Acustica Fire The Clip is out!

[Larry Shelby]

Fire The Clip is out now!

Louder than ever.

Win any loudness challenge with the

?TOP quality

?dynamic

??super linear

  clipper around!

49 Euros

https://www.acustica-audio.com/store/products/firetheclip

[MusicMan]

Is Acustica also just making regular plugins now too? This doesn't seem like it's based off any hardware.

I'm not gonna buy it, but just curious to know if they're going in that direction.

[jude77]

This is what I've been waiting for!  I may not have the best song in the world, but now I can have the LOUDEST!!!  So much for the end to Loudness Wars.  I will take no prisoners.

[mibby]

Why pay 49 EU for a clipper that will destroy your CPU??   Just pick up the Tone Empire one for free... 

[Nick Blanc]

4 hours ago, mibby said:

Why pay 49 EU for a clipper that will destroy your CPU??   Just pick up the Tone Empire one for free... 

This is actually a good point. Clippers aren't really useful for 1 or 2 big clips. You get the most (in terms of clean!! loudness) if you place clippers all over your project. Every channel, every bus, every other summing point, every send and (multiple on) the master. Which comes down to a lot of clippers.

My empty template (which has just the categories, sends and busses) has around 20. Which can easily double or triple. Granted, a lot (at least every melodic channel or bus) are ultimately replaced with limiters, but initially I use clippers. So what happens when this eats 5% CPU? 

[mibby]

50 minutes ago, Nick Blanc said:

This is actually a good point. Clippers aren't really useful for 1 or 2 big clips. You get the most (in terms of clean!! loudness) if you place clippers all over your project. Every channel, every bus, every other summing point, every send and (multiple on) the master. Which comes down to a lot of clippers.

My empty template (which has just the categories, sends and busses) has around 20. Which can easily double or triple. Granted, a lot (at least every melodic channel or bus) are ultimately replaced with limiters, but initially I use clippers. So what happens when this eats 5% CPU? 

I basically have a  similar setup. Just out of curiosity, what is your preferred clipper?  Mine was JST Clip and is now Boz's Little Clipper for ease of use, moderate options and metering. (And yes, especially CPU!)

Edited April 12, 2022 by mibby

[Nick Blanc]

11 hours ago, mibby said:

I basically have a  similar setup. Just out of curiosity, what is your preferred clipper?  Mine was JST Clip and is now Boz's Little Clipper for ease of use, moderate options and metering. (And yes, especially CPU!)

I have this whole system (derived from Baphometrix's Clip to zero system, check youtube!).

For drums and other transient oriented sounds I start with KClip by Kazrog. Very light on CPU, easy to use and very transparant. Just dial in the clipping up until it is noticeable with output/input linked. When you find the sweetspot, unlink them en adjust output back to 12 o clock. Free loudness!

On melodic stuff I start with DMG Tracklimit (also very light) and replace it with Newfangled Audio Saturate on mixdown. On summing points it depends on what material is being summed. BOZ Big Clipper is a very good candidate and is used a lot. On the master I do multiple stages of clipping, depending on the project, but mostly StandardCLIP and Acustica Audio Gainstation.

So, short answer, it depends on the sounds and the project.

[mibby]

2 hours ago, Nick Blanc said:

I have this whole system (derived from Baphometrix's Clip to zero system, check youtube!).

For drums and other transient oriented sounds I start with KClip by Kazrog. Very light on CPU, easy to use and very transparant. Just dial in the clipping up until it is noticeable with output/input linked. When you find the sweetspot, unlink them en adjust output back to 12 o clock. Free loudness!

On melodic stuff I start with DMG Tracklimit (also very light) and replace it with Newfangled Audio Saturate on mixdown. On summing points it depends on what material is being summed. BOZ Big Clipper is a very good candidate and is used a lot. On the master I do multiple stages of clipping, depending on the project, but mostly StandardCLIP and Acustica Audio Gainstation.

So, short answer, it depends on the sounds and the project.

Thanks! Looking forward to the videos.  I was unaware of these!

As I said, I've been doing this too.  It's not just about loudness.  The upside of clipping (and auto-gain) to level your tracks before processing is that your compressors/limiters don't have to work as hard with drastic level changes or the intermittent huge peak. You even have better sounding EQ's with a more consistent signal level driving into them.  Then, at the end of your mix, you go in an automate the parts you want to highlight.  ?

BTY, you can totally clip the peaks transparently (where you can't even hear you're doing it) just to level things. Your compressors/limiters will thank you.

 

 @PavlovsCat - Hey Peter, these videos might be worth watching!

Edited April 13, 2022 by mibby

[Nick Blanc]

2 minutes ago, mibby said:

Thanks! Looking forward to the videos!  As I said, I've been doing this too.  It's not just about loudness.  The upside of clipping (and auto-gain) to level your tracks before processing is that your compressors/limiters don't have to work as hard with drastic level changes or the intermittent huge peak. You even have better sounding EQ's with a more consistent signal level driving into them.  Then, at the end of your mix, you go in an automate the parts you want to highlight.  ?

 @PavlovsCat - Hey Peter, these videos might be worth watching!

Yes! Those are very good points. No more 'pumping' of compressors or limiters. You can use them for some slight glueing, just the harmonics or an extra lock on the door to ensure you don't go over 0dB. You shoulnd't really go over 0 when clipping. But some algorythms allow for intersample peaks above 0 when using oversampling, so that isn't always the best option. I think StandardCLIP has this, so I wouln't use that in oversample mode as your final insert on the master bus.

Great insight about the EQ's. Hadn't even thought about it that much but it is inherent. Mixing becomes much easier. I know that I extracted the max out of my sounds this way in terms of volume. So at the end I just have to gain the tracks down to fit them in the mix.

I've been experimenting with clipping to -6 or -4 so it would leave me headroom to practice mastering. Very easy to do. Just set the clipping point to thát level, drive your sounds into the clipper and level your mix to taste. Make sure you make your loudest part (most of the time the kick/snare or vocal) your 'anchor' or the benchmark. If you set your anchor at -6, -4 or just at 0, you can mix everything else into it. Fun thing, when you have a break (so no kick/snare) you can push your melodic parts for extra impact. Oh wait, you said that already with your automation remark ?

I know that for me, gainstaging was always a problem. I always went too hot, overcorrecting, messing up my mix, having the balance messed up, etc. Setting an anchor, clipping to the max and mixing everything in to the anchor saved my life.