The Most Dangerous Production Technique... BE CAREFUL!!!

[@Lucky777videos]

Banger vid, been dying for this video ever since I started producing. I love the comparisons that show the differences in methods and the emphasis on why not to necessarily always redline

[@OfficialAHEE]

Yo Thanks! Btw you’re the winner! Congrats!!! What’s ure email? I’ll send you the Magic Racks Vol 5.

[@bonebrew22]

man, its so funny. I remember YEARS ago, my brother was learning to mix his metal band and he was redlining the snare. and I told him not to do that because it broke the rules, and he was like "but I like the way it sounds better" now years later I'm the one eating my words. Been using clippers for a while now but I had no idea Abletons clipping was so unique like that. Thanks again for a great video!

[@christiantaylor1495]

Why assume it's unique to Live?

[@HowardCharlesUK]

If you ain't redlining, you ain't headlining

[@darkskinwhite]

I like it lol

[@EnzoCapun]

Ive heard this before lmfaoooo and it still gets me everytime 🤣

[@Kai_soze]

its true tho haha

[@Grinzler72]

🤣🤣😅💜

[@sleazylettuce8861]

I know this is a joke but I saw an opening DJ redline the entire 2nd half of their set… I had to hide in the green room my ears couldn’t handle it even with earplugs

[@BeatsByTor]

Even when running a 24-bit session, my understanding is that Live still operates with a 32-bit audio engine. That may be why the master bus offers more detailed dynamics when redlining, compared to a plug-in/audio effect.

[@hubpillz]

i think ableton does 64 bit at the faders when mixing signals and keeps it at 32 bit for the signal pre fader

[@KonJonnorMusic]

Dude, I've been using a Saturator AND Izotope Trash on the pre for about a year now. The harmonics of the distortion seem to just fill out the frequency range so much better. Love this .

[@rebirth4119]

I also recommend if you're clipping the master via your DAW then make sure to take the render and re render it with the volume down to -1db. This is just so your song doesn't clip when you upload it to a streaming site and the digital compression adds artifacts.

[@darkcharmrecords]

Very smart!!

[@Fritztafer]

I just checked Ahee's SC, mans uploaded this track at 0db...so yeah. Many other artists do the same.

[@rebirth4119]

@@TheJohnsofDoes I'm referring to the fact that when you upload its going add additional clipping to the audio which wasn't an intentional choice from your end.

[@rebirth4119]

@@Fritztafer its a choice of the producer to do that but you will have additional clipping distortion to what you chose to do with hardclippers in your daw.

[@TheCamSnow]

Dude, thanks for being so willing to help others learn and gain knowledge from your experience! Truly a badass thing to do for the music scene!

[@potatosan4250]

I see what you did there.. Gain knowledge haha

[@123string4]

I don’t understand this. The clipper is clipping at 0 so you see a flat line (understandably). But rendering at 32bit means it won’t clip even if it’s +12dB. So the redlining isn’t adding any distortion to the RENDERED wave as long as you’re playing back at 32bit. But if you take your +12dB render and play it using a 24bit playback it WILL look like the clipped version. You can easily test this: take your +12dB track and render at 24bit, it’ll look like the clipped version. The distortion you hear when the master is redlining is from your DAC clipping. This means the distortion you hear is dependent on the playback system so it won’t be consistent across systems. The point I’m making is this: your +12dB render isn’t really clipping because it’s rendered at 32bit. There’s nothing special ableton is doing by redlining that can’t be achieved by compressing or saturating the master.

[@SlayerDarkRaver]

Does that apply on the masterchannel? I know that it applies on the individual channels, but I think that the masterchannel has a built in hardclipper!?

[@123string4]

@@SlayerDarkRaver if it was hard clipping the +12dB render would look clipped. The master channel can go over 0dB and not clip because Ableton uses 32bit playback. Rendering at 32bit also means that it’s not clipping when it goes above zero.

[@SlayerDarkRaver]

@@123string4 I'm still not convinced. Do you have a reference for that?

[@123string4]

@@SlayerDarkRaver try it yourself. Export something at +12dB at 32bit then drag the wav back into your DAW. You should be able to turn down the gain of the sample and recover everything above 0. If the master had a built in hard clipper everything above 0 would be lost

[@personsandro]

I’m pretty sure you’re right. Came in to say the same thing. I also suspect that after rendering to the specifications of, say, Spotify, redlining would be an issue; given that Spotify suggests delivering audio under certain levels that are most definitely under 0dBFS.

[@rileyevans6070]

Your videos have excelled my skills like crazy over the years man… so blessed

[@rebirth4119]

I believe that the whole "don't clip its bad" statement is pretty outdated and based upon what mixing engineers would say due to how way different music was prior to 2016-2017. I think clipping can also bring back the agressive edge after limiting a song(which could soften transients). Virtual Riot's Pray For Riddim song breakdown actually made note that his kick/clap/snare layer actually makes the master rise into 14 db(no not negative). As a result you can get punchy drums while still having a glued song. It does help to have limiting going on in busses or you will get an inconsistent clipping sound that could destroy your track.

[@haphaz7ard]

In the cry some more vip breakdown he just straight up clips the song for the entire song +19dB. Also skrillex does this technique too for fuji opener

[@travisgodfrey-evans2182]

Not clipping is generally good advice for a LOT of genres, and I think writing off the advice as entirely outdated just because we're all talking about this in an EDM/Dubstep scenario. It's just the kind of thing where Dubstep and EDM, in general, have pretty much been clipping since 2010, even earlier in some examples, but that more old-school engineers would avoid this (even Ahee said, you don't want this on your downtempo tracks), even more so, most old school engineers were also recording engineers, not just mixing engineers like a lot of us here are. We aren't often recording in whole band setups live and riding the vocal, writing down our desk positions for each song, etc. We're just throwing in midi, resampling, lining up to the grid and quantizing, and because of that we can do stuff like bus mastering and mixing as we go because the workflow is so different. Ultimately it's a sound. Having the drum go into 14db and having it that punchy can be achieved without modern Dubstep limiting practices, but that overcompressed, squashed, a sound that you hear on EDM is just what we are used to hearing. I mixed a Dubstep song two different ways, one by gain staging to -18dB and then boosting volume to -0.1dB in the mastering stage, and another by using my own form of bus mastering. The lufs of the -18db gain staging was (if I remember correctly), somewhere around -14-13lufs, and the bus mastered one was -6lufs (it might've been louder). Ultimately though, once bounced and converted to whatever platform you'll listen on (whether it's a streaming platform, CD, vinyl, etc.) the "loudness" drops down to the limitation of that given platform, sometimes I've even noticed that the bus mastered track sounds better when bounced, but awful when uploaded to a streaming platform. These things need to be considered, we need to understand what form of mastering to do depending on what platform we'll be releasing on. For example, a bus-mastered CD is going to absolutely slap (and likely why Skrillex developed his style this way, because he released CDs with From First to Last before streaming became what it is), or perhaps if you're going to DJ and you want the raw file (like you have a USB of your tracks) then that'll sound sick too (again, another reason why Skrillex may have developed this unique style), but on Spotify your -6Lufs gets squashed into a flat, dead track, compared to a gain-staged track that has headroom for the punchiness to truly pierce through once it gets processed by the streaming platform. It's worth thinking about, but I agree that you don't have to worry about clipping as long as you don't hear it. There are a lot of contexts where it takes a seriously good ear to clip your music without realising that you're destroying certain aspects of your song though.

[@rebirth4119]

@@travisgodfrey-evans2182 I wasn't saying that you have to clip your tracks. I was rather dispelling the argument that "clipping = bad". There are also times if you do clip its done rather on individual sounds with a soft/hardclipper. There are often times where pulling a limiter is more beneficial. Its depending on the situation.

[@travisgodfrey-evans2182]

@@rebirth4119 Oh yea I get that you weren't saying that, I was just having conversation

[@andy_the_kitten]

@@travisgodfrey-evans2182 good analysis, I learnt a lot

[@danmedici]

Your tutorials have become something i really look forward to watching. By far the most accessible and easy to follow tutorials out right now!

[@NVUSROADHOUSE]

Also everyone should take note that ableton provides spectral processing and with that being said everyone should produce chains which include a sense of space and movement . Not just a pattern and an envelope , not just The dynamics between transients , but don’t think that your brain is going to be able to imagine fx and movement happening while building a sequence , instead program spectral enhancements as you would variations in a drum sequence. Spend time cooking up a full spectrum mix and then judge yourself , but not before giving your project a good sense of movement and dynamics that groove and or compliment the sequence . I left so many projects unfinished because I refused to think about the big picture . You’ll be surprised how good your work will start sounding when you’ve got filters and phasers and chorus and all those tools ready to apply alongside your tracks so that you’re constantly creating more cohesion and quickly finding what frequencies to remove or emphasize according to the needs of the “WHOLE TRACK” and not getting lost tweaking a sound that isn’t sitting right or doesn’t belong . The processing will help you make those choices easier than moving the gain on the eq band a few db or fiddling with your snare and clap levels . Instead spend your time making it a habit to find ways of meeting your spectral desires . I find it much easier to lock my compressions and textures and you won’t end up cutting away too much because it will be very noticeable and the solution becomes easily apparent because you’re hearing difference much easier . The only problem with this loudness strategy is ear fatigue , a lot of people won’t be able to dial those settings before fatiguing , so as i stressed make sure you’re hearing and visually checking results from the processing through printing the processing and looking at it .

[@SEEKERSOUND]

These videos never cease to amaze me, this man could be a physicist if he wanted

[@OfficialAHEE]

I do have a rant where I try to explain how ufos could work via resonating gravity waves.

[@breaksjunkie100]

Hey, Chris, Purchased your LFO Pack's for Serum last night, Thank's for the work you across the music community.

[@eurometrixproductions7]

Thanks for being apart of newer producers journey to learning dubstep and edm production fundamentals! Appreciate you Ahee!!

[@NVUSROADHOUSE]

In all honesty it’s just easier to tell people don’t clip than explain fletcher munson curves , noise , frequency built up clashing frequencies . When the sequence is done right and the dynamics are sorted u should be pushing the levels because you have control of their dynamic ranges at this point , so as long as you keep the sounds to their pockets in regards to volume /dynamics relationships you can hit it hard . Wish someone had told me that ten years ago although You’d miss out on the educational engineering which makes it impossible to really be all you can be . I figured this out about 6 years ago , I showed my other staff engineers who were much older what I was doing and they looked at me like i was nuts . My take is that exciting harmonics and keeping their mix relationship cohesive will allow for this concept . But like you said you gain staged and I think once a producer gets his /her head around what we’re trying to achieve here they can begin to push the envelope of what’s “acceptable” “if it sounds good it is good “ ❤️

[@MrReeTart]

That makes so much sense!! Tracks can sound way punchier when clipping through master. I instinctively turn it down but I'll try to be more intentional next times. Thanks for the tips ❤️

[@thewizardtk]

Ahee I gotta say you’re one of the smartest and most underrated tutorial guys on KZbin

[@andrewbarker66]

Coming from 10 years of house and just getting into bass music, You sir have helped me so much with your videos. Thank you!

[@hellkeyproduction]

So basically I just confirmed that I screwed up my next release by doing proper mixing and bus mastering. I got the feeling that after doing the correct processing it was sounding much less "alive and vibing", but since I got rid of the +8dB clipping I told myself it was a worthy sacrifice... shame on me XD Thanks for sharing, at least now I know for next release :)

[@0x44Monad]

If it sounds good, it sounds good!

[@hellkeyproduction]

@@0x44Monad agree. I am now just testing if it is gonna get destroyed when played in clubs where they apply strong volume limits

[@riotrob1057]

For me a beginner, your channel is a power school for me. Thank you!

[@2y570]

Man I'm so grateful of your free content, I'll consider buying the pack!

[@kurokurokurokuro]

Sounds like it's worth the risk! I appreciate the waveform explanation, I knew some heavy edm clips on purpose but now I know why it's done

[@chrisdigby1]

Danger! Danger! I'm loving this technique! Thanks Ahee!

[@88bsides]

This was brilliantly done. Easiest way to kind of put a leash on this effect is with resampling. The bit you found about redlining ableton vs limiting was totally new to me! Excellent tutorial.

[@jaffetalfaro6475]

all knowledge aside, that remix you cooked up is HEAT

[@Guntherthefool]

That dnb track sounds dope 🔥

[@prodreams5594]

Dangerous but that's what makes dubstep, dubstep!

[@Akathanuge]

AH amazing stuff!! Just took at class with Kll BLL and they showed something similar with us: a way of master where they digital clip into a saturator and thats it. I think its worth adding that your mixdown gotta come correct! nothing will save a rough mixdown.

[@johnnystang41]

where'd you take a kll bill class?

[@2y570]

@@johnnystang41 yeah, I'd like to know too!

[@EQUAL2]

More people need to know this. I've seen, time and time again, especially in the subgenre of hardcore that I make in which drops are nearly always 0db, people try to make headroom for things, that simply don't need that much space. A master is only useful to make a song sound good on different soundsystems, and will not help a shit mixdown.

[@romyn8726]

Me 3 !

[@thiketmusic]

The rules are made to be broken! Thanks for sharing Ahee!

[@samson4272]

Thanks Ahee! Excited to play around with these tips. 🙏🏼

[@Oddly-Engaging]

Ahee thank you so much for all of your quality tutorials when you don’t really need to make them. I appreciate you and I know a lot of other producers do too

[@rcorrigan240]

Only informative video I've been able to find on this technique, you're a king

[@exentrix4136]

Yo! Can’t wait for you to announce the winner🙏🏻

[@derekberrill5722]

Right on bro, even now there are plugins that simulate clipping. 21st century art! Great show BTW

[@ccharkin]

such an insanely fire technique man, keep up the little things like this. not a whole lot of intermediate to advanced concepts out there like the ones you post. much love :)

[@hyperoctave4675]

Always love your videos thanks AHEE!

[@bradalex233]

I remember a VR tutorial a while back where he did this with drums to make them really punch, this is def the next level of that concept, amazing vid as usual

[@ra-sol4628]

Always love the obscure perspective man. Thank you :)

[@zZMazeZz]

I’m here for the magic racks let goooo!

[@Archie.09]

Keep up the great vids man, you’re an inspiration.

[@Spinner2498MC]

wonderfully presented. this makes too much sense, simply put you're reiterating filling space within a freq spectrum

[@vividfeverdreams]

ableton gods plz bless me w/ these RACKS

[@darrelljohnston562]

That’s a cool tinnitus inducing technique

[@ericredner6058]

mannn...I heard rickyxsan talk about this a bit ago but had forgotten. Legend level techniques

[@theeocho5623]

Yooo, this is game changing

[@LemoBeatc]

One of the underground greats!!!

[@brettshrekington]

Love you Ahee! You’ve been providing so much great content for years! U a real one! 🙏🏼🌟

[@bryanromero7206]

Very interesting, I’ll definitely be trying this!

[@shaverred1030]

Michael Jackson was a massive fan of your work btw. He even used to you use your name in his songs all the time. Ahee Hee!

[@leeturleymusic]

Thanks so much for all of these incredible tips!

[@E-MOTION-MUSIC]

Really love your music first and foremost ! But the knowledge you drop is truly priceless. Great video my friend 🦾

[@La_Sanguijuela]

I'm gonna have to try this out!

[@JacobLouis]

Cheers, great job covering that. Reminds me of parallel compression.

[@UTUBE1102]

Love your videos AhEE! Just bought your older ableton racks yesterday so if I had known (should have watched this sooner) I would have waited for the new guys haha keep up the good work

[@nikku1166]

pretty slick man, every interesting outcome. dope tune btw.

[@oddsphere]

Been trying to wrap my head around clipping in the mix for awhile, thank you!

[@elishelly119]

Absolutely love all of your tutorials! Super helpful and very in-depth! I love how you make everything easy to understand

[@rileyevans6070]

That rack giveaway would be sickkk! Appreciate this tip though!

[@mattygalaxy]

Remix is sounding gnarly bro!!

[@Foxx07]

Haven't got into bass , step music but it's very interesting how this genrea is mixed different ly .. to it's maxed ...

[@justinbarry4229]

Awesome technique for specific circumstances. Cant wait to see how you use this on tracks in the future!

[@gmoneybioch]

Appreciate all of the insight AHEE. Always pure gems🙏🔥

[@AlexMiller-xh8nt]

Been waiting on this one! Dope stuff Ahee!

[@nobiterz]

Been subscribed forever man! Even got my hoodie a couple a weeks ago! Love the content, keep it up

[@emurse7497]

thank you Ahee, copped the new magic racks as soon as i got the email

[@lockee77]

Kool video, big up Aheeeee!!

[@baigmusic]

This was so helpful, thanks so much for this trick! Just tried this stacking technique on Ableton and it really had some great results.

[@dallaschance8548]

Congrats on the Wakaan lineup!!!!!! Bring all the deep dark wubz

[@splinter_mouth]

You've inspired me to create my own ableton racks, they're so fun to make ! Love your videos and keep it up!

[@MumblesMedia]

Holy cow this has helped a ton with my current method of working in ableton

[@jobs7932]

awesome video as always bro! keeping my fingers crossed for winning the racks 👀

[@djaypj3598]

AMAZING! Definitely going to try out some of these techniques.

[@shliggyb]

Great video man! Racks look so dope too! I can only imagine how much work you put into making those. Very impressive

[@WizKidRonneh]

Really appreciate your videos my G. I just about shit my pants when I saw that you were playing at Wakaan Festival this year. See you there.

[@hardcoreLP1994]

May the light rise you up 👽

[@yago8672]

I Need that racks bro! Much love from Brasil 🇧🇷

[@faylmusic]

Btw thanks to you I really stepped up my game and your tutorials are definetly one of the best on KZbin!! If not the best

[@nOne_Dubz]

Love all your production videos man! Seriously so much knowledge!

[@wacckkoo1]

Your vids are always so helpful. Appreciate the tips. Keep them coming.

[@broeseph]

Wow this was really interesting to compare the waves! Thanks for this

[@Stanl3yStu]

I usually make trip hop so I’m very excited to try this out for my bass sound design

[@talksintheclouds]

Howdy AHEE! KZbin algorithm payed off for me. Technical analysis of mixing noted. Getting back into producing for myself and been trying to dissect a sound I’ve heard on some mixes & I think one or a few of your racks will help me find my flavor of the sound. Checking gumroad now. Thanks!

[@dudeononewheel]

You’re amazing! Can’t wait to see you at Wakaan fest 🙏

[@kevinjones7007]

Thank you!

[@2dy4music]

thank you for sharing this king i literally cannot wait to try this!!

[@johnpasini]

You're videos are absolutely phenomenal, I will always be back for more. If I dont win the racks, I'll probably just have to buy. LOL

[@boymatmat]

Awesome stuff as always

[@CostaRicaForest]

Thanks Chris! These new racks look epic!

[@EJxy]

great video! look forward to trying this technique out!

[@ItsMe-gv2ug]

Fascinating and well explained. Thank you for your passion.

[@julianbaker3903]

This is a very interesting way to think about your master. Mixing needs to be on point for this to work no question. Definitely need to try to do this at least once in my productions to see if I like it.

[@pistolpaul1989]

Your set at stilldream was so good. That track was banging

[@kennybeeper8677]

Love this, so many clever ways to apply it once you understand it. Cheers mate!

[@BrokenStitch]

The reason you don't clip is that it will blow out the speakers. A lot of people don't seem to know this these days, but there's a reason you remove the clipping from audio and it's generally speaking because of this problem. It basically heats up the coil in the speakers beyond what most user systems are designed for. That said, there's a lot that goes into this. If your system has "Bass Boost" or settings akin to it, there's likely a good chance you wouldn't need to worry as much. You'll start to smell the problem if it's a problem because I'm not joking about it heating up the coils. This is more of an acoustical engineering and/or electrical engineering talk than what people call "production", as it doesn't really have that much to do with the mix so much as the systems in question. You don't know what the buyer is going to be playing your music on being the point.

[@omnifreqz9251]

You’re right, it’s like the clipping part is serving as a semi limiter. But still holding in part of the dynamic

[@walkernotte3019]

it's funny the moemnt i heard you talking about this saying aggressive dnb/dubstep reaper is the first name that popped into my mind

[@MattFlanc]

Great info Ahee! Lately I've been exploring the difference between said techniques (limiting, clipping) and I usually prefer the clipping over limiting. I've always found that limiting takes away some of the dynamics and adds this unnatural sound. But in the end it really comes down to personal preference. And just like you said... if it sounds good it is good!

[@romyn8726]

You shouldn't actually HAVE to redline into the master though, just get some form of clipper/ limiter that has detail preservation so you can adjust how much dynamics/ clipping you want

[@christiantaylor1495]

I just us fruity soft clipper or a custom wabeshape for hardclipping

[@ezrabrownstein3237]

Thing is though, using a clipper before the master doesn't have the same effect because the clipping element and the other elements won't interact in the same way. When you have a full track and one element clips really hard at the master it has the effect of kind of pushing everything else out of the way. It can be done tastefully to great effect especially on drums.

[@hotzemusic]

​@@ezrabrownstein3237 This is a super popular technique in modern metal to get snares to cut through/crack in the mix. Can probably get similar effect clipping elsewhere in your session and arranging for it, but clipping the master with the snare is a pretty straight forward example. And yes, always should be done tastefully.

[@ezrabrownstein3237]

@@hotzemusic interesting! Metal and EDM seem to share a lot of similar philosophies when it comes to mixing it seems.

[@romyn8726]

@@ezrabrownstein3237 Could you explain the difference in which they're different? How do they clip differently?

[@nathanwood9147]

Love your work man!