Audio stereo track is clipping, although is properly mastered(limited).

Report · Oct 06, 2017

Hello guys,

I have this project that is a video music for a band.
There is only one audio track, which is their music, a stereo track that I've imported to Premiere.
Since this is mastered track (was mastered by a professional audio engineer), I assumed it wouldn't clip on the volume meter.
But yeah, it is - Premiere VM reaches the red area and a 'over' warning text shows up.

I've made a test with two different .wav files (same music style - electro/industrial stuff, Nietzer Ebb and Mat Zo). One of them (Mat Zo) doesn't clip, while Nietzer Ebb clips the same way of my clients.
I know: some artists masters their tracks louder than others - due to different aesthetics, audience, standards, etc.

Well, I know that technically the right thing to do is to decrease the volume on the track, but before I'd like to know if this is a common thing. And technical suggestions you can add up here.

Thanks a lot in advance,

P.

Report · Oct 06, 2017

It's a common thing if the master one brings in is too "hot" ... I've not found in my experience that PrPro ever juices the "volume" louder. It can, under some circumstances, leave it lower than expected, but ... higher would be very rare.

Neil

Report · Oct 06, 2017

Hello, Neil.

I understand. But what I specifically would like to know is: should I decrease the volume on the track, inside Premiere ?
I mean : if I move the knob down, wouldn't I be lowering and altering its original volume?

Tks!

Report · Oct 06, 2017

Good question ... do you know what the sound engineer mixed "to" as his top point? I know that different engineers can have different top limits ... so you might ask him/her what their expected limit point is.

I think, in general, as they've hired a mix engineer, I'd let his work stand. I might bring it down just a bit while working, but ... I'd probably export without modifying the sound.

I would talk with that engineer.

Neil

Report · Oct 09, 2017

That's very reasonable, Neil. I agree with you.
I've made some tests here with several different master tracks, all from huge artists (The Crystal Method, M83, Knife Party). They work with the best audio engineers in the world and their tracks clipped the same way as my clients'.
Tomorrow will contact the engineer that mastered their track and I will ask his opinion, too.

Thanks.
P.

Report · Oct 06, 2017

My preference would be to let the engineer know his mix is clipping and he should probably handle that and redeliver.

Report · Oct 09, 2017

I don't think this is the right solution. You see, I've tested with 5 different tracks from mainstream electronica artists and 3 of 5 clipped, same way as my client's track.
That means these artists do master their work louder than others. I will talk to the audio engineer tomorrow to see how he'd deal with this.
But hey, thanks for your input here.
Cheers!

Report · Oct 10, 2017

Get your mix engineer to send a file with -20db tone and have a look at the levels, this will quantify any problems.

Report · Oct 10, 2017

The main issue lies within Premiere Pro and has been present for years.

The audio meter in Premiere Pro is too sensitive and shows that audio clips are clipping though they are not. For example, Adobe had a video editing competition a while ago and we could download all files. The audio file made the audio meters in Premiere Pro to go into the red couple of times, indicating that the the audio clipped. When i opened the same audio clip in Audition it did not clip.

I have been sending audio clips to Adobe over the years to prove this but nothing has yet happened and audio clips goes into the red in Premiere Pro though the audio clip itself is ok.

To fix this i either lower the audio in the Audio Mixer or add a Hard Limiter to the audio track in Premiere Pro. Its only a workaround and not a permanent solution.

Please file a bug report: Feature Request/Bug Report Form

Report · Oct 10, 2017

Perhaps the Premiere meters are showing the inter sample levels.

Report · Oct 10, 2017

Hey, thanks for this. Truly helpful.

Yes, I was pretty sure something was wrong (with Premiere), since I've performed these tests with other audio tracks and they also clipped.
What I will probably do is insert a limiter with the lowest attack, highest release and I won't even move the threshhold, cause I can NOT compress this master, the song was made by pros and is ready-to-go. But I will check this with the audio engineer, as well.

Thanks again,
P.