Trying a New Technique for Mixing LOUD!!!!! (Clip-To-Zero?!?)

In this video I try ‪@Baphometrix‬ ' Clip to Zero technque to achieve a loud, club-ready mix
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Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:17 A/B Comparison
03:47 What is Clip to Zero?
04:58 Stage 1: Production
05:20 Stage 2: Clip (everything) to Zero
08:37 Stage 3: Create Sub Mixes
10:55 Extra Benefits (Other than Loudness)
11:25 Smart:Limit
13:09 Outro

[@justtosharefiles678]

Thanks for the explanation! I’ve been trying to figure out the CT0 method for a while now and I finally get it because of this video. Great content dude, liked and subbed🙏🏽

[@andrewwarren4206]

Good vid. Clear concise yep. Thank you. Not been clipping the groups So will do. Sounds good.

[@JohnnysaidWhat]

Wow loud but clear. Soundstage improved! I found your channel through his tutorials. I really enjoyed this as like you said his tutorials are very deep and detailed. This was really entertaining and to the point. Great track too!

[@divehalfway]

Big Thanks! Gonna try this soon

[@Tutorial_ism]

Do it mate. It works a treat!

[@foxymusic8386]

Superb work.

[@Tutorial_ism]

Thanks mate

[@sirlordcomixx1]

Interesting idea, gonna try it.

[@shanonkiyoshi4784]

"A" absolutely sounds best! 😎👍 Good job! B seems Heavy & Over/Obviously Compressed in comparison 🤩🥰

[@Tutorial_ism]

Thanks Shanon. Yes, this technique has definitely got me rethinking when Im going to be using compression vs clippers!

[@AAABeatbox]

I've just started this technique today!!! I'm not sure of the results yet but we will see soon!. Thanks for this video.

[@Tutorial_ism]

I’m still experimenting and learning new things about this technique daily. Hope you enjoy the trip!

[@farawayskies]

Thanks for the video. I liked mix A, so I'm glad I chose the CTZ mix otherwise I would have questioned why I'm bothering learning this technique lol. I just watched a bunch of @Baphometrix videos but I still had questions. Like you I put his lessons to work on a track I'm already working on. It was quite difficult to implement for an existing track lol. Hard to maintain the existing character of the track while going back and pushing as loud as I can. Like @Baphometrix mentioned, I think it simply exposed some existing mix issues that I had to spend time correcting lol, but overall I really liked the final product. Your video helped me confirm that I am approaching the problem correctly. One thing I need to do though is create the bigger buses for "leads" and "drums" and "pads" and such. I've really enjoyed learning the process and using an oscilloscope to fine tune things. Anyways, thanks again lol!

[@austinhayman7023]

Nice to see more CTZ stuff. Might try it out, given I'm a metal guy distortion isn't as problematic but still worth reducing where possible.

[@Tutorial_ism]

Yes mate. Give it a go. I definitely had fun with it!

[@SpaciousExpanse]

OMG! It really works! I tried this method and got not only punchy kick and clear/loud mix but got rid off that stupid pumpy effect at maximum loudness of my phone speakers! You won't believe how excited I am about this method └⁠|⁠∵⁠|⁠┐⁠♪ ♪⁠┌⁠|⁠∵⁠|⁠┘⁠♪ Thank you!

[@cryptout]

Nice vibe in your videos, new sub here.

[@polpottopg]

This technique is awesome for metal music

[@davidpurple3698]

Thanks for a great video. Definitely track A - but would probably go a a deeper sound/note with it.

[@birdsiview6845]

A sounds Crisp!

[@Tutorial_ism]

Agreed

[@fadzaik6343]

Bro thank you for simplifying the process in a short video, Baphometrix's videos are amazing ill now go back and rewatch them......Track "A" sounds better

[@Tutorial_ism]

Thanks mate. Glad it was useful

[@joshd265]

Mix A. Sounds great on the iPhone speaker 🔥

[@urigeheadmot1196]

Love the enthusiasm, keep going

[@Tutorial_ism]

Thank you

[@leo.nordmann]

I would actually say, that this CTZ method is actually still good if you want more dynamics or shoot for a lower target loudness. Firstly it gives a consistent production method across multiple projects. From my experience I always had trouble getting in the right ballpark for headroom and it was usually too quiet (not a big issue when working digitally I know, but it is annoying when working on multiple projects and always having to turn up and down the volume on my interface). Secondly, you don't have to clip as much if you don't want to. But for me it was quite valuable to realize that I actually can use clippers, especially on drums & percussion to get of some nasty peaks. This technique only works if you work 100% in the box of course, but for me that's not an issue and actually something I strive for as I can do everything with just a laptop.

[@Lulu-mg9by]

watchu mean " in the box" ?

[@leo.nordmann]

@@Lulu-mg9by it means 100% in the box (computer) so 100% software without using hardware (for mixing).

[@phynyxsound]

In Baphometrix's new videos, he suggests using limiters rather than clippers for tonal sounds for less distortion.

[@Tutorial_ism]

Yes he does. I didn’t feel like I needed one on this track though. What did you think?

[@phynyxsound]

@@Tutorial_ism Your track sounds very nice imo, and this CTZ strategy is very effective as you just showed us with the comparison. I think we have been kept in the dark regarding clipping, limiting and compression and the more this topic gets attention, the more the overall audio production community will benefit. Thanks for covering this.

[@wawztzta8296]

*she

[@phynyxsound]

@@wawztzta8296 I seriously don't know whether I should feel happy or sad for that to be pointed out. Anyways that was not the point.

[@wawztzta8296]

@@phynyxsound cheery attitude you have going on there

[@moerahman6749]

Very interesting. What was your final LUFS reading on mix B?

[@rickspyder6159]

Kinda doing what a pushed console does. ITB I use as much spectral distortion as possible everywhere ... black box is my favorite ... never did like distortion but the black box is a game changer ...enjoy

[@dodo13500]

To me A has more of a bite to it. B sounded more round, softer. Good video!

[@wavespot_rksundar]

Very good video ❤ Guys need to be very careful on using this method if goes wrong then the dynamics will just die in the mix

[@prodjincmusicproductions6587]

Great composition! A seems brighter and faster to me

[@DaveChips]

First time I had same issue like you with some of the instruments overly distorting, it's cool to use oscilloscope to check your waveshape and when I clip buses I tend to either use a bit of compression before cliping to smothen up the input and sidechaining of priority instruments... For example sidechain kick and snare to hihats and crash to provide a bit of headroom before entering In the clipper, it's not big difference in overall but creates some space for distortion free output on the drums bus.

[@Payan8]

Smart

[@glock18glory]

I can see how that would work better. So you do not recommend sidechaining before limiting or clipping?

[@FluidITGuy]

What did you do to your reverb / delays? Did you create FX channels and clip those to zero too?

[@maddomusic]

Hey, nice video thanks. I have a question. What is the difference between the input and drive controls on Saturate? I can't establish from reading the manual what the difference is, nor can I hear a difference when testing :(

[@Tutorial_ism]

As far as I know, when you hit the plugin at zero, the input and the drive will do pretty much the same thing. However if you were to come in to the plugin at below zero you would still be able to clip you signal at the level you are coming in at. The advantage of this technique is that you can swap Saturate for a limiter or another clipper for a different flavour and be confident of the outcome

[@user-ws9rw7rz4p]

so if i make a mix with ctz method, i need to provide a mastering engineer -6db, and i saw how to do this on the 'how to keep your mastering engineer happy' video. But if im mastering myself after ctz (for example adding compression, de ess, eq etc) do i just do it from the 0db mix or do i need to add -6 db headroom? I just dont get how you can master from ctz without headroom when adding eq and the like - so whats best? of course the limiter goes last, but if what im adding is adding more level surely thats pushing things more when it would not so with headroom. I have 3 options - turn the 0 mix down to -6gb gain and master, master from 0 without doing that and just adjust each plugings gain level, or export the mix from ctz with headroom.... unsure which one to do.

[@InfrdMusic]

so do i do clip to zero first then eq and other mixing things or do i do clip to zero last in the chain? thanks for this video btw, confirmed that i should pay more attention to this method!

[@spiracythegreat5386]

You should now watch baphometrix tutorials. Btw, clipping comes LAST, put the plugins at the end of the fx chain. Then eq, compress, etc, into the clippers...

[@tobiasgugger2268]

A low-end are less present and high hat are distorting. On B i prefer the low but it not so balanced. It seam that there already some issues white CTZ method for low end which should we get some updated video according to 2022 update. I prefer to use loudness tools to gain stage and balanced my mix even automatically as provided by hornet plugin. Also dynameter to set the compression.

[@RP-vq4wd]

We dont need to clip everything in order to get enough loud mix to be competetive in our genres. What you need to clip are inaudible digital peaks that occur through different sound manipulation and digital processing. What you need to do is to analyze which parts in a mix need low crest factor and which don't. E.g. your atmo fx doesnt have to have the same RMS or Crest as your bassline, samo goes for your hats. When it comes to hats and kick snare peaks, clippers perfectly shave those inaudible peaks that contain only ultra high freqs and that take unnecessary headroom. Big support to all of my colleagues from Serbia.

[@Tutorial_ism]

Go check out Baphometrix channel. She explains all of these things in depth!

[@RP-vq4wd]

@@Tutorial_ism Buddy, I had. Thats how I found your channel. I am an engineer with 3 albums and a lot of singles. I am upgrading her theory

[@FatRussianGamer]

A does sound better, but I dont see why B couldnt have a cleaner lowmid and more highs, which would close the gap while retaining better dynamics and depth

[@cheery-hex]

Am I the only one who prefers track B? 😂😂

[@glock18glory]

Hi, thank u for the video. At 8:34, if you are ultimately reducing your kick to -9 db, are you no longer, "clipping to zero"? Or does it still apply because the you are doing that after you clip the kick? Also, are you also clipping individual source tracks, in addition to your busses? Like a clipper for each drum sample you mentioned?

[@DeSanKwuh]

This is what’s baffling me, because Baphometrix specifically says not to use the faders 🤔

[@Jaburu]

yea, his tutorial says those loud key elements should peak at 0. you have to duck stuff if other tracks add to this

[@SajhanWickramaratne]

so you clip the sound before you do the other processing such as eq, compression, and saturation? or you clip to zero after you have done your basic processing to the sound?

[@DaveChips]

Sound design and effects first and clipper last one in the chain.

[@rickspyder6159]

Wow cool ...mix a had more detail and life ... cool

[@hearmenow909]

I thought with clip to zero the output of your clipper had to be zero then use your channel faders to adjust the mix level? And I also thought the kick had to be a 0dB on the clipper output and on the channel, then use that as your anchor and mix everything else to the kick?

[@FluidITGuy]

I know this is old but where did you put in your psychoscope and duckers?

[@sb848]

A 👍👍👍👍

[@othmanmoat]

Hey, in dpMeter5, you didn't change the RMS window to 300ms, which is what daws are usually configured on I think.

[@Tutorial_ism]

Thanks mate. I only just noticed that feature today, wasn’t sure what to set it to but I’ll switch my default to 300 now. I had 500ms in my head, but for what reason I could not tell you!

[@CharlesK441]

Baphometrix mentions this in his video

[@cholkymilkmirage4984]

do you mix everyhting first and then clip? or do you clip to zero, then set you mix donw levels and the start mixing

[@Tutorial_ism]

I do all my processing before I clip but then setting faders comes after. Go check out Baphometrix channel if you haven’t already. She will be covering the full mixing strategy very soon!

[@Now3bwx]

Is it possible to make the track and hav all ur sounds first then add clippers to channels and busses? I usually dont start w drums first.

[@goatree_saluberrimae]

Listening on the phone A sounds better e: checking now on monitors and A sounds how I wanted my mix to sound and B sounds how usually my mix sound :D

[@gianmarco2163]

Great video, just subbed! Let me ask if I get it right: should every group we want to clip be at 0Dbfs on our Daw before actually putting the clipper on? Basically I'm asking if we're supposed to do what you did with the Kick, with all the tracks we want to clip. Thanks a lot :)

[@ThatBonsaipanda]

The idea is to clip the kick to 0 and keep it at that level, all other sounds will go around it. And I would clip individual tracks, maximize their energy and then just mix them together by cutting space for the kick, like how Baphometrix does it - I wouldn't add any processing after the individual track has been pushed to maximum energy.

[@gianmarco2163]

@@ThatBonsaipanda Thanks for the quick reply, feel like this is going to have quite an impact on my mixes. Have a great day!

[@Tutorial_ism]

Yes. I ran in to a clipper at 0 on all the main elements of my track as the last stage of each insert. I did do further processing on things like my drum bus and such before I hit my clipper though. Don’t know if that is fully in line with Baphometrix’ strategy, but it felt good to me at the time 😂

[@gianmarco2163]

@@Tutorial_ism Thanks for the reply!!

[@Tutorial_ism]

To be fair, there are still a couple of things about his set up that I don’t understand… but I have just mixed my third track with what I understand of the strategy, and I am improving each time!

[@cmack6686]

@Tutorial[ism] what can I use as a plugin other than dpmeter5. it always crash in my daw. please help

[@Tutorial_ism]

I would just use the pre-gain in Cubase’s channel strip

[@cmack6686]

@@Tutorial_ism unfortunately I don't use Cubase I use fl. Any other suggestion as an alternative plugin with the same functionality of dpmeter5?

[@sel6412]

In this can I use analog plugins? or just digital plugins

[@Kai_soze]

Only works for fully ITB

[@beatskool101]

Is everything much louder than pink noise? I couldnt hear much difference A/B but I'm on a laptop speakers

[@rivella99]

I just wonder why you went down to -9dB with your kick after applying the CTZ strategy? If this would be the arrangement stage of your track i would understand it, but not really when you're mixing the track. Track A sounds way better and therefore seems to be a big plus for CTZ.

[@Tutorial_ism]

It was so I could do further processing in sub groups down the chain. Alot of plugins don’t do well being driven so hard, especially some of the analogue modelled stuff. And plus, you still don’t want to be above zero by the time you hit the stereo out

[@rivella99]

@@Tutorial_ism Ah, so then what you showed in the video was more the end of the arrangement stage and for mixing you (of course) have to go down again for meeting sweet spots of certain mixing plugins, where after those mixing steps you probably would do the same CTZ steps again.

[@Tutorial_ism]

Yes mate. Well at least that’s the way I incorporated the technique in to my workflow!

[@koreanchinesejapanesegtr]

I like A most B is muddy I think.

[@Gione808]

bvphometrix

[@stealth797]

In most tutorial videos the song is usually mediocre (at best)... this is actually a really good track. Respect.

[@Tutorial_ism]

Thank you mate, appreciate the compliment!

[@SynthexS]

I just want to check if how's is this technique working for you since it has been a while you posted this. I've been experimenting with it and so far the benefits I see is that there's less back and forth to master/mix for adjustments and maybe I gained more clarity (like your example track). My songs using this technique are not getting louder, on the contrary, they get quieter than previous mixes/masters I had. Of course, the numbers are high (LUFS), but that does not really represent the actual loudness of a track. How are your songs? Actually loud or just loud in numbers?

[@jeremyformerlyknownastoken8218]

LUFS do not represent the actual loudness because they represent the LUFS lol

[@substance90]

Loudness aside, how is no one mentioning the fact that track A is much brighter? Wouldn't a fairer comparison have the same EQs across both mixes and only differ in setting the levels / limiting / clipping?

[@aaronrennz]

Surely this technique would destroy the dynamics in your track right?

[@Tutorial_ism]

The aim is to reduce the dynamic range as much as you dare. Only you can decide whether it sounds destroyed!

[@philippdrflr]

Was track A the Clip to Zero method? Sorry but I must have missed you mentioning it although I watched the whole video 🤔

[@abdigitalmedia2178]

3:45

[@proverbalizer]

A sounds cleaner and more punchy to me, B feels like it's somehow sluggishly weighted down

[@Tutorial_ism]

Agreed!

[@jordanrattanavong2655]

I'm confused. You clip every track to zero and every bus but when do you balance the mix? You don't use the faders right?

[@Tutorial_ism]

I just recorded another video on this after using CTZ for a few weeks now, will upload shortly. It will hopefully make things a little clearer

[@MrMikomi]

I don't understand - surely if everything is pushed to zero, then the balance between all the tracks is....non-existent? How can everything be at the same level ie zero? What about say you have some strings or a backing vocal that's normally low in the mix - how can they be at the same level as the kick, the same level as everything else? What am I missing?

[@Retro-zn2jt]

In/ Out and fader buttons are 3 different things. the balance can be created by turning up or down the fader volume knob (on the mixer of your daw). for exemple it’s not because your fader buttons is at 0db that the sound assigned to that channel « is » at 0 db. (hope you understand i used Google Translate). And also it’s not because a sound tuch the 0 db that he obviously overcompressed. Personally i didn’t watched the clip to 0 strategy on the Baphometrix channel except this video but what i’ve understood is that you need to have the output that tuch 0 db and then clip (no worry you are in 32 bits so there is no really « clip » and you don’t « clip » on the mixer channel, it’s not obligation). (Clip inside a plugin is different than clip in a mixer channel and even different again than clipping in the master chain, and you don’t want to clip in the master channel, that’s again 3 different things). i also heard it’s better to use limiter for transpance on tonal element and clipper on drums and everything that is not tonal, ofc this is not a rule : if it sound good, it « is » good

[@MrMikomi]

@@Retro-zn2jt Thanks - sorry I missed your reply. I realise now that the underlying premise of this technique is clipping transients (of peaky material); the post-clip can as you say and as shown in this video be pulled down by the channel fader to balance the clipped track in the mix.

[@beautifulcaramelman]

This is the problem with baphys tutorials. Not everyone who has very important and interesting information, knows how to teach it. Some people are newbies. This doesn't make baphys tutorials useless, they just make CTZ unlearnable for 1st timers. Einstein could run circles around my high school science teacher. But my high school science teacher has multiple awards for teaching.

[@marceloribeirosimoes8959]

There's no need to ask for a opinion here. Track "A" is way better. And the "I can't help myself" smile on his face says it Lauder then words... :-)))

[@PlayTheGuitarra]

B has better low end, the kick has more body, at least with this cheap headphones...

[@auroranamex5886]

To me, B sounds better: it's deeper, rounder, and has a smaller limiter's footprint - not as muddy and flat.

[@proteus1]

A sounded better.

[@gangsterdistrict1154]

This aint new technique.. most EDM producers using this CTZ method since decade. Its only that no one discloses this... Thanks to Baphometrix The modern label standards and commercial audio. Its impossible to get away from this technique CTZ.

[@Tutorial_ism]

I didn’t say it was a new technique, what I said was it was new to me!

[@gangsterdistrict1154]

@@Tutorial_ism yeah i heard that... I am saying because some people think this way... I wasnt pointing at you. Btw due to this method i am getting -5db lufs of loudness without messing up the result ..which is insane

[@gangsterdistrict1154]

@@Tutorial_ism i am following Baphometrix since long time. His videos about CTZ is extremely in depth. Currently he has a series on this method with a dedicated playlist which contains more than 20 vidz. Each vid is 1 hour+. Thanks to you for a short summarised video on this.

[@arweailyen5120]

Hi hats distorting on a. That alone is enough to say a is bad.

[@Paulkatz123]

B is terrible

[@Tutorial_ism]

Agreed… and this why I don’t do mixing haha

[@r2worksee]

B has more lowend but I wouldn’t say it’s terrible

[@Paulkatz123]

@@r2worksee not only the low end haha

[@arweailyen5120]

B sounds way better. A distorts.

[@niklasahlstrom]

@@Tutorial_ism Why are you making a video on this technique when you have no idea what you're talking about? Lmao

[@sirlordcomixx1]

Interesting idea, gonna try it.