Im running windows 10 64 bit..ZEDi 8 channel mixer I cannot get Audacity to show clipping..I have the on/off clipping box checked..really dont know what else to say…I`m recording classical guitar which seems to be working all right other than this.
Any suggestions ? Thanks
The Show Clipping option doesn’t necessarily show clipping. It shows potential clipping if the peak hits or exceed 0dBFS.
Check your peak levels…
Run the Amplify effect. The default dB gain setting will tell you how much headroom you have… The inverse of the default gain is your current peak level… For example, if you Audacity defaults to +3dB your peaks are currently -3dB. If it defaults to 0dB you might have clipping. If it defaults to -3dB you have potential clipping and you should “see red”.
If you Amplify enough and if you allow clipping, you should see red potential indicators.
Show clipping is one of the “magic” tools. Sound in the wild can’t go over 0dB, so by definition there is never clipping. We have to work from intent. Would this sound be clipping if it could. As above, if your system damages the sound slightly lower than zero before Audacity gets to it, the clipping tool will have no idea what’s going on.
There was a spirited discussion about how to do this tool.
This sound clip is complete garbage with overload and clipping distortion, and yet, the clipping indicators will not fire because they have no idea there’s anything wrong. Nothing tried really hard to go over zero.
Koz
I understand the gist of this but I don`t know how to fix it…is my only recourse to amplify the waveform after I record it ? Also how do I find the discussion on this ?
Thanks
I’ve run into more than one USB sound adapter where the “recording gain” knob presented to the user was after the A to D conversion in software, meaning that if set the input gain to anything other than 100% the result is that the A/D still clips but those values are passed to the computer as less than 100%.
I would suggest testing by running the gain on the mixer all the way up, and see where the signal in the computer limits. Try adjusting the software input gain widget to a low value an repeat.