Help: audio clipping when audio tracks combined

[feelmyjulian]

I made sure each of my audio tracks were normalized at -3db. But when playing the full project with multiple audio tracks it still ends up peaking. Is there a way to fix this while keeping each sound i need? If i solo a track its fine. its only when combining all of these 'normalized' tracks that it ends up clipping.

[Richard M Knight]

Pull the master fader down.

[Averdahl]

Use the Audio Track Mixer and apply the Hard Limiter and use one of the "Limit to..." presets. I use this in every project on the Master track and double click on Hard Limiter and set Input Boost from 6 to 0.

[khomthepreditor]

I like this idea, and this is a simple solution, but will it prevent the distortion caused from layering many audio clips together? Or will it just ensure the final export doesn't go above -3dB? Hopefully that makes sense.

In my mind, the best way to keep your audio from clipping is to individually level each effect in your timeline, but depending on how many clips you have, and how much time you feel like investing into this project, it can be a pretty consuming process. This is what we call mixing.

EDIT: If you don't feel like going through each clip, you could also select all your clips and bring the gain down by the same amount. I feel like this would be less destructive than using a hard limiter.

[Averdahl]

I like this idea, and this is a simple solution, but will it prevent the distortion caused from layering many audio clips together? Or will it just ensure the final export doesn't go above -3dB? Hopefully that makes sense.

The TS did not specify if he/she has three or twenty five tracks so the Hard Limiter was the quick and dirty solution. Yes, it will prevent distortion as in clipping but won´t help when the levels get so high so the audio itself will sound bad. So yes, mixing is always a crucial part of the workflow and i always do that. I do however always use the Hard Limiter on the master track to catch some audio spikes.