as part of a weird deal.

[GPS]

Never hit the red. If you're mixing internally (which it looks like you are), traktor might take care of it for you, since the internal mixer has more headroom than it says it does (by a lot).

If you're mixing externally, once you've clipped, you've clipped. Either way, clipping gets you nothing and can degrade sound.

Also…you shouldn't be getting louder during transitions unless you do it specifically by choice…if you think you're making that choice every transition, you're probably doing it wrong.

Just record a bit quieter and turn it back up later (normalize it) with basically anything. Audactiy can do it…I tend to use Ableton Live because I'm comfortable with it, but I'm looking into Peak Pro since I wound up with a license as part of a weird deal.

What i mean by "getting louder during transitions" is in terms of the maser levels on the top of traktor. When only one track is playing, it picks up the sound and levels from that, but when 2 are playing at the same time (durinf transitions) the overall amount of sound sent to the master increases, thus causing it to hit the red.


Also, when u mean record quieter do you mean setting the master to a bit lower?

Thanks.

[Sanderbongertman]

You should aim to keep the master output the same during transitions by working the EQ's and faders. Adjusting the main output knob doesn't matter though because Traktors internal recorder is not affected by it. If your recording meter is not clipping everything is fine

[GPS]

You should aim to keep the master output the same during transitions by working the EQ's and faders. Adjusting the main output knob doesn't matter though because Traktors internal recorder is not affected by it. If your recording meter is not clipping everything is fine

so the way i recorded my fall mix is fine then? i mean from what i gather what is comingout of my monitors when i did that fall mix is the same as what is being recorded, and that sounded fine even though the main hit the red but the recording didnt

[SirReal]

When in doubt, just follow the age old adage of "Sounds Good, is Good".

[Sanderbongertman]

Yes that was fine then. What is coming out of the master is not the same signal as what goes into the recorder. The master sums all channels together into one and gives you a knob to adjust the gain, which when driven too loud, will drive the meters into the red. The recorder works exactly the same but of course, can be adjusted independently. So in theory, if you would want to, you could drive the master output incredibly loud and clip it continuously while still recording a completely clean take by not setting the recorder gain knob as loud as the master.

To summarize, make sure the recorder meter never clips and normalize your set afterwards