About headroom

[Chrom (terac)]

Hey guys,

Is there a way to force a headroom of 3-4 dB in a song, without having to check the master level? Like make Renoise “clip” when it reaches -3/-4 dB for example, like it would when reaching 0dB.
What I used to do was to lower the master after the whole mix was done in order to leave a 3 dB headroom in the track, but apparently this causes truncation in the signal (or at least that’s what I’ve understood here).

Thanks!

[Skolskoly]

I only read your post briefly, but have you enabled auto-gain? it sounds like what you’re looking for. (it’s one of the tick boxes on the master channel)

[Chrom (terac)]

Thanks for your reply, but it’s not what I’m looking for. But maybe my question doesn’t make sense anyway

[Bit_Arts]

@aech

Hey guys,

Is there a way to force a headroom of 3-4 dB in a song, without having to check the master level? Like make Renoise “clip” when it reaches -3/-4 dB for example, like it would when reaching 0dB.
What I used to do was to lower the master after the whole mix was done in order to leave a 3 dB headroom in the track, but apparently this causes truncation in the signal (or at least that’s what I’ve understood here).

Thanks!

What you’re looking for is simply a limiter/maximizer. → Renoise Dynamics Devices

[slippycurb]

renoise already has a headroom function…go to the Song menu and open the playback and compatibility options… the default for every new song is -6db

[vvoois (vV)]

@slippycurb

renoise already has a headroom function…go to the Song menu and open the playback and compatibility options… the default for every new song is -6db

This indeed, when reading the question, it looks like you need it to raise +3/4 to have it clipped earlier and this can not be done with the headroom value. So the only solution here is simply set it to 0dB and raise the master to +3 or add a gainer and raise that one to +3/4I doubt stuff gets truncated if you would disable the gainer after you are done mixing.
It gets truncated when you leave it on and let the audio clip, but otherwise it should sound and save fine.

[Chrom (terac)]

@vV

This indeed, when reading the question, it looks like you need it to raise +3/4 to have it clipped earlier and this can not be done with the headroom value. So the only solution here is simply set it to 0dB and raise the master to +3 or add a gainer and raise that one to +3/4I doubt stuff gets truncated if you would disable the gainer after you are done mixing.
It gets truncated when you leave it on and let the audio clip, but otherwise it should sound and save fine.

Thanks! That’s what I was looking for.

[Borodin]

I’m wondering why you want to mix to -3db? Is this something you need for a specific format, or something you were told is good practice?

Either way, if you want to ensure your mix is hitting at the level you require, add a metering plug on the master bus, something like FreeG. Then you will be able to accurately mix to -3db, or what ever other level you would like. I have found that the Renoise meters are not really that accurate for detecting peaks that clip, and give no indication of how much clipping is occurring.