paulo Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 I've been meaning to ask this for some time and keep forgetting, so not sure how far back this goes now, currently using 2020.09, but I'm pretty sure it precedes that.... Anyway, has anyone ever had the issue where a wav file brought into a project (drag and drop via media browser) has clipping at certain points, but you just know that the person who sent it to you wouldn't have sent you a clipped track, so delete it and try again.......and the clipping is now gone or sometimes it has moved to some other point. The clipping in question is both audible and visually represented. Any wisdom as to why this happens? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xoo Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 Sample rate conversion (no idea if this can cause clipping by the way)? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Vere Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 If this happened to me I would immediately open the file in a Wave editor and diagnose the track. It would also tell you as stated above details like sample rate. Always have a safe copy first If the sample rate is different than your project convert it in the Wave editor and run the diagnostic again. If it peaks then undo the conversion, lower the gain, and re convert it. I would make sure when you share tracks that you both work with the same sample rate. And if that isn’t the case, then tell them to back off on the level at their end. With digital tracks there’s no reason to push to the max. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bitflipper Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 Are these 24- or 32-bit wave files, or are they in a compressed format? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulo Posted February 7, 2021 Author Share Posted February 7, 2021 20 minutes ago, bitflipper said: Are these 24- or 32-bit wave files, or are they in a compressed format? I've seen it happen with 24 bit wavs and also with mp3 files - delete then and drag them back in again and it's gone, so that's what I do. Not difficult to get around, I just wondered why it happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulo Posted February 7, 2021 Author Share Posted February 7, 2021 1 hour ago, John Vere said: If this happened to me I would immediately open the file in a Wave editor and diagnose the track. It would also tell you as stated above details like sample rate. Always have a safe copy first If the sample rate is different than your project convert it in the Wave editor and run the diagnostic again. If it peaks then undo the conversion, lower the gain, and re convert it. I would make sure when you share tracks that you both work with the same sample rate. And if that isn’t the case, then tell them to back off on the level at their end. With digital tracks there’s no reason to push to the max. As I said, I don't think it's the audio file itself as deleting and re-importing will often solve the problem, plus the source of the files is often somebody who very much knows what they are doing, so again I would doubt that the file itself is the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bitflipper Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 The reason I asked whether they were encoded files is that importing a wave file should not alter it in any significant way. Because you can not only see but actually hear distortion means it's not a subtle process. The fact that the source files are not actually clipped indicates that something unpredictable is happening to them on the way in. There are only a few processes that might conceivably be applied on an import: conversion to 32-bit wave from some other format, sample rate conversion, wordlength expansion, or conversion from stereo to mono. I can't think of anything else. Converting to 32-bit float from 24-bit integer wouldn't do it. Even though the imported file would technically not be the same data, you'd never hear the difference. SRC could also be eliminated as a suspect if the source files were already at the project sample rate. You didn't say if that was the case. But even then I'd expect any distortion to be inaudible. Wordlength expansion isn't the problem, either. Even though fc would show the imported file is not identical to the original, you wouldn't hear a difference. So my best guess is that the source files are stereo and not mono-safe, and you're importing them as mono. Just a guess, based on the process of elimination. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulo Posted February 8, 2021 Author Share Posted February 8, 2021 10 hours ago, bitflipper said: So my best guess is that the source files are stereo and not mono-safe, and you're importing them as mono. TBH I just drag them to an empty space in the Track view and let CW set the track up automagically, so I don't really pay much attention to that process as I figured that CW would set the track up as appropriate for the audio. Next time it happens I'll pay closer attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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